Wisconsin Adventure Day 1

We hopped in the car yesterday morning & headed off on a little road trip to Wisconsin.  Our first stop was in Dubuque, Iowa where we picked-up lots of goodies at the Calico Bean Market.  They carry lots of bulk spices and unique foods and are a required visit if we're ever in the area.  You can also order online.

Next we walked down the street to the Outside the Lines Gallery, also a favorite stop.  They had some most-excellent yarn-bombing on their front porch.

We picked-up a fun little face made by Denise Greenwood and a great wooden block face from local artist Aaron Butcher, 

The next stop on our trek was Mineral Point, Wisconsin where we stopped at our favorite gallery, the Brewery Pottery Studio.  They weren't *officially* open due to winter hours, but they graciously let us come inside and pick-up a few things.

This enamal work is some of my favorite & I have one of those gorgeous light switch covers in my bedroom.  They also have the Johnston Gallery downtown where you can chat with their lovely daughter (and find more cool art).

We stopped for lunch at our favorite B&B restaurant, the Brewery Creek Brew Pub where we treated ourselves to some of their amazing Belgian Fries.

We also had the special of the day ... Beef Pasty with Corn Souffle (because afterall we're in Cornish Country).

Next we walked around downtown (because a walk is needed after all that wonderful food) and shopped at a few more galleries.  Loved this amazing outside art at the LongBranch Gallery.

Next we headed to Middleton, Wisconsin the home of the National Mustard Museum.  If you're a fan of mustard, you'll love it here.  They have a tasting bar where you can try any mustard they have in the shop, and they will make recommendations based on your preferences.  I picked-up several fruit-flavored mustards from Terrapin Ridge Farms ... Rod went with some stronger brat mustard and a Wasibi Mustard with quite a kick.

Next we made a donation and tried the Hoops for Koops' Mustard Ring Toss where I managed to score a bottle of Honey Mustard.

The Mustard Museum is in the basement of the building ... you can watch a film, take a trivia quiz (we scored 8 of 16, so we obviously need to brush-up on our Mustard trivia) or take your picture with a bottle of Mustard.

And of course I couldn't resist trying on a few Pickle Fingers ... because who doesn't want to play with their food.

Middleton also has great shopping including Archiver's where they had a mecca of 6" paper pads ... as well as new Hero Arts stamps and other fun goodies.

We ended our evening in downtown Madison with supper at The Old Fashioned.  We had tried to eat there on previous occasions, but the wait was always too long for our preference ... but early on a rainy Thursday  night turned out to be perfect timing. 

I have a rule at a restauarant ... if there's a dish on the menu named after the restaurant, you should probably try it ... so I went with the Old Fashioned Burger and Haystack Onion Strings (the #30 if you're ordering) ... it was fantastic ... who knew an egg on a burger would be so delicious (and no, I didn't even begin to eat the entire plate).

Today the weatherman is predicting near record high temperatures with a little rainfall, so we'll be heading out for another day of Wisconsin exploration.

Comments

[Ardyth Percy-Robb]

How fun! I visit my sister in Johnson Creek WI every year! I'm keenly following your adventure to make a list of things to do next time! Don't forget Taliesin (Frank Lloyd Wright's house/school) in Spring Green - it's wonderful!