What I did on my Summer Vacation, 2001

Many years ago (23 to be exact) I was a doctoral student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.  Both of our girls were born in Madison and had not been back since we left there and came to South Carolina in 1978.  We had always talked about going back and visiting the old "home place" and touring the state again.  Wisconsin is a wonderful place in the Summer (and also in the Winter, but that lasts 9 months which is a bit much for those used to SC weather!) and even better if you have a place on one of the lakes.  So: we rented a cottage (the difference between a cabin--SC term--and a cottage is that a cottage costs more), wandered the state, were entertained royally by former professors, and had a great time.  Here is the shortened pictorial version:
 
 

These two shots were taken at the house where we lived in Madison when both girls (Allison,on the far left in the left photo and Kristina next to her) were born.  It was a neat house, with a nice garden in the back (now lawn), a very small garage (essential in the winter), and a huge elm (now gone because of Dutch Elm disease) in the front yard.  Jason, Allison's husband, took the pictures. Allison was almost 4 when we left Madison and Kristina was 18 months old.
 
 
 
 

The cottage on the lake was very nice: temp in the 70's during the day, 60's at night, 25% humidity.  Fish?:  well, between the five of us we did catch a grand total of 5, which is not bad given my usual fishing luck.
 
 

And, finally, a quick trip overnight to see the big city of Chicago.  Joan and Allison on one of Chicago's sofas (which replaced
their cows) and Joan, Jason, Allison, and Kathleen Weibel, former doctoral student with me at UW-Madison and now
director of professional development at Chicago Public Library.