Vacations are Great

When we told most people where we were going for our 1st wedding anniversary we got a very confused look and big "Why?" Well when you have 2 people that love vacations and bratwursts you have a recipie for a lot of fun! Actually, it's still potential fun because we haven't been to the brat fest yet so we can't say weather we enjoyed it yet.

We had planned to go yesterday, but the forecast called for intermittent showers and we didn't really want to be in the rain all day. So instead, we headed to the Wollersheim Winery. It was absolutely gorgeous! From the drive there, to the winery itself, and back to the hotel, we noted several times how beautiful Wisconsin is. We never knew what it was like up here, but both said we could see ourselves living here. Don't get too excited though...no plans on moving quite yet!

We took a tour of the winery, and got to see the process and learned about different types of grapes, I took several pics, so I'll have to post them somewhere and let everyone look at them -- OR, everyone could come visit us and then we'd show you! :)

After our tour we were really hungry so we asked one of the employees if there was a good restaurant around and she pointed us in the direction of a nearby town. It was called the Blue Spoon Creamery Cafe. It was a simple little town, and they had soup, salad, and sandwiches. They had outdoor seating on the bank of the river so we had a gorgeous view while we ate!

We then came back to the hotel and relaxed before going out for the evening. Andrea has always wanted to eat falafels, so we looked up some Middle Eastern food on the 'net and found the King of Falafel restaurant in downtown Madison. It was a shady little place. We entered thru the back door, down a short hallway, and thru some swinging doors. The restaurant itself had about 12 tables, and there were a handful of people there with only 1 waiter. The music was nice, until we were there 5 minutes and then the CD started to skip and all that played was the last 5-10 seconds over, and over, and over, and over again. Needless to say, we were pretty good at humming along by the time we left!

The food was really good. Andrea loved the falafels, I think we're going to try and make them sometime at home. I also had the Chicken Shwarma...for those of you who've never had Mid East food...you gotta try it! It's wonderful. The tastes took me back to the winding, cramped alleys of the the West Bank. Would love to go back sometime. I just need to convince Andrea to go with me!

Today we're headed to the bratfest. We'll probably eat too much, but hey, that's what vacation is all about, right? We've also come to find out that during the summer, Madison has some sort of a festival every weekend, so if you're looking to go somewhere...that's always an option.
But I will warn you...if you live where you have to drive thru Chicago...be prepared to wait, and wait, and wait some more. That was my first driving experience thru downtown Chi-town and if I would never have to do that again...I really wouldn't mind at all! Our best friend on this trip so far is our GPS. It's been a life saver with directions. But I find myself not paying attention how I'm getting places.

We're off to the bratfest!