This week’s blog post is traveling away from Minnesota because this past weekend I had the opportunity to, not only explore a different city, but also a different state. This weekend I made the four hour trip to Madison Wisconsin to visit one of my best friends. My friend is a student at UW Madison (yes I know boo) and her birthday was this weekend so my other friend and I took a road trip to go visit. It was so much fun and I am so excited to share my experience with all of you!

Here is me on campus. It felt weird being on a different college campus, but honestly the whole time I was there I just thought of Penn State. The campus sits between two lakes and is integrated into the city of Madison. Do not be fooled when this picture was taken it was 35º F and extremely windy.

As you can tell by my hair in this picture, the wind was crazy. This is my friend Nicole and I in front of one of the lakes. We are standing on the overlook. The cool thing about the school is that a lot of their buildings next to the lake have a ton of windows that just look out onto the lake. It is actually pretty beautiful!

Another cool thing about Madison is they have a free zoo. We went there and visited, half the animals were inside because of the cold but the ones that were outside were still super cute! I got to see one of my favorite animals, an alpaca, so that was a bonus!

The one thing I cannot get over is how good the food was in Madison!

Incase any of you are ever in the area here are some recommendations!

• Sweet Home Wisconsin
  • This place was super small and cute. Their cheese curds were to die for as well as their homemade chips, highly recommend!
• Liberty Station
  • Again the cheese curds were top notch and the food was very good, American and barbecue. In the summer they have a giant garage door they open up and play live music, this kinda gives you an idea of the vibe.
• Michelangelo’s
  • A super cute breakfast cafe on State street… way better than Starbucks.
• Ian’s Pizza
  • Get the Mac and Cheese pizza, just do it you won’t regret it.

Overall, Madison is a cool city especially for younger adults. However, State College is still superior  and will most likely always be!

This last bit of my blog is a sad, scary, but funny thing that happened on the drive home that might make your day a little better. While driving home, going a steady 78 mph, surrounded by semi trucks and cars, a pheasant had a death wish as it flew right into the middle of my car. There was no way I could have dodged it. I pulled over at the next exist, 10 miles later and looked at the damage, safe to say Pete the Pheasant did not survive.

Yes this feather on my windshield (kind of) stuck to my car for 10 miles.

Thanks for reading, see you next time!

Side note after reading this before posting, I realized you all might not know what cheese curds are since it is a midwest thing, is that true? Have you had cheese curds before? Please let me know in the comments!