Time to move over to the Wisconsin side of Lake Michigan. We'll do it on the fast ferry called Lake Express from Muskegon to Milwaukee, a two and a half hour trip if all goes well.
Up and out of the Marriott at an early hour for us, then up US-31 to the dock.
Boarding…
As we exit the Muskegon harbor we pass USS Silversides, a WW2 submarine now a museum and memorial. Silversides had an excellent war record. Numerous books and articles have been written about her and her WW2 skipper, Creede Burlingame.
20210721 Madison WI
(Above) Our hotel is the Hilton Monona Terrace, Monona being the lake in the foreground, Mendota the lake in the background. The hotel is the (about) 11 story building on the terrace directly in line with the Capitol dome.
O's grandfather was a state Senator legislating in that Capitol for one term and an Assemblyman for three terms in the 1950's. His uncle and father studied at the University of Wisconsin (far upper left off photo).
D's brother Joe & wife Rita have been here almost 4 decades. She teaches Dance as therapy and mental health associated with the University of Wisconsin. Joe has done many things, among them being a co-op farm manager and a mobile flower distributor with customers all around Madison. He is also a horticulturist lecturing on plants, flowers & growing them. They live off-photo to the right.
To celebrate the arrival of Covid vaccines, Joe wrote a parody of "Modern Major General from Gilbert & Sullivan's Pirates of Penzance:
We are the very model of Moderna's major medical
advances in the vaccine world, it's really quite incredible.
And Pfizer not a pfennig less in pfighting pfor our pfitnesses,
both pfysical and pfiscal too. To that we are both witnesses.
So if you're hearing vaccine tales in terms that wax hysterical,
that leave you feeling hesitant, uneasy, even skeptical,
we're here to stand as evidence that can't be more empirical.
It didn't hurt, we both feel fine and oddly much more lyrical.
(Above) Our hotel is the Hilton Monona Terrace, Monona being the lake in the foreground, Mendota the lake in the background. The hotel is the (about) 11 story building on the terrace directly in line with the Capitol dome.
O's grandfather was a state Senator legislating in that Capitol for one term and an Assemblyman for three terms in the 1950's. His uncle and father studied at the University of Wisconsin (far upper left off photo).
D's brother Joe & wife Rita have been here almost 4 decades. She teaches Dance as therapy and mental health associated with the University of Wisconsin. Joe has done many things, among them being a co-op farm manager and a mobile flower distributor with customers all around Madison. He is also a horticulturist lecturing on plants, flowers & growing them. They live off-photo to the right.
To celebrate the arrival of Covid vaccines, Joe wrote a parody of "Modern Major General from Gilbert & Sullivan's Pirates of Penzance:
We are the very model of Moderna's major medical
advances in the vaccine world, it's really quite incredible.
And Pfizer not a pfennig less in pfighting pfor our pfitnesses,
both pfysical and pfiscal too. To that we are both witnesses.
So if you're hearing vaccine tales in terms that wax hysterical,
that leave you feeling hesitant, uneasy, even skeptical,
we're here to stand as evidence that can't be more empirical.
It didn't hurt, we both feel fine and oddly much more lyrical.
Then we boarded; our car got the forward port slot from which it is terrible to get out. The ride across was smooth. Played iPhone games and watched the water.
But in departing from LE, we heard a rapid thumping as though a tire had gone wrong, and the screen didn't work. We went to a Hertz place but they had no replacement cars available. We headed for the airport but found the thumping had gone away so we headed for Madison. After 20 miles D poked several buttons and the screen came back on. Turns out the Volume button turns on the screen, a handy bit of man-machine interface design.
On to the Hilton, rest for a bit, then on to Joe & Rena's.
Up at a reasonable hour. Joe hiked in from his house so we could get Starbucks goodies and look at the Farmer's Market spread out along Martin Luther King blvd. Nice, one-block market. Then we headed east along Lake Monona to Olbrich's Botanical Garden. Joe showed us around the tropical building first, and then into the grounds which are expansive. He showed a trick one flower uses to put extra pollen on a visiting bee.
We eventually left there to return to their house. Rena took D to a session she teaches. O went off to get Mucinix to help his cough.
When everyone returned, we chatted for a bit, then started the fire. Daughter Keri showed up with Brittany and son Bill came. We chatted around the fire while Joe grilled things, then ate. More talk, and then, when it got dark, we left for the hotel.
D started iPad games, I went to the bar for a drink and returned.
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