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A Big Campus, a Great Lake and a Mighty River: WI/MN Trip Report

A Big Campus, a Great Lake and a Mighty River: WI/MN Trip Report

Old Aug 2nd, 2007, 10:52 AM
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A Big Campus, a Great Lake and a Mighty River: WI/MN Trip Report

First of all, a huge �Thank you!� to all of you who helped so much with the planning of this trip. Both recently, and in the case of Madison, last year. All of you must have felt your ears burning sometime in the past couple of weeks as we talked about how much we appreciated all of the suggestions and recommendations! I�m so grateful for your patience with all of my questions and your generosity in responding to them.

I give fair warning that, depending on how much detail I can remember, this may be fairly lengthy. I especially hope to be pretty detailed about restaurants. On the recent lounge threads about trip reports, several people have mentioned not liking so much detail about meals. So I thought about leaving it out. But then I realized that that�s one of the things I really look for when I�m researching a trip. So I decided I�d rather err on the side of too much than too little. Anyone who�s not interested can easily skip over those parts. But I don�t want those who are specifically looking for that information to be disappointed.

Although this trip was a vacation, we took it at this particular time and to these places because we centered it around our son�s SOAR (Student Orientation, Advising and Registration) at UW-Madison. With our oldest about to start her last year of college and this one about to start his first, we know our opportunities for family trips are about to become few and far between. So we made the most of this chance for a little family time.

Day One: Madison

We set out from Chicago�s western suburbs about 10:30 on Saturday morning, July 21st. Our son didnt have to be at school until 8:30 Sunday morning. But we really didn�t want to drive up that early in the morning! And, not knowing how much time he�d have away from the program, our son wanted to get to Madison in time to check the stores Saturday afternoon for some Badgerwear! We headed for Madison by way of Rockford. And it was smooth sailing all the way. Even though we were really looking forward to the restaurants in Madison, all things considered, we decided it made more sense to stop for a quick meal on the way. That meant eating at a Denny�s soon after we crossed the border into Wisconsin. It was pretty much what you�d expect from a Denny�s!

We�d reserved a room at the Super 8 on the Beltline Highway and had no trouble finding it. Check in is at 3:00 and we arrived around 1:30. But they had a couple of rooms ready so had no objection to letting us check in early. As soon as we got settled in, we got back in the car and headed for State Street. It was an easy drive of around 10 minutes.

We parked at the public garage just off of the campus end of State Street. It�s very convenient and reasonable. The maximum charge is $3. But, as much as we wound up using that garage during our 3 days in Madison, I wish I had stock in it!

The first thing we saw when we walked onto State Street were throngs of people! I knew about the Saturday morning Farmer�s Market. But, first of all, it was now at least 2:00. And, secondly, that�s on the other end of State Street, around the Capitol Building. (I would have loved to have gone but the timing just wasn�t right. Too bad SOAR isn�t held on Saturday and Sunday instead of Sunday and Monday!) Turns out our son had chosen the weekend of Maxwell Street Days, a huge sidewalk sale, for his turn at SOAR. Pretty much every store on State Street was selling merchandise outside. And some of the restaurants had also set up booths. It was very interesting. And very crowded! But there were some good deals to be had. (As well as a lot of, to put it bluntly, junk!)

A couple of hours and several t-shirt purchases later, we headed back to the Super 8 for a swim. I�ll go into more detail about the motel later. But the pool area was very nice. The sign said they had newly renovated rooms. And I�m guessing they must have redone this area too. They have an indoor pool and hot tub. The pool isn�t terribly big. But the kids and I were lucky enough to have it to ourselves for about an hour. And we thoroughly enjoyed it!

We�d decided earlier that we wanted to go back to State Street for dinner at Husnu�s. It�s a Turkish restaurant at which we had lunch last summer when we went to Madison for a campus tour, etc. We�d really enjoyed it and were looking forward to eating there again and taking our daughter, who wasn�t with us the first time.

As we were walking along State Street, about a block from the restaurant, my cell phone rang. Now you have to understand that pretty much the only people who ever call my cell phone are the three who were standing on the street with me! When I saw that it was an 800 number I figured it must be a junk call and debated not answering. But my curiosity got the better of me. Well, it turned out to be ADT telling me that our burglar alarm had gone off! What a way to start the first evening of our vacation! We had a very tense 45 minutes or so while we waited to hear what the police found. But, long story short, we never did find out what set it off. And apparently the damn thing beeped (softly, thank God, this was after the actual alarm had stopped sounding) the entire time we were gone. But at least we know that it was definitely not a break in that had activated the alarm. I�ve always thought of the alarm as giving us peace of mind. Now I�m beginning to wonder if we�d have more peace of mind without it!

