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.

Geneva Lake

I mentioned in the previous post that Scott and I intended to take the boat out on Geneva Lake on his birthday but ended up on Delavan Lake by accident instead.  The day after Scott's birthday, we once again headed out for Geneva Lake.....and this time, we made it there.

We launched the boat in a cute little town called Williams Bay.  Below is a picture of the municipal pier at the launch site. 

Geneva Lake is a decent size lake.  It's a little over 5200 acres and the average depth is 61 feet.  It's deepest point is 135 feet-- much, much deeper than the Madison lakes.  The deeper the lake, the cleaner the water.  Plus we learned that Geneva Lake is spring-fed, making it especially clean.  The water in Geneva Lake is beautiful; a deep aqua-green color.  Before it gets too deep, you can look through the water all the way down to the bottom.  Scott commented that even the bubbles the outboard makes as we motor along are clear.  Now that's some clean water.

We didn't get out on the lake as early as we intended to.  I think we finally made it out around 9 AM.  There is a beach right next to the launch in Williams Bay.  Even though we didn't think it was very early, apparently beach-goers did; the beach was completely empty except for the life guard.

There are a total of 4 public beaches at different places on Geneva Lake.  They would fill up as the day went on.

As with all the lakes we have been on in southern Wisconsin, the landscaping surrounding Geneva Lake is gorgeous.  Lush.  Verdant.  Watching the anchored sailboats, pictured below, rock in the waves could lull me to sleep.

Scott and I spent the first part of the day tooling around the perimeter of the lake.  We found a small college on Geneva Lake:  George Williams College.  I need to look it up on line.  I suspect it ain't cheap to go to George Williams.  It had the appearance of a small, private, elite, expensive school.  The picture below is one of the college buildings, right on the lake by a pier and a small beach dedicated to the school.  Cute building.

I'm not 100% sure, but I think these are some of the college dorms.  If you have to live in a dorm, this is the way to do it-- walk out your door and you're steps away from a beautiful lake.

Side note:  see how pretty the water is in the picture above?  You can really get a sense of the clean color of it.

There are some amazing houses on Geneva Lake.  Who are these people that can afford houses like this??  Some examples are below.  The first house had an in-ground pool and a pond between their house and the lake. 

This house had a big clock on it....with the right time.

This next house was stunning.  You would have to have an entire staff to take care of a place like this.  It was even deeper than it was wide.  They had a huge in-ground pool and the landscaping was immaculate. Even if I could afford it, I would never want a house this big.  But it was impressive.

In addition to big houses, it appears that anybody who is anybody that lives on Geneva Lake has a wooden boat.  I'm not exaggerating when say that Scott and I counted at least 70 wooden boats in boat slips around the lake, maybe more.  These weren't just wooden boats, they were beautiful wooden boats.  Totally restored. Vintage and shiny.  It must be the thing on Geneva Lake.  They even have a Classic Boat Show in September.  Most of the wooden boats we saw were passenger boats.  The boat below, however, was a house boat.  So charming with the curtains in the windows.  Under the front overhang, they had a huge dining table and chairs.  They could fit a lot of people on that boat.

It's not wooden, but this tug boat caught our eye in one of the slips on the lake.  They must have converted the old tug boat to a passenger boat.

In the town of Lake Geneva, there are several companies that do tours around the lake.  They have some big old double-decker boats for the tours, including some with full bars, like the one below in the harbor.    

After we putted around the perimeter of the lake and did some sight-seeing, we stopped along the shore at the party spot where everyone gets out of their boats and into the water.  Scott jumped right in.  Here is his little head out in the water.  I smile when I look at that picture.  He is so cute.  I love that sweet boy. 

We put a couple chairs right in the water.  It was relaxing to sit there, staring across the lake, waves lapping against us, sun shining down, sipping on some ice cold beers.  Ahhhhhh.

We hung out for a while and then decided to go for a late lunch.  We headed all the way back across the lake, which was probably about a 30 minute trip.  I'm not exactly sure though. I slept for most of it.  We tied the boat off at a pier.....

...and then had lunch at this place right across from the lake.  Chuck's.  It's a place that's supposed to have good burgers.  We tried the burgers, of course.  They were decent and we were hungry, so it worked out great.

Chuck's is definitely the kind of place where people get out of the water and come right straight on in.  Nothing too fancy. The crowd inside spanned from a group of Harley bikers to women in bikini's.   

Oh, and there was also this guy....drinking a Keystone Light.  You read that right.  Keystone Light.  The picture proves I'm not making it up.

I didn't even know there was a bar that stocked Keystone Light.  Chuck's does.  All I can really say about that is a deadpan:  wow.

I think the lake town Chuck's is located in is called Fontana.  Big tourist spot in the summer apparently.  There is a beach, boat rentals, para-sailing.  This is a boat rental shack right across from Chuck's.

And a shack for other kinds of water sport rentals.

I'm sure it's a fun place to vacation.  Lucky for Scott and me.  We can go on vacation there every weekend, at least for a day.  That's one of the great things about having a boat and living in an area where there are so many lakes and waterways.  Every time we go out, it feels like we're on a mini-vacation.

Mid to late afternoon, Geneva Lake gets very busy with a lot of boat traffic.  It's a long lake but not a very wide one, so when there are a lot of boats out, the water gets choppy because of all the wake.  That's when it's time for Scott and I to bring it in.  I took the picture below as we were heading back to the launch.  You can see one of the double-decker tour boats.  You can also see how choppy the water is. 

Yep.  Time to bring it in.