During our three months at home base for winter, we squeezed in a few smaller trips without the RV. In January, we flew out to visit my dad in Oregon and spent a weekend at a conference in southern Illinois. Then in February, we headed out for a long weekend in Madison, Wisconsin. We were there for Josh to table at an expo, but I happily tagged along to explore the city. One of my high school best friends lives near Madison, and our other best friend and her husband came up for part of the weekend too, so it turned into the perfect mix of work trip and friends’ getaway.
In this post, I’m sharing everything we did over our long weekend- from touring the Wisconsin State Capitol and geeking out at the UW–Madison physics museum to eating our way through cheese curds, mac and cheese pizza, and a proper Wisconsin fish fry. I’ll also include tips for how to visit each spot yourself, where we stayed, and what we’d recommend if you’re planning your own weekend in Madison.
Thursday: Road Tripping North to Madison
Thursday morning we actually kicked things off at the Chicago RV Show in Rosemont, then hit the road and headed up to Madison. It was an easy drive, and before we knew it we were checking into our hotel.
We stayed at the Spark by Hilton Madison Central, which is a relatively new sub-brand of Hilton. They definitely lean into the branding here- everything is bright, colorful, and fun. Since it’s such a new concept, the hotel was recently remodeled, so everything felt fresh and updated. They have an indoor pool, a good-sized fitness center, a really nice great room space, and free breakfast. The breakfast was solid, but it’s what they call a “bagel breakfast”, and I personally prefer something with a few more hot options. Still, it did the job.
Our room was large and had a small kitchenette area with a mini fridge, microwave, and even a small sink, which we really appreciated. There was also a little dressing room area between the bedroom and bathroom with the closet and a vanity (complete with its own stool), which made it feel a bit more spacious and functional.
After we checked in and unpacked, we headed right next door to the Alliant Energy Center, where Josh’s expo was being held, to meet up with some of his volunteers and get most of the booth set up, before crashing for the night.
Friday: Errands, a Slow Hotel Day & a Proper Wisconsin Fish Fry
Friday was the first day of Josh’s expo, but it didn’t start until midday, so we began the morning together with a quick run to Farm & Fleet to grab a couple things Josh forgot to pack. After that, we split up- he headed to work, and I declared it a hotel day.
I spent most of the day hanging out in the room reading and watching YouTube, but I did make it down to the fitness center. It was bigger than I expected and in really great shape. They even had a bowl of free earbuds in case you forgot yours, which I thought was such a small but thoughtful touch.
That evening, once Josh was done for the day, we met up with his coworker Debbie and her husband for dinner at Vintage Brewing Co.. I had already eaten in the room, so I made the pretzel appetizer my entree. Josh ordered the fish fry (it was a Wisconsin Friday night, after all), and we all shared cheese curds- because you have to. To drink, I had the Bee’s Knees cream ale and Josh went with the McLovin red ale.
How to Visit Vintage Brewing Co
Website: https://vintagebrewingcompany.com/
Capitol East Location: 803 E. Washington Ave, Madison, WI 53703, Kitchen hours 11am-9pm Sun-Wed, 11am-10pm Thurs-Sat
Madison West Location: 674 South Whitney Way, Madison, WI 53711, Kitchen hours 11am-9m Mon-Tues, 11am-10pm Wed-Fri, 10am-10pm Sat, 10am-9pm Sun
Cross Plains Location: 1200 Main St, Cross Plains, WI 53528, Kitchen hours 11am-8pm Tues-Wed,11am-9pm Thurs-Fri, 10am-9pm Sat, 10am-3pm Sun
Saturday: Capitol Views, College Nostalgia & a Valentine’s Day Splurge
Saturday was my fun day while Josh worked all day at the expo.
First up, my friend Krista picked me up to go on a tour of the Wisconsin State Capitol together. I was very grateful she drove, because there is no way our truck would have fit in the closest parking garage. We had so much fun on the tour and then spent a little time wandering around downtown afterward. Check out my full post on the tour here: Visiting the Wisconsin State Capitol: A Must-Do Free Attraction in Madison We stopped into Little Luxuries and Anthology, and I’m pretty sure I wanted to buy out both stores.
How to Tour the Wisconsin Capitol Building
Website: https://tours.wisconsin.gov/pub/Content.aspx?p=Capitol%20Tour
Address: 2 E Main St, Madison, WI 53702
Tour times: Mon-Sat at 9, 10, 11, 1, 2, and 3. Sundays at 1, 2, and 3
Our full review & guide: Visiting the Wisconsin State Capitol: A Must-Do Free Attraction in Madison
Next, we headed over to Ian’s Pizza at Garver Feed Mill. There’s also a downtown location, but Krista thought the Garver Feed Mill spot would be easier for our friends Liz and Anthony to meet us since it has a parking lot… except she was wrong because there were events happening and it was packed. Somehow we all still managed to find parking, and honestly I’m glad we went to this location because I love a good adaptive re-use project and the building itself is so cool. Krista kept hyping up the mac and cheese pizza, so obviously I had to try it, and it absolutely lived up to the hype.
