Tag: Wisconsin State Capitol Building

Tumbled Rocks Trail

On our recent trip to Madison, Wisconsin we toured the beautiful state capital building, walked around the farmer’s market that occupies four sides of a large city block on which the capitol building stands (with hundreds of other people).

We visited Olbrich Botanical Gardens, ate at a few unique restaurants, and shopped a couple thrift stores. It was hot and humid, but we had a good time in spite of it. I have been to Madison many times, but Gary had never been there. He liked it.

On our way back to Minnesota, we stopped at Devils Lake State Park, a park near Baraboo WI, which is a half hour from Madison. Our friends knew of a unique trail there so we decided to take a hike.

It’s called Tumbled Rocks Trail. It was a narrow, winding, asphalt trail through humongous boulders…not “rocks”  on each side of the trail. The trail followed Devils Lake and was scenic (although there was some haze from the wildfires burning in northern MN and Canada). 

It was fairly easy walking on the water’s edge trail. The large boulders (Quartzite) created a natural cliffs as they tumbled down the hillside. I’m not sure where the boulders came from, or what made them stop where they did, and why they stay in place now, but it was an interesting hike. And it was pretty, with Devils Lake on one side and the boulders lining the western side of the lake. I like the name of the trail, although I do believe it should be named Tumbled Boulders Trail, not Tumbled Rocks Trail…although scenic, these are not your lovely, smooth rock piles.

We have been to many of Minnesota’s wonderful State Parks. Other than Interstate State Park we have not been to any Wisconsin State Parks. It was fun to finally see Devils Lake State Park, since for many years I have driven by the sign for it along the 90/94 Interstate through Wisconsin. 

Our stop piqued my interest…maybe it’s time to start looking at other parks in Wisconsin: Mirror Lake State Park, Governor Dodge State Park…there are 50 of them in the state.

Dane County Farmer’s Market

Madison Wisconsin’s Dane County hosts a large farmer’s market every summer. Vendors set up on the edge of the tree-lined sidewalks along the circumference of the Wisconsin’s State Capitol building, known as “the Square.” Its wide sidewalks accommodate the many shoppers that support this great farmer’s market.

The backdrop for the wonderful Dane County Farmer’s market.

Online descriptions of the market: “All of the items for sale are grown, raised, and produced in Wisconsin by the person behind the stand.”, and “As a producer-only farmers’ market, our vendors are limited by their production and harvest yields. This means that they may sell out before the (posted time) close of Market.”

The capital building is a beautiful setting for this market. In 2021, the market opened on June 17th and runs through November 13th. My friend from Indiana and I met for a couple of days in Madison, and we happened to be there on a Saturday, so we took advantage of exploring this bountiful market.

Vendors at the farmer’s market.

On our first walk around, we decided just look and consider all that was for sale: local honey, yummy looking baked goods, fresh harvested vegetables, beautiful flowers and flower bouquets, many flavors of jams and jellies and a wide variety of cheeses. We thought on our second time around we would purchase what we had decided to buy.

Gorgeous bouquets of flowers for sale. photo by FR.

One special treat we had decided on was a savory danish, but much to our dismay and surprise, when we got back to the stand, she had sold out all the savory treats. Lesson learned. However, we did buy other bakery items and some fresh carrots, including purple carrots. In place of the savory danish, we bought a cashew croissant.

The Dane County farmer’s market, on The Square, in Madison, Wisconsin.

The most unique item we bought was homemade graham crackers. I have never seen homemade graham crackers before, and was intrigued.  It reminded me of homemade marshmallows I made years ago, after a friend gave me her homemade marshmallows along with a gift of hot chocolate mix. Another friend and I decided to try making marshmallows and they turned out well. But, I’m not so sure about making graham crackers. They seem to need extra special care. If I lived in the Madison area I would go back and buy more homemade graham crackers. They were delicious.

The Madison skyline from the shores of Lake Monona.

We wanted to sit outside on the capitol steps with coffee and watch all the shoppers and browsers pass by, but the three coffee shops near the Square had extra-long lines so we decided to take our tasty treats and find coffee nearby Lake Monona. We found a comfortable spot outside to enjoy our coffee and treats with a beautiful view of the Madison skyline along the water’s edge on this glorious fall, but summer-like, day. It was a great way to end our time together, our mini get-away, before each driving our separate ways back home: me to Minnesota and she to Indiana.