Anyway, we did finally get our much anticipated dinner at Husnu�s! And it didn�t disappoint. The food was just as good as we�d remembered. It�s a fairly small restaurant, comfortable and casual. But not the bare bones sort of ethnic restaurant where you go up to the counter to order. There are table cloths and the service was excellent. It was a nice evening and many of the diners had chosen to eat in their small outside area on State Street. So we had no trouble at all getting a table inside.

To start, we split a stuffed mushroom appetizer that was very good. We all chose meals from their dinner specials menu. DS and I had chicken breast stuffed with spinach, feta and mushrooms. There was a choice of a strawberry mango sauce or the one we both chose, which was a raspberry wine sauce. It was delicious! My husband and daughter were equally happy with their choice of acorn squash stuffed with a chicken rice mixture. The meals come with a choice of soup or salad but they were out of soup! They offered two salad dressings; a yogurt based one and a honey mustard one. Both were good.

My husband and I both got beers brewed in New Glarus, WI. I had 2 Fat Squirrels, he had one of those and one Spotted Cow. It was very good beer! Our daughter had a (non-alcoholic) mango drink that she really enjoyed. Our son had soda. The bill, pre-tip, was $84.66.

On the way back to the Super 8, we stopped at a PDQ convenience store/gas station to try to get a six-pack of the Fat Squirrel. They didn�t have it, but did have Spotted Cow. Wow, were we surprised to learn that we couldn�t buy it because it was after 9:00! On a Saturday night, in a college town!

I had packed our son�s Play Station 2 and some tv show DVDs. We�ve found these to be the perfect length when we want to watch a little something to unwind, but aren�t up for a movie. When we got back to the motel, we hooked the PS 2 up to the tv and watched an episode of Mary Tyler Moore. I don�t think my husband or son made it past the credits before falling soundly asleep!

It took me about a month, start to finish, to get my last trip report posted on the Europe forum. I�m hoping to do this a little faster! But I�ve got some major projects going on here. So we�ll see...
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Old Aug 2nd, 2007, 12:24 PM
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Glad to see you posting the report, CAPH, I have been waiting for it. And, I love the food details, that's a big part of travel!
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Old Aug 2nd, 2007, 01:04 PM
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Thanks, cmcfong! I really appreciate the nod of approval on the food details. The meals we've had are always some of our best memories. And I've got the extra pounds to prove it!
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Old Aug 2nd, 2007, 01:14 PM
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Not that it really matters, but I just realized that what I meant to say was that DH and DS didn't make it past the opening song, not the credits!
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Old Aug 2nd, 2007, 05:44 PM
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I've been waiting for your TR. Anxious to hear your take on the North Shore.
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Old Aug 3rd, 2007, 04:36 AM
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Yea, want to know if any of us gave you some bum adice (!)
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Old Aug 3rd, 2007, 11:01 AM
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No way, dfr! You guys are the best!

Day Two: Madison

My husband got our son up and drove him to the campus for his 8:30 check in for placement tests. My daughter and I enjoyed the opportunity to sleep in a bit! But we managed to get up in time for the continental breakfast. As hotel continental breakfasts go, I’d rate this one somewhere in the middle. They had all the usual stuff but nothing that would make it stand out. And I was a little disappointed in their cereal selections. They had corn flakes, fruit loops and instant oatmeal. A higher fiber cold cereal selection would have been nice. I was also a little perplexed by their tea bag choices. They had a nice selection of “specialty” teas; flavored ones, herbal ones. But no plain old orange pekoe and very few unflavored black tea bags. That first morning I managed to find one English Breakfast tea bag and it was very good. The second morning I found one darjeeling. But when I went back up for a second cup, there was nothing but flavored teas and herbals. Those are very nice. But it seems to me they should be offered in addition to regular, not as the only choice.

We had a pretty lazy morning. When our son was finished with his tests, we picked him up and all went for lunch. We chose Kabul Afghanistan & Mediterranean at 541 State Street. My son and I both had lamb pitas which were basically shish kabobs served with lettuce and a yogurt sauce on a pita. They were very good. Our daughter chose one of the specials which was a vegetable strudel. And my husband had a vegetarian couscous dish. I think they came with a choice of soup or salad. We all had the soup which was an excellent slightly spicy bean soup. I had Afghan iced tea that was good. Our daughter had a mango drink that was somewhat different than the one she’d had the night before. My husband finished off his meal with a turkish coffee which he enjoyed. The check, pre-tip, was $38.51.

