If you want to be a Badger, just come with me

This weekend my wife and I celebrated our first anniversary (a little early) by taking a little weekend trip to Madison. We didn’t have much planned and instead just wanted to wander downtown and find things to do.

We arrived on Friday evening and found a place to eat. Our hotel was located next to the capitol building so we walked around the building as it was after hours and Kaitlyn got to see the building up close for the first time since she was a grade-schooler. The intricacy and architectural masterpiece of the building was what amazed her and we both agreed that we needed to go back when we had time to take a tour of the inside.

After walking around for a bit, we decided we wanted to watch some live music. We found a dueling piano bar and set up camp in a corner as the act began. We listened to a couple of songs and then Kaitlyn decided she wanted to request a song in honor of our first anniversary – unbeknownst to me.

As most people close to me know, I’m pretty shy in crowds where I don’t know people. Having one of the performers say, “This rendition of ‘Wagon Wheel’ by Darius Rucker goes out to Kaitlyn and Neal on their first anniversary,” was not something I expected to hear.

I immediately turned red as the crowd looked around for who these Kaitlyn and Neal characters were. I was content cowering in the corner and keeping everyone guessing while Kaitlyn threw her hands up and shouted so everyone knew it was us.

The song was played. I sang along. Nobody was hurt and all was well and good.

The next day, we had our only planned event – the Wisconsin Badger football game. We probably did the trip backwards as we got a hotel room for Friday night so after the Badger game, we were tasked with driving home. We walked around the campus area of UW-Madison and took in some pre-game festivities at the South Union and one of the local establishments. The heat was insane. I’ve been to Milwaukee Brewer games where it’s been over 90 degrees but Miller Park... errr, American Family Field is nice because you can usually find a shaded spot. Camp Randall Stadium is much more open and our seats were smack dab in the sunlight. We packed into the bleachers as we sat shoulder to shoulder with other people who were cooking in the heat. We showed up a bit late to the game and left a bit early. It was not the ideal Badger game experience we were looking for but we did get to see the new-look Badger team. It was Kaitlyn’s first Badger game and I think she had more fun walking around and enjoying the band play at areas around the city before the game than the actual football game. The heat made it uncomfortable but I guess that just means we’ll have to go back again for a cooler game.

We had a blast during our short trip and I might have enjoyed the nap I took when I got home on Saturday evening just as much.

Side note: If you would have asked me if I’d be writing about the weather and naps 10 years ago, I’d have thought you were nuts.

Speeding

Through

L

ife