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I recently had the pleasure of traveling for two weeks. Technically I was gone for 11 days, but it felt like 20. My new company has an office in Wisconsin and was bringing all of the sales reps out for training. Since I'm new to the company and still learning as well, I joined the group for the whole training session.
Um - Good to Know Guns Must be Kept in Your Car
My Two Weeks in Training
I had the opportunity to fly back home to San Diego over the weekend between the two weeks of training, but decided to stay in Wisconsin for the weekend instead to visit my family in Madison which was a 90 minute drive away. I hadn't been to Wisconsin since I was 4 years old back when my cousin David got married. Its been about *cough* 20 years or so since then and my cousin has grown children of his own, two of whom are married themselves now. I was looking forward to the opportunity to see family that I hadn't seen in years, and also meet family members I've only gotten to know on facebook. See? Facebook is actually good for something.
Picture of My Dad & Uncle on the Family Photo Wall
Little Monika - I Look Unimpressed
On Saturday my family took me to the farmer's market in downtown Madison. I was told that this farmer's market is known as one of the oldest and largest in the country. I was amused by the difference in vendors at this farmer's market in comparison to the ones I've seen in California. The farmer's markets here are almost entirely filled with produce since we have the luxury of year-round favorable weather. At this farmer's market, occurring at the very end of winter, the vendors were mostly cheese, meat, cheese, plants, and cheese. Did I mention they had cheese?
Freezing at the Farmer's Market
I saw cheese curds in person for the first time but as a life-long cheese hater I had no desire to try them out. Advertised to "squeak" as you eat them? Um, even less appealing.
Squeaky Fresh Cheese Curds
After the farmer's market my cousin Sarah took me, my other cousin, and her daughter on a little Wisconsin sight-seeing trip. We went to visit one of the most famous landmarks in the state - the House on the Rock! She had tried to explain what this attraction was before we got there, but upon starting the tour I realized why the explanation was so unclear. The House on the Rock was um .... a weird house with a museum of random "collections" of everything you could imagine. Complete with a carousel, automated musical instrument scenes, and various bizarre knickknacks.
Collection of Strange Guns
One of Many Pipe Organs That Played
Horse Drawn Carriage
Collection of Model Trains and Railroad Certificates
Walking through the tour of the whole house and the museum almost took two hours! Darn, should've worn my Garmin so I could log the miles. :o) jk The tour was bizarre but interesting, and if you're ever in the area I recommend checking it out.
Collection of Toy Cars
Collection of Burma Shave Signs
A Car Completely Covered in Ceramic Tiles ... Why??
Collection of Crown Jewels Replicas
That night we had a 15 person family dinner at my aunt's house. It was quite an impressive feast! I had happened to visit the family on the weekend of my aunt's birthday so not only did we have a family dinner at her house that night, the next day we had a birthday lunch at my cousin's house as well.
Panoramic Family Photo Attempt
Complete with "Twin" Babies
Serving Bowl My Dad Gave My Aunt/Uncle as a Wedding Gift 50ish Years Ago!
Happy Birthday Aunt Barbara!
After a fun weekend with the family it was back to West Allis and back to training. Checking back into the hotel for the second week was much sadder than it was for the first week. Being greeted with a warm chocolate chip cookie (signature of the Doubletree brand) wasn't even that exciting the second time around. The next few days went pretty quickly and I even had the chance to see an old friend while I was in town.
A former coworker of mine who I worked with in San Jose at my first job right out of college had relocated back to Wisconsin years ago. We had kept in touch via facebook (thanks again facebook!) but hadn't seen each other in 12 years! Talk about time flying. I had been complaining on facebook about the lack of fresh vegetables I had been able to eat for the past week aside from the meals my family had prepared and Pete was nice enough to scour the Internet for a more appealing option for me. I've been trying to eat vegan for the past few months and let me just tell you this - eating vegan on the road, especially while in Wisconsin is near impossible. Even options that are vegetarian aren't something I can eat since the restaurants usually replace meat with tons of cheese ... which I hate.
Engineer Reunion Dinner
Fortunately there was a vegan restaurant only about 10 minutes away from my hotel. Fresh vegetables, noodles, and green juice? I was in heaven!
Noodles, Tempeh, and Veggies - Oh My!
My 11 days in Wisconsin soon came to an end and I was able to escape the freezing cold weather and snow (yep, it snowed while I was there!) to head back to San Diego. I actually left training a day and a half early because I had to be back in town for one of my bi-monthly scheduled blood tests. Thanks cancer!
Thank You Gift Basket My Company Sent David
Consolation Prize for My Absence
I couldn't leave the state without purchasing some cheese head gear though. Although I can't stand cheese, I'm slightly enamored with cheese heads. They're so cute!! I spent about 15 minutes in the gift shop trying to decide if I should buy my dad a cheese baseball cap, cheese head beer coozie, or a cheese necktie. In the end I decided to be practical and took a picture of the items I shouldn't buy because they'll just end up in a closet somewhere, and bought little cheese magnets. You'll get yours next month Dad!
Foam Cheese - What's Not To Love?
Being away from home for 11 days for work was no fun, but getting to see my family was a really great experience. Thank you Carlson family for the hospitality!