This was another restaurant that had a small seating area outside. But we had again chosen to sit indoors. There seemed to be a lot of flies. But I noticed that pretty much everywhere we ate that had outdoor seating. I’m sure it’s unavoidable when the waitstaff is going back and forth. The service was again very good.

After lunch we headed to the new Campus Welcome Center for the student/parent sign in for SOAR. It really wasn’t until then that we realized there was a full program for the parents as well as the students. I feel slightly guilty about it, but we skipped most of it. I think it’s wonderful that they offer it. But most of it is geared for parents who haven’t yet had a child in college.

Late in the afternoon, the kids attended part of the program that included a tour (DH and I had done the tour the previous year). The two of us wandered through some of the stores on State Street, including a used book store (the name of which I can’t remember) that DH really likes. Then we strolled over to the campus with the idea of sitting on the Union Terrace waiting for them to finish. I didn’t think we’d be able to get beer so, on the way through the Union, I stopped for ice cream. Orange custard with chocolate chips. Yum!

As it turned out, they were serving beer, no school ID required. So my husband got one. And, after I finished my ice cream, I did too! When the kids joined us, they wanted ice cream. And my husband and I gave in to the temptation to get some of the popcorn we smelled all around us. So we wound up spending a very pleasant hour or two on the terrace. It was a nice evening. There were lots of sail boats out on the lake. Very pleasant, indeed!

Of course, after all that gluttony, what did we do but head for dinner! As we were leaving the Afghani restaurant after lunch, we noticed a door leading to a basement restaurant serving East African food. DH and I had gone down to check out the menu while we were wandering State Street and thought it looked good. So we decided to continue the trend of ethnic dining!

This one is Buraka Restaurant at 543 State Street. It’s a nice little restaurant, casual and warm with patterned table cloths and candles on the tables. My only complaint was that it was a little warm in the other sense. A fan would have helped.

They have local beers on tap. DH and I enjoyed that. Our daughter had yet another version of mango juice drink! One of the options on the menu is to get a combination of two of the entrees. All four of us chose to do that. I had chicken and vegetables in a spicy peanut sauce (Doro Wat?) and a curry in coconut milk sauce with sweet potatoes. I think all of the others ordered at least one of those. Our son had something with beef or lamb. I’m drawing a blank on the others. But it was all very good! The entrees came with a salad. And there was a choice of having the entrees served over rice or over injera bread. We all opted for the bread. I’d read about Ethiopian restaurants serving entrees on bread. But had never had the pleasure of eating it. The injera was somewhat different than I expected. It was very thin and somewhat doughy. Part of it was spread over the plate and the entrees were spooned over the top. The rest of the bread was rolled up along one edge of the plate.

If we hadn’t eaten so much at the Terrace before dinner, I would have been tempted by the dessert menu. None of the choices sounded especially African. Unfortunately, I can’t remember what they were. But I do remember that they sounded exceptionally good!

The service was very good. Especially considering that the poor waitress was running back and forth between the tables in the basement and the small outdoor dining area. Pre-tip, our check was $72.65.

After that we waddled back to the car and headed for the motel!

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Old Aug 3rd, 2007, 09:12 PM
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Hi CAPH - from Gra We are enjoying our time here and Marais. It is fun to read your report. I will enjoy all the future reports too. We are having a great time and will enjoy a family wedding this weekend too. Weather is perfect.
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Old Aug 3rd, 2007, 09:13 PM
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Ooops, my post got messed up. I meant to say Hi from Grand Marais. Weather is great here this week. Hope it was good for you too.
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Old Aug 3rd, 2007, 10:25 PM
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Hi, Cali! Glad you're having a good time. Aside from a little fog and a few sprinkles, the weather was good for us too. Have fun at the wedding!
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Old Aug 3rd, 2007, 10:28 PM
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Day Three: More Madison

On day two, Sunday, I forgot to ask whether angethereader saw us waving to her at 6:00?!

It was another early start for DH and DS. Unfortunately, when DH dropped DS to begin a long morning of advising and registration, DS left his phone charging in the car.

