Adventures in Madison Wisconsin 2012

Had a wonderful time in Madison visiting Aria and Daniele Aug. 15-22.  Each day was filled with amazing sights and sounds and tastes.   Beginning with  today's post I will try to share  with you   fun things we experienced on our vacation in this great Capitol city of Wisconsin. 

"We LOVE Madison!" 

On Day 1 we had an easy flight to Madison with a brief layover in Denver.  Aria and Daniele met us at the airport which is a short easy drive to the city.

Once we checked into our hotel which was located right on State street we were off to walk the length of the street to the foot of the Capitol Building where a free jazz concert had begun.

State street is the main connecting thoroughfare from the University to the Capitol.  The street is lined with cute stores, side walk cafes and many pubs.  It is really a happening place!
This big glass building we are walking toward is the Museum of Contemporary art.

By  5:00 the street is filled with people with picnic dinners, vendors are selling pitchers of beer and the stage is set for performances by jazz bands and singers.  A very festive summer atmosphere to greet us on our first night.

We put up some chairs, toast with our first beers and enjoy the music. Great to be here with Aria and Daniele.

After some pitchers of beer (our first night of many)  we are ready for a stroll around Capitol square.  We are beginning to think about dinner. There are many choices with great restaurants all around us.

The Old Fashioned Tavern & Restaurant is hopping.  A great place for burgers and beer. Located on one of the corners of Capitol Square at 23 N. Pickney St.

Inside the Old Fashioned.  We made a short stop and then moved on...
www.theoldfashioned.com

Continue on down to 1 S. Pickney and you will find "GRAZE"  a restaurant with a very cool vibe and great views of the Capitol from inside

Here's a view from inside GRAZE.

We are not done walking and as we turn the corner away from the Capitol  we come across
Bellini's restaurant which is an old church which has been converted.  This is where we have dinner on our first night.

Can't believe we are in Madison with our girlie.  What a great first day!

Everything is so easy to get to around here.  We make our way down State street back to our hotel.  Time to hit the sack and get some sleep.  Aria and Daniele have a big day planned for us tomorrow starting with breakfast at their place.

The Great Hot Air Balloon Adventure

We got up in the wee hours of the morning to drive to our destination starting point for this day's surprise birthday gift for Mike.  We needed to meet at Europa Winery by 6:00 A. M. for our Hot Air Balloon ride over the countryside of Temecula.  This little smilebox will give you a glimpse into our morning adventure:

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Saturday Fun in Temecula

We got up early on Saturday morning and walked to the local Temecula Old Town Farmers market.

Had an interesting chat with this bee keeper on ways to get different flavored honey and the beneficial aspects of "bee pollen".  That sold us and we added a purchase of bee pollen to our Farmer's market haul.

Have you ever eaten JUJUBE?  This was my first time.  To me it tastes a little like a nutty apple. The woman told Mike, if you eat Jujube you will have a long, healthy life.  Mike said okay I'll take some.  Then as the woman was bidding us goodbye she said, "Come back and see me!"  Mike's response was, "Okay if the Jujube works I'll be back to see you when I'm one hundred!"  

We love good olive oil and stopped at this stand to sample some wares.

Here is the fascinating olive oil maker from Greece.  His name is George Petrou. George  sells olives, olive oil, balsamic vinegar and capers. With every customer who came by George boldly declared in a strong Greek accent, “Olive oil is the best medicine.”   I forget how we started chatting in italian but we soon became fast friends. George  began telling us that before coming to the States he led quite a different life. He speaks 11 different languages, lived in Paris as a clothing designer and worked for Coco Chanel and designed for many famous clients.  He then said in a very funny way, "I have an article here showing who I designed for. The list was impressive: Elizabeth Taylor, Jackie Kennendy Onassis, Maria Callas and so on.     He pulled out a magazine to show me the article written about him. His 14 year old grandson was there and said he intends to write a book about his grandfathers life.  I hope he does. George is a fascinating character who now makes very good olive oil!

We proceeded to do more shopping before heading on to the Museum of History on the city of Temecula.

 Farmer's market is held each Saturday from 7:30- noon.  Highly recommend this Farmer's market for locally grown produce and a wonderful assortment of other items including beautiful flowers.

It was another  hot day in Temecula.   
We were off to the wine area once again.


First on the agenda was a visit to Doffo Vineyards.

