Trip to Chicago

If we are friends on Facebook, you already know I went to Chicago a couple weeks ago to get my hair done at the Vidal Sassoon salon.  Over-indulgent, I know.  But it was a fun trip. 

Instead of driving all the way into the city (about a 2 hour drive from Stoughton), we drove to Elgin, IL and took a train into Chicago.  I had never ridden on a train before.

We had some time before boarding, so we stopped in this joint near the train station for a beer.

It's rare that I go into a bar and feel uncomfortable, but I did in this place.  There were about 6 people already in there at the bar seriously f*cked up. It was 11 AM.  They all turned and stared when we walked in.  Now I'm not going to say I've never been f*cked up before 11 AM before, but I'm guessing these folks are that way every day.  Scott and I had one quick beer and exited.

We went into this restaurant next because we both needed to use the bathroom and neither of us wanted to in the other joint with the scary people.

El Faro was cute inside and I suspect they serve up some good, authentic Mexican food.  We weren't hungry, but we did order a bottle of water in a lame attempt to compensate for using their restroom.  They didn't seem to mind.

Next it was time to board the train.

This was the first level of seating on the train.

On the way there, we sat in the upper level.  (that's me!)

The love of my life and cute boy Scottie looking out the window as we made our way towards the windy city.

Arriving in Chicago.

Immediately upon arrival, we got a cab and scoped out the location of the salon.  I didn't get a very good picture of the outside of it.  It's to the immediate right of the self-park sign in this picture.

We had a little bit of time to kill before my appointment and by this time were ready for another brew.  We went in a place close to the salon in the interest of time.  I don't remember what the name of it was.  It wasn't a bar.  It was a cafeteria style restaurant.  They were serving up some southern food in there that looked and smelled good as hell.  We didn't eat, but we did grab a quick cold one.  Here is the inside of the place.  The people who were eating in this place were throwing down, for real.

Scott and I found a small table in the front with lounge chairs.  Perfect.

I don't  know how it's possible for a Miller Lite in a bottle to be flat, but the one I got was.  Scott, being the gentleman and caretaker to me that he is, went back to exchange it.  Scott's chair without Scott.....

Scott's chair with Scott......

I do love that sweet boy.  I smile every time I look at a picture of him, even when he's doing "bottoms up".

After 1 brew, it was time for me to go to my appointment.  The Vidal Sassoon salon was less intimidating than I thought it would be.  The people were nice enough and it looked pretty much like I thought it would on the inside.

After $237.00 (before the tip....gulp), I left the Vidal Sassoon salon with a great haircut.  Ahhhh....thank goodness.  You can't get a decent hair cut in Wisconsin as far as I can tell.  There is a lot of bad hair up here.

While I was in the salon, my husband got tipsy on Old Fashioned's at various bars in the area.  I couldn't really be mad at him.  I, too, love Old Fashioned's and he did go with me, after all, to Chicago for my over-indulgent hair day.

I left the salon and hooked back up with Scott in perfect time to get to Union Station and hop on the train back to Elgin.  I think from the time we walked out of the door of our house until the time we walked back into the house was about 10 hours.  It was kind of a long day, but we had fun throughout the experience.  And, I got a good hair cut.  Mission accomplished.

Friday Fish Fry

Madison is the most Friday fish frying-est place I've ever encountered.  I think almost every restaurant in this area (and there are a lot) has a Friday fish fry.

I recently subscribed to the Madison magazine.  The most recent edition contains the Madison "Best Of" list.  Of course one of the categories is "best fish fry".  The top three, in order, are:
1.  The Avenue Bar (been there, but not for fish fry)
2.  Quivey's Grove (been there, but not for fish fry)
3.  The Old Fashioned (been there many times, but not for Friday fish fry)

A couple Friday's ago, Scott and I decided to start in the middle and go to Quivey's for their fish fry.  Of the top three, Quivey's is the closest to us and probably the most easily accessible.

