Usually we go to Florida around Easter, a longstanding tradition from my wife's side of the family, but that didn't work out this year. We decided to take the time off anyway, and to start off by taking a long weekend in Madison. We'd see some friends, maybe walk around in the State Capitol with some painter's tape and do a few hundred thousand dollars' worth of damage.
I found out that Sarah Palin was also going to be in Madison, but sadly, we missed her. I had been hoping I could get her to sign my new t-shirt. It's clear that Palin, who denounced the anti-Walker demonstrators as out-of-state 'rent-a-mobs', would not have understood the irony.
Our first night in town, we had dinner with a couple of friends who are public employees. They're thoughtful, well-read, and liberal - in other words, enemies of the state. We saw firsthand how their lavish lifestyle - driving aging cars, adopting two children from overseas - is destroying our state's economy. They should be ashamed.
Sunday, we were to meet my wife's cousin at a restaurant near the Capitol. I will admit that although I have a smartphone, I rarely do a lot of smart things with it, so I decided to use Google Maps to figure out how to get there. We walked around the square the long way, because even Google's billions of dollars cannot adequately compensate for my poor sense of direction. There were a handful of people carrying protest signs, and one elderly gentleman with a tape measure who seemed preoccupied with determining how wide the sidewalks were. (Maybe the Fitzgerald brothers' uncle landed a public works job.)
The afternoon and the evening passed pleasantly - an excellent lunch at the Great Dane followed by dinner at the Old Fashioned. Still chuffed with myself over using Google Maps, I decided to try something else I had never done: check in on Facebook. I discontinued the practice later, after my brother writes:
I keep getting these little notices of where you are? Is that on purpose? are you lost and waiting to be found? wth?
On Monday morning, our last day, we walked into the Capitol. Although my wife and I had been to Madison several times in the past, this was the first time we had ever been inside. Quinn was mildly impressed by the art and architecture, but as soon as another kid pointed out that you can see some fossils in the stone, he managed to find evidence of dinosaurs everywhere. It's an awesome thing to see, and it pains me to think about what Walker is trying to do in there. As we walked in, we said it would be cool if we were to run into our representatives and get a chance to thank them. I didn't realize how serious my wife was until we were standing outside Chris Larson's office. We hemmed and hawed for a minute - I didn't want to interrupt the guy, he certainly has other things on his mind - but there goes my wife, knocking on the door, and turning the ornate doorknob.
Larson wasn't there, but half a dozen staffers were jammed into a small office. One of the staffers offered to show us Larson's modest office. My wife asked how offices were assigned, and the staffer explained that the priority is given to the majority party, and then by seniority... and Larson, as the newest Democratic senator, got the last pick. While this ground-floor office is relatively easy to get to, it also stands next to the men's bathroom, which can be something of a zoo when school tours are coming through. (In case you were wondering, the second-worst office is next to the women's room, where the crowds are slightly more demure.)
The staffer who showed us the office and patiently engaged in a conversation with our 6-year-old was incredibly nice, and never gave us the impression that he had anything better to do with his time. Quinn carries around a leather pouch on a string, which is filled with, well, the junk that a 6-year-old accumulates. As Quinn pulled out some Silly Bands and a miniature flashlight, the staffer asked Quinn if it was a Native American medicine bag; Quinn explained that it was actually a European man bag. On the way out, we made a point of thanking the staffers.
A stop at Ella's Deli for lunch, and we were on our way home. We had a good time in Madison, which seems closer to Milwaukee than I remembered.
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