8-10-10

BEACON ON A HILL

JUDICIAL BRANCH

SENATE AND ASSEMBLY

EXECUTIVE BRANCH

LADY LIBERTY

EXACT LIBERTY BELL REPLICA (MINUS CRACK)


WISCONSIN STATE CAPITAL BUILDING

Emily and Mike were gracious hosts and fantastic tour guides. We walked around State street and bought ice cream cones from a local ice cream parlor that sources all its cream from Wisconsin. It was some of the best ice cream we've ever had.

Craving more dairy treats, we tasted cheeses at Fromagination, a gourmet cheese shop that can put Murray's in its place. The shop featured cheeses from all over the world, but we only sampled cheeses in the Wisconsin case. We tried Hook's Blue, a truffle infused sheep's milk cheese, a 12 year aged cheddar, and the local featured creamery's creation, Pleasant Ridge. The small nibbles left us wanting more, so we ordered fried cheese curds and a cheese platter at a local bar, which featured 50+ Wisconsin beers on tap. We thought it only right to pair local dairy with local brews. Traditional fried cheese, namely fried mozzarella sticks, compares to the fried cheese curds we sampled in the same way a crack in the sidewalk compares to The Grand Canyon. There's just no going back now.

With our fill of dairy, we toured the state capital building to fill up on trivia. Historically, it is Madison's 3rd capital building. The first, erected in 1838 proved too small, the second, burnt down in 1904, and the current, was completed in 1917 for $7.25 million. A 14 year renovation was completed in 2002, costing $158.8 million. The building, from the ground to the top of the statue on the dome, is 284.4 feet high. This total height is surprisingly 16 feet and 2 inches taller than the nation's capital building. Our self guided tour was pleasant, and the roof top observation deck was even equipped with solar panels: tradition meets progress.