DD and I got a little earlier start too as DH and I wanted to attend the parents financial services program. Well, at least I wanted to attend it! About three quarters of the way through it, DS called from a pay phone telling us where and when to meet him so that we could give him his phone. But at least I was able to attend enough of it to get lots of good information. As I said, much of the parents program seemed to be geared to parents who were sending their first child to college. But this part of it was well worth attending as the financial side of things works so much differently at UW than at the private college DD attends.

Our son was tied up into the afternoon with registration (he’d feared that, because he was registering late, he’d wind up with terrible classes and an awful schedule but it wound up going very well), getting his ID, etc. He ate the lunch provided as part of the SOAR charge.

DH, DD and I decided to have lunch at Nitty Gritty which is at 223 N. Frances St., very close to the Kohl Center. I read somewhere, can’t remember where, that it’s something of an on-campus institution. Whether that’s true or hype, I have no idea. But we enjoyed it. It’s a comfortable, casual place. It’s all dark wood; the floors, the booths, the paneled walls.

We started with an appetizer of fried cheese curds. After all, we couldn’t spend three days in Wisconsin without having them at least once! And very tasty they were too! I had the soup and half sandwich special of the day. The half sandwich was a turkey reuben with slaw instead of saurkraut. I had a choice of soups and chose brat, red bean and rice. It was really good. And a large, filling portion. DD had a grilled cheddar sandwich that looked awfully good. And DH had the burger of the day which happened to be the Nitty Gritty Burger. He said it was very good. I had iced tea which, judging by the taste, was definitely not fresh brewed. One of my biggest pet peeves! DH had a bottle of locally brewed root beer and DD had lemonade. The pre-tip bill was an extremely reasonable $23.16.

Ever since we’d arrived in Madison DD had been dropping hints about a mustard museum that she knew was somewhere in the area. It seems that one of her very good college friends had had a roommate at her boarding high school who had a t-shirt from said museum. This friend had, for some reason, always been envious of that t-shirt. A year or so ago, unaware of their daughter’s interest, her parents had visited the museum on a trip around the midwest. And didn’t get her a t-shirt! So, when this friend found out DD was going to be in Madison, she told her this story.

Our son finished up around 2:00. We’d done some research and learned that the mustard museum is in Mount Horeb, about 20 miles southwest of Madison. It was a nice day for a drive. And, let’s face it, we didn’t really have anything else to do!

Talk about a quirky little place! http://www.mustardweb.com/ But I mean that in a good way! It was fun. And, of course, we managed to find too much to spend money on in the mustard store! Mount Horeb is a very cute little town with wooden statues of trolls placed here and there. I can definitely see us going back there on one of our visits to Madison. And I suspect I’ll be using the mustard museum store’s catalog to order a Christmas gift or two.

Oh and by the way, of course we picked up a t-shirt for DD’s friend!

When we got back to Madison, we headed to State Street. Our son wanted to pick up a 2007 football t-shirt as he’d learned a week or so before that he’d gotten season tickets in the lottery. When we finished our shopping, it was still too early for dinner. So we decided to stroll over to the Union Terrace. The kids wanted ice cream. And DH and I were ready to relax with a pitcher of beer. Once again, it was a lovely way to spend an hour or two. Beautiful late afternoon/early evening, sailboats on the lake... What more could you want?!

We’ve seen more than our share of college campuses in the past few years. We visited several with each child. And our son is a college basketball fanatic who insists on visiting the campus of any basketball powerhouse we happen to be near. So we’ve seen quite a few. And UW is far from the prettiest we’ve seen. But the lakefront area of campus, and the terrace in particular, is pretty hard to beat!

Eventually hunger set in and we set off for State Street again. We wandered farther up the street than we had the other evenings, checking menus along the way. We finally settled on Tutto Pasta at 305 State Street. It was a little more crowded and hectic than the places we’d eaten our other meals. But the service was good and we liked what we saw on the menu. Shortly after we were seated, they brought us a basket of bread and poured olive oil and balsamic vinegar on a bread plate. We shared an order of very good calamari as an appetizer. I ordered a pasta puttanesca that was excellent. The kids both ordered a mushroom ravioli that they really enjoyed. DH was very happy with his choice of an alfredo pasta. DH and I had beer. I think DD had a glass of white wine. And DS had soda. Our check, pre-tip, was $81.10.

