Cindy's Excellent Vacation - Part II, GA & WI

And the adventure continued with week long visits to Lawrenceville, GA (near Atlanta), Madison, WI, Baltimore and Boston. I planned to be with Christine in August when she moved from Baltimore to Boston so I filled in the 2 intervening weeks with, first, a visit to my mom in Georgia and then a trip to Madison to check out Patrick's and Emily's new digs.



Lawrenceville, GA

While in Georgia I started filling my shopping list - some small housewares but mostly books and movies. I ended up taking 26 books back to Mexico with me. Also 12 video cassettes, 2 DVDs, 2 CDs and about a dozen craft magazines. A quite respectable haul, I thought.


My niece Carly (Betsy's oldest) and her 2 kids, Brooklyn and Brendan, were also visiting.


Carly's plans included a visit to the Cabbage Patch Babyland General Hospital. This is the "delivery" patch. Mom and I tagged along and I gave thanks that I didn't have any little girls to buy for.


My sister Judy and her family also live in Lawrenceville and we got together several times for meals. This is Christian, holding his nephew Noah.


The final and crowning activity was a group pilgrimage to Helen, GA to go tubing. Mom and I took it easy in the shade and got pictures of the finish while Cary's crew and most of Judy's enjoyed the river. Judy's oldest son Dan is in the foreground with Carly and Brooklyn right behind him.


Madison, WI


Next stop - Wisconsin. We ran into these cows when Patrick, Emily, and I visited New Glarus, a town settled by Swiss immigrants in the mid 1800s. Wisconsin means cheese and . . .


. . . beer, right? New Glarus also had a brand new brewery to explore.


They kept me well entertained, starting with a trip downtown to an outdoor jazz performance. The summer jazz series was conducted right next to the Capitol building, which, later in the week, was also the site for . . .


. . . the largest farmers' market I've ever been to. There was a solid wall of booths surrounding all 4 sides of the State Capitol.


The week long visit included several long walks to admire the fine houses and gardens in Patrick's neighborhood plus a bike trip to Olbrich Botanical Gardens. Emily and Patrick are posing in front of the Thai Pavilion in the gardens.


Another day Emily took us around the Univiversity of Wisconsin campus. These picnic tables are right outside the student union. There is also a beach just out of sight to the right. Seemed more like California than Wisconsin. Lucky students - until winter hits.