Tag: Weekend Trip

South Bend, IN Overview

July 13, 2015 / Rachel / 0 Comments

The first year or so of our time in Chicago was HARD. It was challenging physically, emotionally, spiritually; we were in our first year of marriage, I had some health issues that cropped up, and Matt was learning a very demanding job. We frequently (about once a month) took short trips for quick weekend escapes. It was during this time that we felt rested and enjoyed connecting with each other as we explored new places together.

We decided on a whim on a Monday that we would go out of town the following weekend. We didn’t know where or what we would do, we just knew we needed to get away. So, I set to researching! As I started to plan our trip, I checked the forecast and saw we could be in for some snow. But, it was Monday, so I set to planning with the thought in mind that “we won’t go far”.

Looking at a map to determine what “far” meant, I saw South Bend, IN. It wasn’t huge on the map but also not so small that there wouldn’t be things to do there. So, I set to researching to see if I could set an itinerary. Yelp and TripAdvisor (otherwise known as my trip planning BFFs) listed several restaurants we could try as well as things to do. After doing some research, I shared our potential itinerary with Matt. He was initially reluctant because…well, it honestly wasn’t that exciting on paper. But, it was going to be a short trip, and really we just wanted to get away, so we decided to move forward. Matt found a hotel and I worked on getting all the other details together.

Marigold Kitchen & The Old Fashioned Restaurants

April 21, 2015 / Rachel / 0 Comments

For us, it is an obvious choice–when we spend a couple days in a new city, we want to try to get a good mix of the unique and local favorite restaurants–no chain restaurants for us!

I already shared a little about the couple fun places we found in two previous posts–Baumgartner’s in Monroe, WI, and Hubbard Ave Diner in Middleton, WI, but the places I want to share today are right in the heart of downtown Madison.

If memory serves me correctly, we visited these two places on the same day, Marigold Kitchen for breakfast, and The Old Fashioned for dinner. In between dining at these two fantastic places, we hung out in downtown Madison visiting the Capitol, a couple museums, and enjoying the downtown area.

Marigold Kitchen is seated about a half block East of the Capitol on Pinckney Street, we saw that it was pretty popular among locals, so we thought we’d try it out. They only serve breakfast/brunch and lunch, and based on our plans for the day, we decided the night before that we should get there early. Upon entering, it was slightly confusing how the operation worked, but we took our cues from other patrons and got in line to order. After placing our order, we found a couple chairs at the counter. We both love omelettes–I opted for one with zucchini, roasted red peppers and goat cheese, while Matt chose one with chorizo and a corn relish. Major fail on my part for not snapping a picture, but Matt’s will have to suffice! The omelettes were served with “Marigold potatoes” and toast. Despite our attempt at getting there early, things seemed like they were starting to get chaotic; the busyness made for a loud environment, but the food was delicious, the servers were kind and helpful and we would definitely go back again!

The Old Fashioned is also on Pinckney Street, but it faces the Capitol, so if you’re lucky enough, you end up with a view! My word of caution about The Old Fashioned–it is a VERY popular place, be prepared to wait. Unfortunately, we didn’t know that it was so popular, so we ended up waiting for a very long time–at the time I don’t believe they took reservations, but that may have changed. So, what makes The Old Fashioned such a hotspot? They pride themselves on being quintessentially Wisconsin–their food sources are all from within the state and they love to share it with anyone who will listen. So, of course we had to start with a cheese plate–remember, WE’RE IN WISCONSIN! Matt ended up with a Sheboygan bratwurst with beer-batter cheese curds, and I straight up went for the carbs and had the Grilled Cheese with both Swiss and Cheddar (I probably had a side salad too out of guilt, but it was not memorable). Everything was absolutely delicious and aside from the wait, this was by far my favorite restaurant we went to during our trip.

After ~~stuffing ourselves~~ finishing our meal, we went for a nice long walk around the Capitol and surrounding area–what a great way to end our day!

Madison Trip Overview

April 13, 2015 / Rachel / 2 Comments

Matt and I have a tradition of alternating years that we plan something for our anniversary and birthdays. We’ve done everything from a weekend trip, to a basketball game, to (last year) eating at Wendy’s with our three week old. We both love this because we get the opportunity to surprise each other and not one person always has to be responsible.

For our second anniversary, we were both knee deep in work. Before I started at my full-time job, we had been taking short weekend trips about once every 6-8 weeks, but with both of us working it had become a lot harder to get away. We both desperately needed a change of scenery, even if for just a few days! We both love Wisconsin and the previous trips we had taken there, so naturally when it was my turn to plan, I chose to put together a long weekend trip where we might be able to explore a new area of the state.

Now, you’ve probably already picked up that we enjoy visiting breweries and trying new beers as well as exploring whatever new town/city we happen upon. Originally, I had the idea to drive out to a bed and breakfast that was also a brewery(!); I was SO excited about this. You can imagine my sadness when I researched and found out that it was in a super small town, where by my Google search, there wouldn’t be any restaurants and the brewery itself wouldn’t be open. I tried SO hard to tack this on to either the first night or last night of the trip, but it just did not pan out. So, back the drawing board! Thankfully I found a few great online resources to look up various breweries in southern Wisconsin and came across four different breweries within a couple hours of each other–two of which happened to be in Madison.

Once I figured out where in Wisconsin we would be going, it was easy to put the rest of the trip together. When I trip plan for us, I use TripAdvisor, Yelp, and even city websites to create a list of a handful of places that we might want to visit, this includes restaurants, breweries, museums, local events, points of interest, etc. I try to gather all the helpful information such as hours of operation, address, tickets needed, admission price, and any other helpful information. If I’m feeling really ambitious I put everything on a map so we can easily see what things we might want to do on the same day. We usually don’t set an itinerary unless we really want to see a particular museum and say it is only open on Friday afternoon, then we plan accordingly.

So, some of the things you’ll be reading about the next few days are from this southern Wisconsin and Madison trip. Because of our work schedules, we took three whole days (including travel), leaving on a Friday morning and returning Sunday late afternoon. We decided that we could have easily spent one more day in Madison because there were things we did pass up, but if you’re looking for a snapshot, I think we captured it. Here is an overview of what we’ll be covering the next few days.

Tuesday — Baumgartner’s Cheese Store and Tavern & Minhas Brewery, Monroe WI

Wednesday — New Glarus Brewing

Thursday — Hubbard Ave Diner, National Mustard Museum & Capital Brewery, Middleton WI

Monday — Wisconsin State Capitol & Madison Museum of Modern Art

Tuesday — The Old Fashioned & Marigold Kitchen

Wednesday — Ale Asylum