Midwest Moments

Friday, November 10-Sunday, November 12: UW-Madison Badgers

Mr. E and I took advantage of the Veteran's Day holiday long weekend for a trip to the Midwest. I had wanted to fly directly in and out of Madison, but the flight options just didn't make sense, so instead we took a direct flight on United into O'Hare and then rented a car to drive to Madison. Luckily, we got upgraded to First Class, so our outbound trip was quite nice and included an opportunity for me to watch a French film, Portrait de la jeune fille en feu. Yay! 

There was very little traffic on a Friday afternoon, so we made the journey in under 2 hours, giving us plenty of time to check in at the SpringHill Suites near Hilldale Shopping Center, where we've stayed a couple of times before. We really enjoy the hotel room layout and other amenities, including the lovely indoor pool, generous breakfast buffet, and relatively well-stocked lobby bar options. 

It's also great to be so close to the shopping area, and after settling in at the hotel, we took some time to stop by our favorite card store, Paper Source, and then pick up food for our in-room dinner at Metcalfe's Market. We used Mr. E's laptop to watch one of the movies available through the virtual platform of the Sacramento French Film Festival.

The view from our corner room included a glimpse of the Lake as well as some of the taller buildings on campus.

On Saturday morning, after Zumba and yoga in the room and a short swim (for me) along with breakfast at the hotel (for both of us), we strolled over to Crescendo Espresso Bar to meet C&C from the UW Foundation to touch base and catch up. We had a little time after that conversation before heading to campus for the pre-game reception at Union South. The food offerings were pretty sparse for me, so I made sure to at least take advantage of the two free drinks provided as part of our entry fee.

We lucked out with the weather, which was sunny and clear although still quite chilly. However, given the rather poor play of the Badgers, even Mr. E was ready to leave at halftime. Of course we had to stay for the band's performance, which this time around featured songs by Frank Sinatra. The band is just amazing!!!

We had thought about going out to dinner after the game but instead opted to stay in again and just relax in our room with poke for me and Shake Shack for Mr. E.

Sunday morning was pretty much a repeat of my Zumba and yoga workout (no swim) and breakfast. Then we headed to Target for Mr. E to get Starbucks and for me to pick up some clothing items. We did a little browsing at the University Book Store. I wasn't in the mood for other shopping, so Mr. E wandered off on his own for a bit while I returned to the hotel and decided to take advantage of the empty pool for a short swim. 

Our late checkout in the early afternoon allowed us to have time for some side-by-side reading before getting into the car for the trip back to Chicago. We made a stop at the Belvedere Oasis on I-90 to pick up some lunch on the way. Mr. E dropped me off at Midway airport since my return flight was on Southwest. He returned the car and then took the train to downtown and spent the rest of the week with his Mom, working remotely from her condo near Millenium Park.

My return flight was uneventful, and the kitties welcomed me home with lots of meows and eventually some snuggles.