Quivey's Grove.  There are 2 buildings/restaurants on a plot of land in what I believe is probably the town of Verona, just outside Fitchburg and about 20 minutes from our place in Stoughton.  Verona is like a suburb of Madison.  There is a lane leading back to the "barn" building at Quivey's Grove.  The "barn" is the more casual of the 2 restaurants

  image from mmm-yoso.typepad.com



This house/building sits in the front property and has the more formal dining, or so I've been told.  I've never been in there.  I've only been in the "barn", which is to the right and behind this building.

  image from countryinns.com

 


I've heard there is an underground tunnel that connects the house-building above and the barn-building.  I found this picture on line.

image from roadfood.com



Interesting, but I get claustrophobic just looking at it.

Scott and I discovered that the Friday fish fry at Quivey's Grove is so popular, they set up a big tent in front of the barn building to accommodate the crowd.  They put up a bunch of tables, serve food and have a small bar set up.  The tent appeared to be the place most of the families with small children flocked to, probably so the kids could play in the nice green space surrounding the tent. This isn't a Friday fish fry, it's a wedding, but it gives you an idea of the tent set up.


image from citydictionary.com



Tent with a bunch of kids on a day that was 95 degrees?  No thanks.  Scott and I went on inside. 

Here is another picture of the barn building that I found on line.

   image from wisconsinhistory.org

The inside of Quivey's Grove is rustic.  There is a bar and some dining on the main floor.  Scott and I were seated upstairs this time.  This is the upstairs dining area.

And a picture of the stairs heading back down to the main floor.  You can't see it very well in this picture, but you don't want to get too tipsy upstairs at Quivey's and have to walk down this staircase.

The picture above shows the natural lighting that comes in the upstairs dining area.  Very nice.

Since we had gone for the fish fry, we of course ordered fish.  It came with traditional sides of cole slaw and bread.

Both were good.  On the plate with the fish were parmesan hashbrowns.  Those bad boys were flippin' awesome.  The fish was good too.  Best in Madison?  I don't know about that.  But decent.  Although, I have to admit:  I think I made some better fried fish at home last weekend with fresh fish Scott caught. 

Speaking of Scott and fishing:  did I mention Scott caught 41 fish over the course of a few days last week and into last weekend?  Um...yeah....he did.  And he brought them all home and cleaned them in the garage/driveway.  That's a nasty process and one that I certainly don't watch.  And now I have more flippin' lake fish in the freezer than I know what to do with.  Neighborhood fish fry anyone??

Political Commentary

By Jon Stewart.  True to his form, this is both interesting and hilarious. 

http://front.moveon.org/hilarious-jon-stewart-takes-on-romneys-bain-damage/?rc=dtwcap

It's A Dog's Life

Scott and I took our boat out on Geneva Lake again yesterday.  We have grown very fond of Geneva Lake because it is so clean.  It's deep, which is part of why it's clean.  It's also spring-fed, which is another reason for the cleanliness.  Even the seaweed is clean.  It's just a really nice lake and we found a launch that's convenient enough.  It's worth the hour drive to get there, at least on those days when we have a little extra time.  It's also nice that part of the drive there is through breath-taking Wisconsin countryside.

It was hot yesterday, so after Scott fished a little bit and I napped, we went to the beach area where everyone parks their boats and gets out in the water.  We got there around 11 AM.  It wasn't too crowded at that time, but there were 4 of these types of vessels roped together.

 

OK- that's not a boat; that's a yacht.  It was huge and absolutely beautiful.  All 4 of the yachts that were roped together were stunning.  Two took off before I took this picture of the back sides.

As the morning turned into afternoon, the boat "beach" area got a lot more crowded.  Lots of people.  Lots of kids.  And lots of dogs in the water.  We chatted for a few minutes with the owner this dog.  The dog is named Scootch.

Scootch wasn't out with the other dogs, swimming, jumping in the water, chasing Frisbees.  Noooooo.  Scootch's owner puts a towel on a floaty and pulls Scootch around.  He (the owner) will occasionally scoop some water in his hands and wet Scootch down to keep him cool. 

Ah, it's a dog's life.  Scootch seems to have a good one.