Every few years I talk Beer Geek into venturing north to the cold and snow. So, we hopped on a plane last Sunday and headed to the land of beer, cheese, and most of my family. Meanwhile, back in DC, they were hitting record highs. Oh well. Our first day we headed to this funky little train "museum". The owner is a real train engineer and he's set up this extensive layout of trains with moving displays powered by motors from things like microwaves and toasters. His attention to detail was pretty amazing! After our train adventure, we headed for New Glarus Brewery. We hadn't visited the new location yet and it was quite impressive. After we wandered around, we tasted a few beers and bought some to take home with us. (New Glarus … [Read more...]
Beer Brats and Ukrainian Coleslaw
As you can probably guess from the title, I'm still in Wisconsin. (What could be more Wisconsin the bratwurst? OK, maybe cheese...) Anyways, I've been indulging in a few of my favorite foods and drinks while I'm here. The beauty of being here in August is the bounty from my mom's garden. I've been indulging freely, which may have made me a bit fragrant on my last run. Ahem. I've eaten more cucumbers, grape tomatoes, zucchini, and eggplant than most people eat in a year! I've also gorged on my mom's awesome coleslaw. It's her version of the coleslaw that their host family fed them when my parents visited the Ukraine a few summers ago. I am not a fan of creamy coleslaw, but this vinegar based coleslaw totally floats my boat. … [Read more...]
Ultimate Coffee Date – June
It's June! We are only two weeks away from school getting out. Woot! I'm joining up with my friends Deborah, Coco, and Lynda for a virtual coffee date. If we were having coffee, I'd tell you that I'm really tired this morning. We went to one of our favorite events last night - Savor. It's all about food and beer and I ate way too much. I had a lot of good beers, but I actually did not drink as much as usual, probably because I ate so much LOL. I'll share more about the food and beer tomorrow. I was amazingly constrained with my pictures of brewers, but that I did set up a few private brewery tours for Beer Geek and myself. Meeting the brewers and owners is my favorite part of the event. Speaking of, I met Emily at the Ninkasa … [Read more...]
Five things I love about Madison, Wisconsin
I swear, this has been the longest week. We had snow on Tuesday that the county did not handle well, so the commute into school was awful for everyone. Then on Wednesday they had a delay for ice and on Thursday one for cold. Thankfully I work from home, but it has definitely messed with my week. Perhaps that's why Madison jumped to mind when I heard that the Friday Five topic today was 5 things you like about your favorite city. They at least know how to handle cold and snow LOL. … [Read more...]
Mostly Wordless Wednesday: swag & an outhouse
Anything on a stick, drowning worms, and amazing weather
Long time readers have probably guessed from the title that the boys and I are on our annual pilgrimage to the homeland AKA smalltown Wisconsin. The boys actually came straight here with my parents from Kentucky, while I flew in on Thursday. Since no August visit to Wisconsin is not complete without a trip to the state fair, we went straight there from the airport. The highlights: You could get any food imaginable on a stick. Seriously. You could also get good craft beer. Yay! My city boys got to see a ton of animals. There are tractors nearly as big as my house! The rides were a blast. No one hurled. Not even me (remember that hangover I mentioned?) The people watching was amazing. (Pretty sure … [Read more...]
Accidental speedwork and “Thirsty Thursday”
Yesterday I planned to run when I woke up, but I had a raging headache that was likely a result of dehydration. I ended up spending most of the morning working on my computer and drinking glass after glass of nuun. When I finally changed out of my pajamas (at a time later than I'm willing to confess), I changed into running clothes. Unfortunately, by that time, it was pretty darn warm out. I pretty much puttered the day away - some time working, some time doing an errand with the boys, a few random situps. I still planned to run, but the likelihood started to slip away. And then it happened. The boys decided they wanted their grandparents to take them out biking (my parents own 2 tandem bikes). Bam! I ran along (and behind and … [Read more...]
Run, Walk, Beer
Beer Geek and I are currently killing time waiting for the Great Taste of the MidWest. This is by far the best brew festival we attend each year. TONS of beers to try. Attendance by a lot of the actual brewers and owners. Great location right on Lake Monona. And this year, we are blessed by AMAZING weather. I got a tweet from Steena at AHappyPace asking me to run with her this morning, so I dragged my lazy butt out of bed to go for a 4.5 mile run at 6am. The weather was perfect, the conversation was good, and the scenery was beautiful. When I returned from the run, Beer Geek was bored, so I showered and we headed out for a walk. 1.5 miles later, I was standing in front of the State Capitol building. Four miles total later, … [Read more...]
Wordless Wednesday: Wisconsin
State #5 – running in hell
At the hotel before the raceToday dawned warm and humid in Wisconsin and just kept getting more so. Dad and I walked over to the race start at about 7:30 am. Neither of us had gotten a great night's sleep and we'd been up for a while. With the heat and the sun, it felt more like we were starting the run at mid-day. Not what I'd call a good sign.Mile 1 was ok, with a fair amount of downhill, but by mile 2, I was already feeling the heat. The course turned out to be a bunch of long slow inclines (which I HATE) and not a whole lot of shade for big chunks of it. There were plenty of water stops and locals with hoses and sprinklers, but I should have taken my fuel belt with gatorade. Dad kept me on pace and we managed to finish the first … [Read more...]
