Madison, Wisconsin

Our trip continued to Madison, Wisconsin to spend some time with our son, Matt. Both Art and I were excited to see him, since Art hadn't been with him since Christmas and I since February. Matt had joined an adult hockey league, and did well during the year, scoring many goals and assists. We were able to watch him play 2 games during our visit and really had fun. It sure brought back memories of the years of hockey that Matt had played from a small child through high school, especially the smell of the ice rink!!!!!!! During one of the games, Matt got a penalty, and I managed to sneak up behind him and take a picture while he was sitting in the penalty box. I later found out his team mates saw me and told him his "Mommy" was taking pictures of him!

While in Madison, Art, Matt, and I took a drive to the nearby town of New Glarus to attend their Octoberfest. It was a quaint, small, town settled by the Swiss in the mid 1800's. The New Glarus Brewery, in the town, has become famous for some of it's beers, one of which is called, "Spotted Cow". A featured event at the festival, besides beer tasting, was an antique tractor pull. There were tractors from the 30's and 40's that took turns pulling a large weighted vehicle on wheels, and then the speed and length of the pull were measured and compared. It was interesting to watch.

Besides visiting Matt, we were also able to spend some time with our good friends, Dennis and Sandy Couture! As usual, it was great seeing them and we enjoyed lots of laughs together! We invited The Coutures to the RV for dinner, planning to eat outside. However, the weather didn't cooperate, so we stayed inside the RV, and managed to squeeze 5 adults around our RV kitchen table. Talk about close friends and family!! It turned out well and we all had a good time! One afternoon, Sandy took me for a new adventure, pottery painting. It is harder than it looks! We both painted cows, appropriate for Wisconsin. Sandy did Green Bay colors and mine was more eclectic. I don't think any new artists were discovered that day, but we sure had fun, and the cows turned out really cute!