What a view!

We took a little drive through Wisconsin today and went to see the city of Madison which is the state  capital. It was a beautiful drive with a great view out the car window. My favorite ... the red barns (and a few lovely white ones!) that were scattered over the lush green landscape. My new camera is able to capture a great image even while traveling at a high speeds and through the glass window (it has a setting for shooting through a window!). It is a shame I cannot share those with you now. There is no way to connect my camera to my iPad. My iPhone is taking some nice photos too, but it is limited. 

The road into town led us straight to the beautiful capital building and just like the streets in downtown Chicago, there were flowers everywhere! 

I LOVED the white tulips!

We got there just in time to walk through the Wednesday farmer's market and food trucks. We had lunch sitting on a bench in front of the capital building ...

The wraps were fantastic!

After lunch we walked over to the Museum of Modern Art where my friend Barb's daughter is getting married in a few weeks. The wedding will take place on the top floor where there is a lovely restaurant and a rooftop patio with the most spectacular view of downtown Madison. 

You can see the dome of the capital building from the roof and I can imagine at night it will look spectacular all lit up. It is going to be a wonderful place to have a wedding!  

The staircase up to the third floor of the building where the wedding and reception will take place is a magnificent glass beauty and the rooftop patio just outside the restaurant is filled with a lush garden and sculpture. 

The museum is located on State street which is lined with interesting shops and restaurants and leads you right into the campus of the University of Wisconsin. We had a great time walking around and again we were able to dodge the predicted thunder showers! 

We thought we would spend the night in Madison but changed our minds and decided to head back to Chicago where we were able to check into our unique boutique hotel a day early. The hotel is quirky and fun and our room has an interesting view as well!

This is what is hanging right outside our window ...

And if you put your head outside the window and look down, you will see a few more of the flying sculpture:

 The view inside the room is just as quirky and fun:

The lips on the bathroom mirror glow at night

I love the industrial towel bars

It was late when we checked in so we quickly headed out for dinner. I will take more photos of the hotel tomorrow. On the drive back to Chicago I searched for restaurants near our hotel and was pleased to see that Top Chef Winner Rick Bayless' restaurant, Frontera Grill was just around the corner. It was a bit of a wait but well worth it!

We started our meal with their signature Sangria

The food was fantastic filled with layers of interesting favors and was the perfect way to end a great day. Tomorrow is our last day in Chicago and we are hoping the weather will continue to defy the reports so we can take a swim in Lake Michigan. Well, we'll see...it just finished thawing out a few weeks ago we heard!