Chazen Museum of Art, #1 - The Building, Madison, WI

After gorging myself on soggy sandwiches and premium ice cream, I had planned to take in another campus attraction, the Chazen Museum of Art, located a decent walk from Babcock Hall. It had begun to rain, which made the idea of a museum perfect for this outing. 

It's an impressive building both inside and out, and we'll spend a little bit of time in this first post (of four) looking at just that, the building.

It became clear that the building is actually two buildings connected on the 2nd floor with a walkway. In the walkway, you can get a great view of both "sides" of the museum, as well as the outside campus area, and even Lake Mendota off in the distance (probably easier if it's not raining).

I'm calling the portion below the "right wing", where you find the main entrances, lobby, special exhibit hall, and the gift shop.

This is the "left wing", which is chock-a-block full of art.

Below is a view into the main lobby from the steps above. It's truly a very nice museum space and I was a bit surprised at how nice everything was for being on a Big 10 college campus. It was a great surprise at that.

Here's a list of the types of art and a quick view of the entire museum from the map:

They indicate above that it's a four-story museum, however, I spent most of my time in the special exhibit on the main floor (which is a modest size gallery), and then on the 3rd floor walking around all of the different collections. I don't recall being on the 4th floor, or wanting to at that point, plus it will give me something to back and see at a later time.

They even had their own art on the walls and in this case, ceiling of the museum... here's a glimpse of something just painted on the walls near a large skylight...

Pretty frickin' awesome stuff.

That's it for this post. In posts #2, #3, and #4, we'll look at the special exhibit they had when I visited, and then some of the normal collection pieces.

Babcock Hall Dairy Plant & Store, #2 - The Eats, Madison, WI

If you had read Part 1, I'm sure you'll be as happy as I was to get into the foods on offer in the Dairy Store, so let's get to it.

They have ice cream available (of course!), but as this store is located in a university building, filled with people during the school year, and for that matter is located on a college campus filled with people during the school year, that's a lot of people. As such, they have done the smart thing offer a full menu of items, including sandwiches, soups, salads, etc.

I started my visit with lunch, and it seemed like one of their sandwiches was the way to go. I followed their directions and picked one of their Signature sandwiches... the Mendota Club. Let's do it!

It's pretty much like a simple Subway sandwich shop, but wasn't as good as I was hoping for. It's just a sandwich. I think that's what I get for eating lunch at a dairy store full of ice cream. If you go, my suggestion would be to eat lunch first someplace else, then come here for the ice cream.

They have all manner of lunch options (I even heard their taco salad ordered more than once), but I didn't think mine was that great and I didn't even take a pic of my final sandwich. They were very nice folks and patient & helpful, even for a newbie like me. The lady helping me loaded it up with mayo (blech!), toasted it off to melt the cheese and then wrapped it in sandwich paper. By the time I opened it to eat it, the bread sweat had steamed all the bread and other ingredients into a mushy mess. It wasn't "toasty" at all, no crisp. Ah well. I'm learning as I go.

So, back to the important part, their ice cream. I went right back up to the counter after wolfing down my lunch to make my pick and get some frozen deliciousness.

The pricing is very reasonable for a good-sized dish of 2-3 scoops, and you can mix flavors too. So, I did... Peanut Butter and Chocolate (an all-time go-to) and Union Utopia (which seemed like a good idea)...

I went outside to eat it on their patio, which also let it get a little more melty and smooth. They were both very good and I would certainly go back to try more ice cream. 

They also have other dairy items available for purchase and take-out in the store... fine meats and cheeses and the like. As I understand it, all made there in the hall or at the university.

I'll certainly go back to Babcock for the ice cream (I'll skip the sandwich), and will take the faster main entrance to the store next time too.

Babcock Hall Dairy Plant & Store, #1 - Getting There, Madison, WI

Some time a few months back, I noticed an ice cream brand in the freezer at a local grocer that I hadn't heard of previously. It's called Babcock Ice Cream. I read the label on the package in the freezer and discovered it's a local brand started by the University of Wisconsin.

Now, a dairy operation, even an ice cream operation, is pretty common at universities (at least Big 10 ones). I think it has something to do with the availability of milk and the fact that ice cream is awesome... plus, this is the state of Wisconsin after all, dairy is kinda big. I didn't buy the ice cream that day, but put a mental note in my brain to visit the hall that houses this dairy production on the campus itself. The hall is called Babcock Hall (and Babcock Ice Cream, get it?) and is pretty easy to locate on the campus map. They also have their own store website and you can even check out the ice cream flavors and get your mouth watering and heart a fluttering.

I was able to make this "pilgrimage" in mid-July and, in this first post, I'll show you how it went just getting into the dairy store. I wasn't expecting it to be something to post, but that's how it turns out sometimes.

