To the bearded gent, your friend bought a white fedora - w4m - 24 (Madison - State Street)

Six years living in Madison, WI and I never found an excuse to shop at the local hat shop. Luckily, I was in town last week with my pal Jon and in search for a summer hat, so we stopped by. Now I’m plus one hat, and he’s plus one fawning missed connection:

You smiled a fantastic smile when you came into the hat store, and made more eye contact than was strictly necessary. You are adorable, with your shaggy hair, mountain-man beard, and gauged ears. When you came back into the store so your tall friend could buy a hat, it made my day. I didn’t mean to stare, but besides being cute you looked very familiar — have we met before? 

—the taller of the two hat girls 

 The question is, who got the better deal?

Secret Handshake (Madison, WI)

Casualty (Madison, WI)

Tomah, WI — midwestern crossroads. Spent about an hour stationary on I94 as it took on a layer of ice. Freedom-by-salt, onward to Madison!

“Zen Custard by Moonlight” by Peter Patau

To my fellow Madison ex-pats: if ever you find yourself overly sentimental and nostalgic for the city on the isthmus, I strongly recommend looking through this guy’s photos on Flickr. Michael’s Frozen Custard? Yes, please.

southtwelfth:

Here is a neat (by which I mean “fairly boring”) trick for those readers that now live in Minneapolis-St. Paul, but who once lived and loved in the great city of Madison, a city that you still occasionally pine for. That’s at least ten of you, right? Five?

Well, regardless, take a look at this. The first photo above is the famous approach to the Wisconsin state capitol, on Washington Avenue near Ingersoll, right in the middle of the isthmus.

Now, look at the second photo up there, a stretch of road on Smith Avenue, on the West Side of St. Paul, before it veers west and crosses the river. You can see the Minnesota state capitol from that approach (hard to see in the photo, but it’s there).

Wow! Look at the way the respective capitols gleam in the middle distance! It looks exactly the same! Kind of! It’s actually better at night, when the details are a little hazier. This stretch of Smith gives more the impression of being in Madison, if not an actual replication of the experience. I remember driving back from a meal at Caspar’s Cherokee Sirloin Room a few years ago, and being very struck by the resemblance.

So, displaced Madisonians, if you’re ever feeling lonely for home, just make the ten-minute drive to the west side. You can park on Smith, turn up To the Best of Our Knowledge on your car radio, and weep softly into your Plaza Burger or bag of Nature’s Bakery granola as you stare off into your past.

Holy crap, it’s like this blog post was custom ordered for me! Although I might instead go for a slice of Ian’s Pizza, a bottle of New Glarus’ Coffee Stout, and WYOU’s “Cooking With Bob” playing on the portable television.