Madison

Day 3 (6th August)

Sporty day today: we slept in late in the morning and headed out in the afternoon to Devil's Lake, a state park not far from here that is a glacial formed lake. It was beautiful, and featured a couple of cool rock features too like a rock balanced on another as if someone had just put it there. We walked around the lake and it took about 4 hours, 30 minutes so we were pretty tired by the end of the day!

To reward ourselves for such physical exertion, we ate at a steakhouse in the evening called Texas Roadhouse. In this place they have huge steaks and ribs just like we love them, and also peanuts in the shell (cacahuetes dans leur coque) which people just threw on the floor (ils mettaient les coques par terre)! Also Alex told our server that it was Florian's birthday so after dinner she came over with a saddle (une selle) and he had to pretend to do a rodeo! The whole restaurant gave him a big Yee-haa! It was hilarious. Definitely worth telling a lie! (mensonge)


Day 4 (7th August)

Got up early today and went to a local brewery where we had a tour of the beer making process and tasted a couple of their beers. They are well-known in Wisconsin and we have been drinking one, Spotted Cow, since we arrived. It was nice to see the local produce again, and to try it!

We then returned to the mall to check out the shops we didn't have time for last time and also to check out a shop of hockey equipment for Florian. He was excited like a child in a sweet shop but couldn't find gloves (des gants) in his size.

We had an early dinner that night with Alex's parents who came up from Freeport in Illinois (about an hour and a half away) . It was really great to meet them and also Alex's brother. We ate in a restaurant where they use only Wisconsin produce so we had some great cheddar, good beer and a good time.

We then headed to the bar on the lake shore and watched a reggae band. It was good but a little cold because it was windy.