I found the hall just fine... and then it started to get interesting...

This was the sign on the front door of the main entrance to the hall:

So, I went to the next set of doors (for those that don't know, I'm pretty literal at times, especially with directions). The door looked like this:

Now, knowing this was the next set of doors, being a bit famished, and having a sister who is handicapped... I didn't think much of the handicapped symbol above. I mostly just read "To Babcock Dairy Store", just as the previous sign had told me, and proceeded inside.

That's when the maze began... Which hallway do I go through, which door, which elevator?...

Look, up there on that huge freezer door wall... a new clue... ok, this is kinda fun, but I really just want ice cream now...

It says, "To Babcock Dairy Store - Take elevator to 2nd Floor". Ok, this really is a maze to get some ice cream, but alright... I do as I'm told...

Emergency eye-wash station in case you need it... (where am I?)

Elevator?

Elevator?!?!

Ok, I found a huge freight elevator... but it said take it to the 2nd floor... so I did...

It led straight out into someone's office/dairy plant... which felt really odd, but I kept going as ice cream was near and I wanted it...

And I presume since it was the summer, there weren't many people milling about in any hallway or office that I came upon. There was one guy getting into the elevator after me that pointed me in the right direction, phew.

(I didn't know if that was milk or soap suds on the floor... no time to check now)

Finally... a few more turns and hallways, and then a real clue...

Yes! A store with people and ice cream!!!

I made it...

I realized later, as I exited the store through their main doors, that the entrance I had found was the entrance for someone who was in a wheelchair and couldn't use stairs. Even still, this seemed like an incredible maze of directions, hallways, elevators and turns to take in a wheelchair. I could only imagine my sister and a family member trying to navigate that maze as the rest of the family waited in the store for them to appear (or if we'd all just gone down the rabbit hole as a family, which does happen). And then I thought of handicapped people that aren't in my family. Do they actually figure all this out? Take a freight elevator? make the right turns and see all the signs? Maybe it's easy if it's for ice cream?

In any case, I've now made it to the store! The second post will be all about the food I sampled there, so don't forget to check back in a few days...

Thank You.

I had the distinct (dis)pleasure of moving my apartment recently, so much fun. But, one of the nice things to come out of it was going through some boxes I hadn't been through since I'd moved to WI a year ago. A couple of those boxes came a few months later, having left some things behind in MN. 

I finally got into the one with the marking below and was delighted to find my cheap, innocuous wine glass packed like I've never seen before. We're talking pristine packing. I loved it.

Nicely and clearly labelled individual compartment in a large box...

You gotta use the old divider thingy...

TWO PIECES of padding material PER GLASS!!! One stuffed inside and around the top, the other wrapped around the entire glass and taped down with masking tape. It was all a work of packing art.

Of course, these items were shipped via UPS, so they needed the support. I can say they all made it intact... until I went to put them away. 

Out of all the glasses, I only have sentimental attachment to a pair from a World Cup MTB race in the late 1990 or early 2000's. As luck would have it, having unpackaged them all and placed them on the counter until putting away, I smacked one on the very shelf it was destined to go on, break it into a few pieces. Ah well, at least one still survives.

I wanted to write the words of thanks for this packing care, even if the packer was doing their normal level of wrapping, or never reads or hears about this ending.

Olbrich Biergarten, Madison, WI

If you've ever been to Minneapolis, one thing (among many) the cities do very well is outdoor beer and food options near their lakes and bodies of water - Minnehaha Falls (Sea Salt), Lake Minnetonka (CoV), Lake Calhoun (Tin Fish), etc. They have a culture of being outside in the summer (and winter), gathering when the weather is nicest and enjoying good food and drink with friends and family.

I was a bit surprised to find out, there really wasn't anything like that in the Madison area. Of course, it wasn't long until someone got the great idea to do something about it. Their location happened to be across the street from where I reside too.

The Biergarten at Olbrich Park has opened up this past July and it already seems like it's going well. I was impressed by the organization, size and scale of the establishment. It's not only friendly for adults that like beer, but also families with parents that like beer... they have lawn games and a huge sandbox for the kiddos, plus don't forget it's on Lake Monona, go fishing even.

They also seem to keep a close eye on patrons as they leave the place, not only to protect the boundary of the beer garden and the neighborhood at large, but also to keep an eye on their nice glasses. You can't take them with you and they're watching like hawks to make sure no one leaves the grounds with beer or their steins.

They offer a few small bites, and a couple non-alcoholic items too. It's definitely not the place for a big meal or bring a group of diverse eaters, but perhaps food trucks or local food delivery is already taking note.

I have to get back there after dark and have a beer under the lights.