Summer fun!

The 77 Square miles blog began when we first moved to Madison, and I was trying to keep family and friends from MI, NC, even all the way to Seattle, updated on life in our new city. Now it's been four years.

Four years--that's right! Tom just passed the four year mark at his "new" job this month. That's hard to believe, actually, but the calendar says it's so.

Some days, because I don't post often, I think I've wasted the 77 Square title for someone who could really be using this blog for awesome Madison things... DAILY rather than a few times a year. Because... Madison is awesome... daily! Alas. I beat you speedy bloggers to it, and now I've bogged it down with non-Madison info as well.

I used to think that there would never come a time when the sight of the Capitol would no longer make me feel giddy. But sometimes when I drive in on ridiculously early mornings for various downtown engagements, I forget how cool it is.

But then there are other times, like last night as I was driving through the country on the way to drop off my "little sister" when we saw the Capitol glowing brightly in the distance, I remember how cool Madison is all over again. Or when I get called into the hospital (as a chaplain) in the middle of the night, and get to drive right through Capitol Square at 3 AM and gain a whole new perspective. Or when the nephews come to stay, like they did last week, and we have so many things to enjoy we start making next year's list of things to do half way through this year's week because we already know we won't get to do everything fun.

Yesterday, I got to hang in the Dells with the Diefs, my uncle and aunt and two of my cousins, with my "little." We wave-pooled ourselves out and enjoyed some roller coasters and water slides along the way. The Dells are so tacky and so fun all at the same time. And even though part of me cringes as I drive by one obnoxious billboard after another, I'm thankful they are in our backyard.


And tonight with the Diefs, the crème de la crème of cheese curds and beer: The Old Fashioned. For those of you that read this blog because you are searching for good Madison spots, do not miss out on their amazing selection of WI microbrews and cheesecurds with tigerblue sauce--yum! 


So four years out, and we're still having a blast. We joke that because every WI town--large and small--seems to have a cute little downtown and its own calendar of fun, WI has two seasons: winter and festival.


Let the festivities roll on!