I got in Friday afternoon pretty early, after visiting some work facilities in Tomah and Baraboo earlier in the day. After getting checked in to the Staybridge Suites, I decided to take in a matinee at the movie theatre across the street and saw Letters to Juliet (so good, but totally predictable!) to unwind before shopping. The hotel was on the northeastern side of town, and while it worked out well for us, if we had it to do all over again, I would probably recommend getting a hotel on the southern part of the city, since that was where most of our activities took us. The shopping was good, however! Coley got in around 10, and we went to get something to eat quick, chatting a bit before heading to bed.
Saturday morning we woke up pretty early, had breakfast, then got ready to head to the Olbrich Gardens.
Olbrich Gardens
SO freaking cool! Beautiful conservatory, which I highly recommend seeing - and not only because it was FREE! It's normally only $1 anyways, but they do take donations, but don't shove it in your face or anything. The outdoor gardens are also FREE, and incredible! Here are some pics:
After exploring the Olbrich Gardens, we stopped for lunch at the Cranberry Cafe and Grill which was really yummy! We then headed on to the Henry Villas Zoo!
Henry Villas Zoo
The Zoo was alright, but considering it was also FREE (with donation boxes as well), it was a great deal! We probably went at the wrong time, since it was after lunch, and the animals were all mostly just laying around being bums. More pics :)
After the Zoo, we did a little shopping at the mall before heading back to the hotel to take a nap and rest before the evening's activities.
After our nap, we got ready to go eat at Biaggi's, which was FANTASTIC!! We stopped and did a little more shopping at Target afterward, and planned on trying to make it across town in time for "The Backup Plan", but I made a wrong turn and ended up going through downtown stop-and-go traffic and we missed it.
But that just meant more time for wine and chocolate-covered-strawberries :)
Sunday morning we woke up early and had breakfast, then got ready and packed up to go home. Before heading home, we went to an organic farmers' market and picked up some yummy cheese and salsa.
It was a GREAT weekend - so nice to meet up with Coley, and Madison was a lot of fun :)