We hit a few stores on our way back to the car. We love the “hippie” stores on State Street. They give it that real college town feel!
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Old Aug 3rd, 2007, 10:59 PM
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Before I go on to day four, a few notes on the hotel in Madison. As I mentioned earlier, the sign said they had renovated rooms. The way it was worded made it sound as though not all of them had been. But ours certainly had a new feel to it. The lobby/breakfast room and pool area were also very nice and seemed to have been renovated.

The Super 8 is right off the Beltline Higway. So close that my husband feared that we’d have traffic noise. Especially since our room was near the front of the hotel. But that definitely was not the case. Unfortunately, noise from the next room was another matter!

I don’t know whether all the rooms in the hotel are designed so that they can be adjoining. But there was a door in our room. We didn’t hear a peep from the room on the side that didn’t have a door. But we had lots of sound problems from the room to which the door connected. The night that we arrived there seemed to be an older couple in that room who kept the TV on, loud, the entire time they were in the room. My husband was awakened by it at 2:30 in the morning! And we occasionally heard the voice of the gentleman.

At 5:30 the morning we left, my husband heard a very loud (and seemingly drunk) group of people come into that room and turn the TV on, again loudly.

While there was a lot that we liked about the Super 8, the noise factor was very definitely enough to make us think we’ll probably try another hotel the next time we stay overnight in Madison.

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Old Aug 3rd, 2007, 11:12 PM
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I meant to add that I was very glad we'd gone with a motel with a pool in Madison. As some of you will recall, we had to settle for one without a pool in Grand Marais. And that was fine. But the kids did use the pool all three days that we were in Madison.
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Old Aug 5th, 2007, 11:03 PM
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Day Four: Madison to Grand Marais

I think it was about 10:00 by the time we got on the road that morning. The plan was to stop for lunch at Norske Nook in Osseo, WI. Thank you isabellasu for the link to their web site (www.norskenook.com)and to all of you who “seconded” her recommendation! I’d been a little worried that we’d get there before we were hungry enough for lunch. I shouldn’t have been! It actually worked out nearly perfectly. We arrived in Osseo around 12:30 and we were all starving. A good thing too ‘cause the Norske Nook doesn’t exactly serve light lunches!

One thing I’ve got to ask. How is it that everyone knows about this place? Osseo is a very small town. Norske Nook is well off the interstate. We saw only one billboard advertising it. And it’s not even listed on the exit sign that shows places for food. And yet several people recommended it to me. And, while we didn’t have to wait for a seat, the place was definitely busy! Don’t get me wrong, it’s very good. And definitely worthy of all the recommendations. But I’m still a little baffled as to how the word gets around.

We all decided to go with Norske Nook specialties. My husband had the pork roast, gravy and mashed potatoes in a bread bowl. DS had the same except roast beef. Our daughter had a lefse meal wrap with the Norwegian meatballs. And I had a hot Norwegian meatball sandwich. And, of course, we all had pie! My husband had banana cream. DS had raspberry cream cheese. DD had chocolate cream. And I had a very decadent pecan cream cheese that was so wonderfully rich I couldn’t eat it all. That pie was loaded with pecans!

Our son was in heaven! I have no doubt that he will try to find a way to get from Madison to Osseo this upcoming school year!

While certainly not health food, it sure was good! As our son pointed out, his beef was real roast. Not the deli-type beef so often served in hot beef sandwiches. The mashed potatoes were real. The bread was homemade. What’s not to like?! And the pie was wonderful! Our pre-tip bill was $51.19.

After lunch, of course we had to stop in the little Norske Nook coffee and gift shop across the street from the restaurant. They had some very nice things. But mostly very expensive things.

It took us a lot longer to get from Madison to Grand Marais than we’d been expecting. And I really don’t know why. I don’t think we were in Osseo much more than an hour. We stopped once at a gas station and I think once at a rest stop. When we got to the North Shore, we stopped at Gooseberry Falls State Park. My husband and I used the rest rooms and then walked up to the falls. We were probably stopped there 20 minutes or so. But it was around 7:30 by the time we pulled in to the Best Western in Grand Marais. It’d been a long day of driving! But, all in all, it was a nice drive. Wisconsin is, on the whole, a much prettier state than Illinois (with the exception of far southern Illinois and the area around Galena). And, of course, once we hit Duluth, it was gorgeous.

One of the first things we saw as we entered the Best Western was a sign warning that there would be a power outage that night! As I understand it, Grand Marais was in the process of switching to a new substation. And, in order to make the change, the power was going to be going out at 11:00. The person who checked us in said it would probably be out for around six hours. At first I wondered why they’d do this during tourist season. And then I thought about what the winters must be like there. I kind of doubt they’d want to be without power for six hours in the dead of winter!