How to Visit Garver Feed Mill
Website: https://garverfeedmill.com/
Address: 3241 Garver Green, Madison, WI 53704
Food, Shopping, and Experiences: Ian’s Pizza, Ledger Coffee Roasters, Glitter Workshop, Rolly Play Madison, Calliope Ice Cream, Perennial Yoga, Kosa Ayuervedic Spa, NessAll Kombucha, Grow Greenhouse, beaut. Studios, and more!
After lunch, Krista headed out and I switched over to riding with Liz and Anthony. We drove back downtown to visit the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s physics museum. I already wrote a whole blog post about both the physics museum and the physics fair we visited here: From Quantum Labs to Newton’s Apple Tree: A Day at UW–Madison We had an absolute blast geeking out over science. I’ve spent most of my career working in higher ed, and Liz used to be a science teacher, so we were very much in our elements.
How to Visit the LR Ingeroll Wonders of Physics Museum at UW-Madison
Website: https://www.physics.wisc.edu/ingersollmuseum/
Address: 1150 University Ave, Madison, WI 53706, located on 2nd floor of Chamberlin Hall
Hours: Weekdays 8am-4:30pm, select Saturdays 10am-1pm
Our full review & guide: From Quantum Labs to Newton’s Apple Tree: A Day at UW–Madison
After the museum, we went back to the hotel (they were also staying at the Spark) and hung out watching TV until Josh finished working for the day. This also happened to be Valentine’s Day, but we hadn’t planned ahead (or wanted to spend the money) to book a fancy reservation. So I did some searching to find somewhere more casual that would take walk-ins, and we ended up at The Great Dane Pub & Brewing Co., and were able to walk right in.
We shared a pretzel and cheese curds to start. I ordered the Korean rice bowl, Liz got the Thai linguini with tofu, and Josh and Anthony both went for the surf and turf Valentine’s special. Josh and I split a beer flight with Landmark Lite American lager, German Pilsner, Stone of Scone Scotch Ale, Ride the Dragon tripel, and Barleywine. For dessert, we got the churro cheesecake while Liz and Anthony chose the strawberry shortcake.
We don’t usually go all out with apps, drinks, and dessert… but it was Valentine’s Day, so we decided to splurge a little.
How to Eat at Great Dane Brewing
Website: https://www.greatdanepub.com/
Downtown Madison Location: 123 E. Doty St., Madison, WI. 10am-11pm Sun, 11am-11pm Mon-Thurs, 11am-1am Fri, 10am-1am Sat
Eastside Madison Location: 876 Jupiter Drive, Madison, WI. 10am-10pm Sun, 11am-10pm Mon-Thurs, 11am-12am Fri, 10am-12am Sat
Fitchburg Location: 2980 Cahill Main, Fitchburg, WI. 10am-10pm Sun, 11am-11pm Mon-Thurs, 11am-1am Fri, 10am-1am Sat
Sunday: Garden Expo Surprises
Sunday was our last day in Madison, and Liz, Anthony, and I finally made it over to check out the PBS Wisconsin Garden Expo that Josh had been working all weekend. He was able to step away and join us for a bit to explore some of the other booths, which was fun since we’d mostly been hearing about it secondhand.
There was way more at this show than any of us expected, and we ended up having such a good time. We started with a tour of the PBS mobile broadcasting van. We all assumed it would be a quick walk-through (and I think it was supposed to be), but somehow it turned into a 30+ minute deep dive with the head of the production team. We learned so much about how live TV works and really loved getting that behind-the-scenes look.
After that, we wandered through the exhibit booths. There were tons of hands-on activities, creative displays, and more variety than we expected. Here’s a few of my favorite things we saw:
Above is the Dane County Trash Lab, a trailer converted into a mobile exhibit all about how to reduce, reuse, and recycle trash. One thing people don’t often realize is that the order of those words is important- you should be reducing first, then reusing, then recycling is the last resort. The exhibit was so cool and full of all kinds of unique ways to reduce and reuse trash.
Above is a few of the Lego plant disease displays put together by the extension office, which was so clever and fun! This was such a unique display and way cooler than the usual photos I expect to see at shows like this.
A final highlight was some of the entries in the “Flights of Fancy” Standard Flower Show that the Madison District Garden Clubs held during the show. There were some really pretty and some very unique designs here! The hats and picnics were probably my favorites.
After a couple of hours exploring, Liz and Anthony headed home. Since we had already checked out of our hotel room, I joined Josh at his booth to hang out and help until the show wrapped up. On the drive home we, again, grabbed Culver’s to eat, and were greeted by a very excited Betsey cat.