Located on the Northeast border of the Temecula Valley sits Doffo Winery. A small family vineyard situated on 15 acres of lovely countryside. The owner Marcelo Doffo's  family immigrated to Argentina from Italy .  He then came to the States where he founded the family vineyard in 1997 which is   one of a few micro-boutique wineries in the region and the only one built around the former site of a Temecula historic landmark schoolhouse.   This property also houses "MotoDoffo"  the family's private collection of over 100 racing and vintage motorcycles. Both Marcelo and his son Damian participate in bike races. 

You can pick up a self-guided tour map of the Doffo vineyards in the tasting room. We were able to spend a nice amount of time following this map to various parts of the property.

Marcelo's hard working son, Damian  came out to greet us as we wandered on our tour. He's a very  warm and friendly young man and we were impressed that Marcelo's son was hard at work under the noon day sun. 

Very close to Doffo is the Palumbo Family vineyards

By now the mid afternoon sun was unforgiving and we were ready

for the pool back at the hotel. 

Just before dinner we took in some shopping at the local antique store.  Lots of fun to peer into things of the past. I'm so curious as to all the stories these objects could tell about the places they've been and the people that once owned them.

Now time to go to our birthday celebration dinner at a local italian restaurant called "Gourmet Italia"

Salute e buon compleanno!

Here is the owner of Gourmet Italia, Alessandro from Sicily , who realized his dream when he opened his own restaurant here in Temecula in 2000. 

                                  Happy, Happy Birthday Mike!

This day is about over but tomorrow comes the big surprise.  Early to bed as we need to be up at 5 a.m. !

Mike's Surprise 60th Birthday Get-Away Week-end

I had  been planning a surprise get-away for my husband Mike's birthday for awhile.    Since he was turning the big "6-0" on September 23rd I wanted to do something a little out of the ordinary.   He said he didn't want a party or anything special but I definitely wanted to do something for him, but what to do?  I couldn't make long weekend plans for a far destination as he had work commitments and he wasn't sure if he could even take off on Friday.

Finally, with some helpful ideas from friends I developed a plan for short getaway close by and something special for the day of his actual birthday.  He was ultimately able to take half a day off work this past Friday so the adventure began on September 21.

We left home from Long Beach about noon.  It was about 85 degrees here.

Our destination was Temecula California.*

 It took us about 1 1/2 hours to arrive to Temecula and the closer we got the hotter it became. By the time we had lunch it was 106 degrees outside.  Mike asked if his birthday surprise was a trip to hell and back as it was just getting hotter and hotter as the day went by.  Later he would joke that for his 70th birthday I would probably take him to "Death Valley" (another nearby desert town).

Once we checked in to our hotel,  we headed to the Northeast section of  Temecula which is home to over  30 wineries which dot the nearby hillsides.

There were two wineries on our list for our first day of touring. They were Renzoni and Leonesse.

First stop-Renzoni Winery a small Italian family winery.

After our tasting we walked up a small hill on the Renzoni property to the picnic area. We passed the rows of grapevines and grapes.

We head back to the car to visit "Leonesse" winery which is just down the road.

Leonesse has a nice  tasting room and is set in a lovely area landscaped beautifully.

Pretty patio dining is available with cooling rooftop misters.

Time to head to our hotel and then off to explore "Old Town" Temecula.

Old Town Temecula consists of several blocks of shops (many of which are antique stores), restaurants, museums, cafe/pubs and galleries. The town certainly retains a feeling of the old west.  Some of the original buildings from the early 1800's still stand.  Other more recent stores and restaurants have retained the theme and feel of the original buildings.

Streets are filled with cars, and sidewalks filled with young people. Nighttime on the weekends are a real party scene here.





 A lively street scene but we seek solace in the beautiful city hall with its

surrounding peaceful lit walkways and fountains.

Time to call it a day. Tomorrow we will see the local Farmers Market and take in the History Museum of Temecula tour. Then of course the afternoon will be some touring of local wineries.  It's back to the hotel we go...

Temecula is a city in southwestern Riverside County. It was incorporated   on December 1, 1989. Temecula is bordered by Murrieta on the northwest and the Pechanga Indian Reservation  on the south, with unincorporated areas of Riverside County on all of its other borders. It is served by Interstate 15  ,Insterstate 215 and  California State route 79   (Winchester Road to the northeast and Temecula Parkway to the southeast).

With neighboring  Murrieta, Temecula forms the southwestern anchor of the Inland Empire  region. It is almost equidistant to San Diego,Los Angeles, and  Orange County California.