is your state in need of rain?
have no fear! we will come visit and the moisture will follow!
we are starting to see a common theme...
but although we started our day with rain while driving alongside the mississippi river, the sun decided to poke through the clouds as soon as we arrived in madison. it was a beautiful day!
here is our view as we drove along the river this morning... amazing yellow wildflowers.
we love seeing all of the green! no more deserts!
poot just riding shotgun... right before the torrential downpour...
and here it comes! quite amazing.
while the sky opened, i drove and drove while paul kept up with the trip-planning process. my nerves were shot after about 30 minutes of consistent full-speed windshield wiper action when all of a sudden, i realized that the gps had literally led us to the middle of nowhere. paul looked up and calmly said, 'oh, we're in iowa now.' great! but why have we been led to a remote intersection with no historical monument or cheesy attraction in sight? he then typed a new address in the gps which told me to backtrack the past few miles. huh? i asked paul why i was being directed to drive back... in the pouring rain... from where i just came... back into wisconsin. my endearing husband smiled and said, 'i just wanted to drive into iowa.' what?! really?! was it worth my sanity of maintaining composure while keeping us alive on the road in the deteriorating weather... just to say that we stepped tire in iowa?! i'm pretty sure my mouth dropped open and stayed ajar for the next several hours. i promptly put the car in park in the middle of the flash-flooding road and took him up on his offer to drive. and then i took a nap.
well, we went to iowa... for about 2 minutes.
and then we were back in wisconsin.
we only had about 3 hours of driving today (woot woot!) and made it to madison, wi for an afternoon of fun and relaxation. a surprising number of our friends in california are from the midwest... several from wisconsin... and they recommended a few hot spots for us to visit.
first up, the university of wisconsin - madison. what a beautiful view from 'the terrace' on campus!
(aunt louie, this cow sailboat made us think of you and uncle mike immediately!)
paul decided that it would have been great to attend undergrad at a school that had windsurfing, sailing, and swimming within arms' reach!
the rain had gone, and the sun was shining bright!
this was livi dog's first true day out in the heat... what will be similar to nc... and she was panting like... well... a dog. poor baby! don't worry, she was kept well-hydrated and in the shade when possible throughout the day.
livi dog photo(s) of the day:
we had to give miss livi a lesson in manners as she quickly retreated to her california/stanford lifestyle where she could hop in any fountain nearby. we weren't quite sure of the rules in madison, so poor livi had to be held back from participating in her favorite pastime. you gotta admit, we have a water dog on our hands.
some beautiful buildings on campus...
(paul likes to this that this one is a fort...)
the breathtaking capitol building!
the wisconsinites sure are soaking up the recent pop-culture honey badger references! paul took a tour of the capitol building while i walked with livi around the square's art festival... and he found a badger on the premises! that badger didn't give a whirl...
more photos of the capitol building...
we dropped livi off at the fabulously air-conditioned hotel (we got one of the last 2 available rooms...!!!) and walked down state street. you wouldn't believe what we found... sunshine daydream! (the name that sarah, paul's sister, had dreamed that she named her son when she was pregnant with her first.) we got so excited and just had to take a photo!
and then... right next door... we found a laotian + thai restaurant! one our best friends, vansana, and his sister are opening their very own amazing laotian restaurant + bar... bida manda... in downtown raleigh THIS SUMMER! it made us immediately think of them and we got so pumped for their grand opening. if you live in raleigh or are visiting raleigh, be sure to check out bida manda (and follow them on facebook!)... we know that we will definitely be there on many a nights, so we'll see you there!
we wrapped up our day with some local brew + fried cheese curds (paul) and a cool glass of wine + american frites (megs). here is a shot of paul's fried cheese curds... i heard they were delish!
we made our way back to the hotel and have been relaxing ever since... it's been such a great day!
tomorrow we plan to head to milwaukee for some fun at the local breweries and summer festivals... can't wait!
safe traveling and much love,
the mobleys
(p.s. thank you to the many of you who have shared so much excitement and support with our big homeowning news! we can't wait to have everyone over for many good times in the future. we are certainly blessed to be surrounded by so much love! we are hoping that the rest of the home-purchasing process - inspection, closing, etc. - goes as well as everything has thus far. keep those fingers crossed!!)
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