MADISON!

I have spent the last three Labor Day weekends in Madison, and this year was no exception. However, this year I brought Tony along! He's never been in Madison other than driving through. I forced him out of bed at 3:30am so we could hit the road by 4:00 and make it to the Capital Square Farmer's Market on time. He slept the entire way, so I was the driver. This is new for us on vacation. Usually I'm the sleepy passenger. I sang to myself, drank caffeine and ate some delicious Kwik Trip doughnuts. It was an enjoyable drive.

We made it to the Farmer's Market at 7:30 and I immediately went to my favorite vendor: Stella's Bakery! I just love their spicy cheese bread and empanadas.

Here I am (with the capital in the background) eating a mild cheese empanada! Delicious! Tony enjoyed a raspberry cheese danish for his breakfast.

After we wandered around the capital for a while, we went to Henry Vilas Zoo. I used to take Raegan, my friend Heidi's daughter, there every time I came to visit. We enjoyed a great showing from the chimp, and Tony found out he measures a little small. 

The giraffe posed nicely for us. Tony took some great shots on our camera, so I'll post those at a later date. 

We then headed out to Sassy Cow Creamery to enjoy some great ice cream. They had a goat that Tony became friends with. I'm quite afraid of goats, so I stood back. 

Saturday night, we went out to eat with Heidi at The Great Dane and headed for drinks to Jolly Bob's. Heidi and I LOVE to go there. I always drink a purple meanie. I insisted that Tony try one since I couldn't this year. I had a virgin hummingbird. Delicious, but just not the same. 

Sunday was spent laying around the capital lawn tasting various Madisonian foods. Tony went to get me a bottle of water and returned with a corn dog. Really? There were so many crazy foods there, and he tries a corn dog?? Some other treats we tried were: cookie dough eggroll, Reuben meatball grilled cheese, panna cotta, roasted corn on the cob.

Monday morning we sat on this nice park bench while we waited for Raegan and Heidi to join us for breakfast. 

After breakfast, we had to go to the new Target so Raegan could show us the cart escalator. The parking lot is under the store, so they have this nifty contraption to get the carts to your car. There she is showing us how it works. 

We made a stop at DB Chocolate Infusions. Probably one of my favorites in Madison. I picked out four: Tahitian Vanilla, Exotic Caramel, S'more, and Caramel Cashew. Tony also got four, but I can't remember the names....

Here I am making the drive home. Tony slept for the majority of our drive home as well. It was such a great weekend!