As many of you know, I live in Illinois and I LOVE to travel. Traveling the world to me is as important to having a career. There is SO much to see and experience in this world and traveling not only enriches your soul but expands your mind and creativity. With that being said, traveling includes going across the world, across a lake, or taking a bike ride to another town. Like I said, there is SO much to see! A couple weekends ago (end of November), M and I decided to take a weekend getaway to Madison, Wisconsin with my sister and my sister’s significant other.
From where we live, Madison is about a two hour drive. Not bad! During our trip, I got to see where M went to Medical School and where he lived during that time. We went to the University of Wisconsin vs Purdue University (my alma mater) football game. WI won. The game was a great time…if you are in the Madison, WI area, I highly recommend attending a game. WI football is fun to watch! (pretty sure they’re 8th in the USA as of today in 2019..and according to https://www.espn.com/ I am correct!)
We did a lot of bar hopping on a very popular downtown Madison, WI street (State Street) which is for more of the adult population vs the college town population. It was a lot of fun, they have such a variety of bars/restaurants/shops on and near State Street. The shops are small “mom and pop shops/boutiques” so you alllllll know I was in heaven. We stopped in a few cute shops after brunch on Sunday before we headed home.
We stayed at The Madison Concourse hotel and am very glad we did. This hotel is right by the State Capitol building (about a three-five minute walk away) and very close to State Street. Everything is within walking distance from the State Capitol building besides the UW football stadium (Camp Randall Stadium). No worries though, The Madison Concourse hotel has a shuttle ($2.00/person) at any time to transport you to the stadium, if you want. The rooms at The Madison Concourse were clean and the staff were very nice. There is also a Starbucks on site at the hotel and a underground parking garage for $15.00/day. The Madison Concourse hotel waived the parking fee when we checked in though…talk about guest satisfaction! Overall, I would definitely stay at the Madison Concourse hotel again.
Below are some photos of the Wisconsin State Capitol. I highly recommend taking a quick tour of the building. There is no cost to tour and they have a packet of self guided tour information at the “information desk” on the first floor. Make sure to grab one of these packets if you are visiting on the weekend because there are no scheduled tours on the weekends.
Other options to explore in Madison, WI:
- Madison Museum of Contemporary Art
- Madison’s Children Museum
- So many restaurants
- Henry Villas Zoo
- Olbrich Botanical Gardens
- Famers Market (Spring-Summer)
- Concerts on the lake
- Wisconsin Veterans Museum
- Lake Mendota/Lake Monica
- University of WI sporting events
- Wisconsin Governor’s Mansion
- Harold C Bradley House
- National Mustard Museum
This post is an important post because I want to stress “traveling” does not always have to mean traveling to another country or continent. Traveling can be an hour away to a different town/county/city. In this case above, Madison is only a two hour drive away from me and it was such a fun weekend getaway to Madison, Wisconsin I honestly cannot wait to go back and explore more! Another one of my favorite weekend getaway within the Midwest is linked here.
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XO
