6/22/12 The Jolly
Green Giant
The cat and I agree on this:
we are glad to be off the road today and in beautiful Madison, WI. Of course, the cat is spending most of her
time under the bed in the guest room, but Dwight and I are having a great time
seeing a few sights.
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| Jolly Green Giant in Blue Earth, Minnesota |
Let’s start with a
Jolly Green Giant sighting yesterday, in Blue Earth, Minnesota. No kidding – it was 60 feet tall! If we had all the time in the world to drive
across America we would do a detour for every little thing like this. It’s kind of like the road trip in the movie “Michael”
when John Travolta, playing an angel, wants to stop at the world’s largest
frying pan and the world’s biggest ball of twine. Love that!
Maybe it’s somehow related to our love of Godzilla movies. (If you didn’t
know this about us, now you do – we own at least a dozen movies starring the
Big Guy). Anyway, the Green Giant was
cool, and Asaka will be getting another T-shirt.
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| The UW Arboretum |
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| Libby and Dave |
Today we spent some
time seeing a few sights in Madison with our friends. We started out at the University of Wisconsin
Arboretum, taking a walk through restored prairie and woodlands – Aldo Leopold
country. Seeing the difference between
the flora at the arboretum and the altered prairie we saw driving through
hundreds of miles was stunning. I
thought of the differences that humans have made in the oak woodlands and
riparian corridors in California, and am glad that good folks all over are
working to preserve the natural glory of our land (shout out to the San Joaquin
River Parkway!).
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| Wiener Mobile at the Arboretum! |
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| At Epic, you can take a slide instead | of the stairs |
Next was lunch and a
walkabout at Epic, the workplace of Amy, our friends’ daughter. Epic, a computer medical records company, has
a huge campus with many different buildings, each with a whimsical theme: dragons, space, Central Park, and more. The architectural and landscape design is so
much fun, and everyone who works there appears to be no more than 30 – 35 years
old, most considerably younger. I felt
conspicuously middle-aged! Young
computer geeks – apply for a job here!
You’ll love it.
Then, a relaxing visit by Lake Mendota, a lovely spot on the
UW campus, catching up on more news and thoughts with our friends. Tomorrow morning it’s the Madison Farmer’s
Market, a huge and fabulous experience, then it’s off to somewhere in Ohio.
We’re getting close now.
Just two more nights and we’ll be in Maryland.
