New Glarus brewery

The tour was nonexistent on a Sunday, but the beer was great and the ride out was pretty. Main thing is we all got to do something together. The charms of the town, a settlement of immigrants from Glarus canton in Switzerland, have been exaggerated.

The beer itself was really good. Served under ideal conditions in the tasting room, the beers ranging from Totally Naked to Fat Squirrel, with Spotted Cow and Two Women in between, had a fresh, sparkling taste. You get to keep the tasting glasses as souvenirs.

L'Etoile

L'Etoile is unquestionably a wonderful restaurant with great food, a lovely ambiance and excellent service. We had a great dinner there that was a real event for the eight family members who could attend. I would definitely go back. A special shoutout to the maitre-d, Nick, for taking my reservation well in advance of the normal time limit and thoughtfully seating us in a long booth partially shielded from other diners.

All that said, the restaurant is a bit caught up in itself. The food and service both are borderline pretentious. While my pork belly starter, a special, and the duck breast were both excellent, the menu choice was severely limited. For entrees, there was a whole branzino, a turbot fillet, the duck breast, a vegetable dish, and two steaks. Since none of us are vegetarians and Darras was grilling steak the next day, that left us with three choices for entrees. There was no pork entree, no lamb entree, no chicken entree. Why on earth not?

Amy's photo of the branzino before cooking

On top of that, the two fish entrees in this city less than a hundred miles from Lake Michigan were flown in from the Mediterranean and Chile respectively. Really? We had great fun mocking one of our (two!) waiters, who in presenting the whole branzino ordered by Amy and Fletcher held it out on the tray and said this was caught earlier today in the Mediterranean and packed in ice to be flown here. The next day, Darras presented out steaks in a similar fashion, saying they were slaughtered in Kansas and packed in a cooler three days earlier for our dining pleasure tonight.

None of this of course detracts from the actual dining experience, which was on a level equal to any place here in Washington. It's not for nothing that L'Etoile was named one of the country's top 50 restaurants by Food & Wine. It was a great splurge for mini-family reunion.

We tried all three of the entree choices available to us. I know Darras and I enjoyed the duck breast with creamy polenta, and he welcomed the chance to once again have a starter of the fresh sea scallops not available in Kansas. Amy and Fletcher had the squash blossoms as well as the whole branzino. The turbot and branzino got a big thumbs up from those who ordered the fish. The chocolate cake and the creme brulee ordered at the table were both excellent, as well as the cheese platter, and some of us enjoyed a cognac.

The wine list, while not enormously imaginative, had a varied selection in all price ranges. Because it was Bastille Day and that was one of the reasons for us choosing a French restaurant, we stuck with the French wines and found a Muscadet and a Burgundy pinot noir moderately priced enough that we could enjoy several bottles over a leisurely dinner.

Madison

Madison is one of those favored cities that everyone loves. State capitals and university towns in general are supposed to be the desirable places and here you have that rare city that is both.

Its geographic situation on an isthmus between two lakes adds to its charm and beauty. It is hip, progressive, and so on. We are not seeing it at is best. Temperatures are above 100 degrees and there is a drought that has turned all the grass yellow and killed many plants.

We managed to hit the only weekend in the six-month season when there is no farmer's market on the Capitol Square -- billed as the nation's largest such in terms of producer vendors. Instead there was an art fair that kept us from seeing anything else on the square and made it impossible to eat in any of the restaurants.

So instead of spending the weekend in Madison and then going to the Dells for a couple of days, we will spend Monday at least trying to see what Madison looks like without an art fair. The plan is to take the tour of the Capitol, do some shopping on State Street, and have a light supper at Memorial Union Terrace. We would visit the university art museum but it is closed on Mondays.

David is very funny about Madison. He doesn't like it and, as he says, people don't want to hear that. So they pester him about just what it is he doesn't like, but the simple fact is he doesn't like it and doesn't need any reasons. He wants to go back to San Diego. It's warmer in the winter, and it appeals to him more.

It's a bit of what you might consider the Portlandia effect. Madison is perhaps a bit too precious, a bit too full of itself. From my point of view, any state or capital city that elects and keeps Scott Walker as governor has one strike against it already. The protests and the recall effort can't excuse the fact that the state elected him governor and then gave him a vote of confidence in the recall. The people of Wisconsin, like those in Indiana, Ohio, New Jersey and Florida will get what they deserve from their right-wing Republican governors -- a lower standard of living, an increase in crime, growing inequality in incomes and perhaps the opportunity to greet new industry with lower wages and no protection against the predations of corporate bosses. I totally understand why Amy wants to move and get out of the red state that she lives in. It is an offensive situation to have somebody like Brownback affecting your life, however tangentially.

