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January 25, 2005 - 12:10 a.m.

My Mini-Vacation

My to-do list is starting to become oppressive, and one of tomorrow's (well, I guess today's, actually) is to update my diary. So here I am, in between bone-shaking hiccups (don't know where the hiccups came from, but they're mighty distracting.)

Anyway, I left off with my trip to Madison last weekend, I believe. Rob's business partner was coming into town, and I had a long weekend. The confluence of these two events led me to buy a ticket to Madison, Wisconsin to visit Inga and her boyfriend. I had to fly at ridiculously early hours to avoid paying $500, but it was worth it. It also happened to be a frigid weekend, at Madison's standards, which translates to hovering around zero degrees. My southern blood doesn't do well that cold. More specifically, my skin doesn't do well that cold. My legs have finally stopped itching from the cracking they experienced in the first few hours I was up there.

I'm rambling. The visit was really great. We had a nice, leisurly time to catch up on Saturday. We went to the Great Dane Brewpub, where I had the Wisconsin version of bangers and mash, brats and mash. And beer. Lots of beer. Then we watched some football. Then we got Ethiopian food, none of the dishes I can remember, but it was all tasty. Ethiopian coffee is excellent, something to remember. We capped off the night with a trip to the Paradise Lounge, a quaint local dive with excellent light fixtures.

Sunday started off with a jaunt around the capitol building, navigating amongst the cross-country skiers. It was surreal, but there were cross-country trials happening around the Wisconsin State Capitol. Once we made it inside, I got to see the lovely badger statues. Wisconsin is a bit obsessed with their badgers. I had no idea. For brunch, we went to a deli (Ella's Deli, if I remember correctly) that had great Jewish deli food and tons of fun moving toys decorating the whole place. It was a kid's feast for the eyes. Inga and I then headed off on a Wisconsin Odyssey. The Mustard Museum in Mt. Horeb, the Trollway, a glimpse of Little Norway, down to New Glarus for beer and a glimpse of Little Switzerland, and then a stop by a cheese mecca. For dinner, Inga and I went to the Tornado Room for cocktails, steaks and Yorkshire pudding. It was one of those great, classic Midwestern steakhouses that serves a wedge of iceberg lettuce with Roquefort dressing. After a nightcap of some bourbon, I crashed for a few hours before my very early cab ride to the airport.

As you can see, food was a focus of the trip. Also talking, that good, detailed type of talking that Inga and I used to remark on. For the first few months that we were living together, we always wondered how we didn't get sick of each other. There was more to catch up on this time, but it was obvious that we're not sick of each other yet!

It's now late, and I still have reading to do for class. This was the abbreviated rendition of my trip to Madison, but I think I captured the essence. I wish I could visit friends like that every month, but alas, life doesn't allow that.

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