You know its time to end the trip and get home when you are anxious to get the airport early. That's what it is like today, Labor Day Monday, Sept. 5. I've been here in Madison and vicinity since last Monday and have seen a lot. I have been to two new states Wisconsin and Minnesota. This area of Southwest Wisconsin and SE Minnesota is interesting geography as noted in my earlier post.
Madison is a pretty big town - larger that I expected. The isthmus between the lakes is the original settlement as the Americans chased the natives back through this area. Now all that is left are a few places names and a few casinos. Like other college towns, it is a liberal oasis in an otherwise conservative rural area (e.g. Boulder, Austin). It also seems that those towns are small enough to not have the urban problems but close enough driving distance to the amenities of a larger area. So no wonder there's a high demand to live here.
I enjoyed seeing cousin Emily and her husband Thane. For not seeing her since since 2004, we had a nice easy meeting up again. She's in a Ph. D program and so they will be living her another 5 or 6 years, then moving wherever the job might be. She seemed pleased that her husband was willing to go wherever her career might bring her. He was a easygoing sort - my kind of person.
There's lots of outdoor activities in the warm months here. We went biking around Lake Monona and then today I went running on the Ice Age Trail which looks like it goes all the way up north through Wisconsin. You'd need a full week or probably 3 to do it all but I bet it would be something.
A highlight of the trip was watching the Texas/Notre Dame game last night at Sarah and Travis's apartment. Not only was it fun to be around them, but we won! We'll remember that overtime win for a long time. I think it was first overtime game I've watched, as UT has not been in one that I remember. And watching someone else continue playing is not my cup of tea. Being a Tea Sipper and all!
More cousin love coming up: all the cousins on my mother's side are coming to visit me at South Padre Island this weekend. I'll look forward to hosting on the home field after visiting all week.
Glad to see Sarah's new job and apartment and town. Now it's time to let her live her life and I'm off to continue living mine. Today is the first day of the rest of your life!
Happy Labor Day!
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