Speckled Hen Inn

After a horrific afternoon battling traffic in Chicago, it seemed a lot like heaven to arrive at our B&B on the northern edge of Madison. I had booked it early because it only has one pet-friendly room, the Madison Lakes room.

You never know quite what to expect from a B&B no matter how many photos you see or Tripadvisor comments you read. This exceeded our most optimistic expectations. The room was beautiful, spacious -- almost like a small suite -- cool, nice big king bed, and a wonderfully appointed bathroom with separate toilet, king-size shower, big tub.

We had booked three nights and Andrea's immediate reaction was to try to get the other two nights we were staying in the area. They only had one more night for us but we took that.

It is a farm and there is huge corral with sheep and two llamas. It turns out that the llamas are the guardian and shepherd of the flock. Ziggy has been only mildly interested in the farm animals and much more interested in the owners' cats. She settled in after the first day and is able to stay here by herself.

Our room has a separate entrance in the wing closest to the driveway. The porch continues to the main entrance, where there is a very comfortable lounge with coffee, cookies, and soft drinks, as well as wine for sale. The breakfast rooms are upstairs and the breakfasts have by and large been very good with eggs from their own (speckled) hens, maple syrup harvested from the farm and fresh-baked scones. The innkeepers, Patricia and Bob, are very friendly.

It has been a great haven. If it had a pool, it would be perfect. The bathroom is stylish, but clearly favors design over practicality -- the toilet is too small to allow the door to open and the mirrors try to accommodate a corner sink but are not practical for shaving. These are quibbles, though. The soundproofing is excellent, so that you really don't hear the nearby Interstate at all.

Moon guide

No, it is not a guide to the moon, but a series of travel guides on individual states. I've belatedly added the Moon guide to Wisconsin to our traveling library.

We generally get a new guidebook for our trips. If you get only one or two tips about sights or cafes or restaurants out of it, it's already paid for itself. It's also useful for validating your own planning.

In the Age of Google, you can quickly patch together your own guidebook. I'd already found out that L'Etoile is the best restaurant in Madison (and booked a table for July 14 in January!), that Devil State Park is great for a hike, and that Door County is wonderful and quaint -- but it's nice that Thomas Huhti, who wrote this guide, agrees.

And there will be details about Frank Lloyd Wright, about Milwaukee, and about the Dells that we simply couldn't take the time to research ahead of time. So I think it will be useful. But I didn't go overboard and order the one for Michigan, too.

Milwaukee brewers

When I was growing up in St. Louis, I knew that Milwaukee was our chief rival for beer brewing. We had Anheuser-Busch and Falstaff, while they had Schlitz and Miller. Both cities had a huge population of German immigrants, though Milwaukee kept more of a Central European flavor.

All that has changed, of course. Many big American brands have disappeared under the onslaught of imports and the change in drinking habits. But the craft beer revival should be able to build on this beer-brewing tradition in Wisconsin.

Traveling in Germany you knew that virtually every town and many smaller places would have their own brewery and one of the fun things about these trips was sampling the various traditional beers. I doubt that Wisconsin is quite like that with its regional and micro-breweries, but it looks like Madison, Milwaukee and Green Bay all have local brews.

Gin and tonic

Gin and tonic is one of our summer drinks of choice and has proven to be a great companion on road trips. You get to that motel, unload everything, take care of the dog, suit up, and head out to the pool with a plastic glass of gin and tonic (we have often found the pools deserted and no prohibition for alcohol).

It is reminiscent of the late afternoons at the beach, when we could sit on the deck of the waterfront property after a long, hard day of body surfing, sunbathing and sitting on the beach. It is a drink -- must be the tonic! -- that is refreshing and relaxing. 

So on our trips we pack up a bottle of Bombay Sapphire, some tonic, and a supply of limes, as well as some plastic glasses in case no others are available.

Wisconsin, I suspect, with all its German immigrant population, probably has a wide variety of craft beers by now, along with artisan cheese. When we went to Palena for lunch over the weekend, they had a pilsner style beer from Great Lakes on tap and it tasted really good on a hot day (Great Lakes, Google tells me, is based in Cleveland, and actually fairly widely available in DC).