Kyle and Shawn actually had to go to work, like real people (not vacationers!), so we were on our own for the morning. We made plans to meet Kyle for lunchtime before we headed north out of Madison. The guys had some breakfast there at the apartment and then we made a trip to Wisconsin Active Sportswear so that Blake could buy some Badger gear (yes, he's still a Jayhawks fan, but he has an aunt in Madison now!).
The rest of our morning was actually spent in Middleton, Wisconsin. For you Kansas readers, think Overland Park related to Kansas City. (And Madison seems to be a combination of Lawrence and Topeka, only bigger...). Middleton is the home of the National Mustard Museum. The museum is in the basement and shows some history of mustards, plus hundreds of containers of mustard from around the world! The displays are divided by state and country, even. It was interesting to see that some of the European mustards are packaged in a toothpaste tube-like container.
But we really had fun upstairs on the ground floor. This is actually the "gift shop". They have a lot of t-shirts with clever sayings (about mustard, of course) and other unusual gift ideas. The bulk of the shop is mustard after mustard, grouped in various categories. Want a mustard made with some sort of liquor or beer? Look over there... Want one made with fruit? Look over there... The best part is that they have a tasting stand, where knowledgeable staff will discuss the mustards and let you taste-test! Yes, we did alot of that; but we also left the shop with quite a few mustards and assorted clothing, etc!
Back to the apartment for a few more minutes with Kyle, and then we bid Madison "good-bye" for now. For those of you that are asking, "Why didn't you visit all the other cool things in the Madison area?", we have done so (all three of us) in earlier trips, plus we hope to be visiting up there other times in the future!
So, on to our destination, Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin! For Kathy's kids, this name conjures up other memorable trips to similar sites: Keystone, South Dakota; Branson, Missouri; and Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. What do these four locations have in common (other than the fact that the kids and I have all visited them)?
During the late afternoon we walked around downtown, ate, and visited the Ripley's Believe It or Not museum. We do NOT recommend the Wisconsin cheese and beer soup at High Rocks; it was really awful as far as we were concerned. Buyer beware.
We found a nice campsite north of town at Stand Rock campground and will stay here two or three nights.
Earlier in the day we purchased tickets for the Rick Wilcox Magic Show, so we headed over there at 8pm. We had great seats right on the third row, but we couldn't seem to convince Blake to volunteer! This was the second time Chris and Kathy had seen this show, although much had changed. All three of us enjoyed the show.
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