We were very pleased when we saw our room. It was your basic motel room, but nice. What made it stand out was the lake view. I’d originally reserved a non-balcony room because they were about $10 cheaper. I mentioned on Fodor’s that I was wondering about that decision. Dfr4848, thanks for your advice that it was probably worth upgrading to the balcony room! You were right, it was! There was what I would describe as a park bench on the balcony and we were to get much use of it during our three night stay there!

By the time we got settled in, it was getting late. After the lunches we’d had, we weren’t in the mood for a heavy dinner. The kids decided they’d really like to have pizza. So we set out on foot with the idea that we’d eat at Sven and Olie’s (there was a coupon in one of the brochures I’d picked up at Gooseberry Falls State Park). We stopped at a gift shop along the way to try to find some inexpensive candles in case we were still awake when the power went out. Everything they had was way more than we wanted to spend.

When we got to Sven and Olie’s, there was a sign in the window that, due to the power outage, they were closing at 8:00! It was already after 8:00 at that point. So we meandered on down the street looking for somewhere else to eat. We couldn’t believe how empty the streets were. It was like a ghost town!

We wound up at the Crooked Spoon Café on Wisconsin St. According to their sign, they were open until 9:00. As it was nearing 8:45 and there weren’t many people there, we asked if we were too late. But they assured us we were fine.

As I mentioned before, none of us were in the mood for a heavy meal. So we ordered somewhat strangely that night. My husband got a bowl of their soup of the day, a cream of chicken with mushrooms, and, as his main course, an appetizer that was basically a bowl of olives with some peppers. Our daughter got a cup of the soup and the appetizer crab cake which was served with a jicama slaw. Our son ordered the soup and salad combo which came with baked French onion soup en croute. I had what they described as a Greek style salad that came with a choice of tofu or smoked fish (whitefish, I think). I chose the fish.

All of the food was excellent! And I wish I could remember the name of the draft beer my husband and I had. It too was really good. All in all, a very pleasant experience! The service was very good. And it’s a really cute little place. The check, before tip, was $61.91.

On the way back to the Best Western, we stopped at one of the gas station convenience stores and picked up flash lights. When we got back, we sat out on the balcony for a while, enjoying the moonlight shining on the water. And listening to what we think was a very loud bullfrog!

The kids and I used the flashlights to read (each of us reading a different volume of Harry Potter, we’d picked up #7 just before heading out of town Saturday morning!) for a little while after the power went out. But not for long. As I said earlier, it’d been a long day!









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Old Aug 6th, 2007, 05:45 AM
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Caph - great report. Glad the balconey worked out in GM. Anxious to hear more.
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Old Aug 6th, 2007, 08:35 AM
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Thanks, dfr!

I really am going to try to get this finished soon. With so much else on my mind in terms of getting the kids off to college, I find the details of this trip are fading faster than they did after my last trip. And it was such a great trip! For myself, as well as to payback all the help, I want to write it down before I forget!
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Old Aug 6th, 2007, 01:28 PM
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CAPH52, to answer your question about why the Norske Nook is well known, quite a few years ago David Letterman had the owner and cook on his show. I don't know how he found out about the restaurant, but I think that set off their popularity beyond being known only to the locals.
Your trip "up north" sounded wonderful!
Thanks for the detailed report.
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Old Aug 6th, 2007, 02:15 PM
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Thanks, isabellasu! That's very interesting. And since my son is a Letterman fan, that will endear Norske Nook to his heart even more!
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Old Aug 6th, 2007, 03:54 PM
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You chose fantastic restaurants in Madison! My best friend works at Husunu's and will be glad to hear the service was good. Kabul and Tutto Pasta are 2 of my favorites, and I'm glad you enjoyed them.

Regarding the Gritty, it is known for being the birthday bar. You can have all you can drink beer (or soda) on your birthday and you get to keep the mug. As you can imagine, there are often some pretty, uh, happy birthday boys and girls there - especially in the evenings.

And Spotted Cow is practically an institution, and probably my favorite beer.

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Old Aug 6th, 2007, 04:13 PM
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Glad you liked our choices, bethke! We certainly enjoyed them! Looking forward to eating at all of them many times over the next four years!

Sometime when we're up there visiting our son, I'd like to check out the brewery in New Glarus. We've never been to the town but I've heard good things about it.
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