Nothing Happened Here...

Last Saturday, on one of our whims, Stephen and I decided to drive up to Madison, IN. Stephen and I are, shall we say, somewhat prone to going on last minute little one-day road-trips in search of, small towns, fun museums, good wine and small town food.

I had never been to Madison before, heck, I didn't even realize it was on the river! Our GPS took us off the express way nearly half way to Madison and the rest was all through backroads and through beautiful scenery, and not so beautiful run down dwellings reminiscent of those seen on TV housing meth labs, but enjoyable none-the-less.

I'm definitely the type that likes to make somewhat of a plan prior to setting out to explore new places. When we crossed the tiny two-lane bridge and got over to Madison, we made our way town the scenic Main Street in search of a tourist center or something of the like. After circling TWICE, we finally found a small sign that had been blocked by a van, but the sign literally pointed to a small house. We walked down the street to see if maybe it was pointing down the next street-but NOTHING! I still don't think there really is a tourist center in Madison.

We found this beautiful fountain nestled in one of the neighborhoods without a map!

So despite our failed attempts at locating maps or literature with places of interest, we began walking down Main Street enjoying the small town feel. Before we walked into any shops though we decided we had to walk down to the river.

Stephen and I on the waterfront overlooking the tiny bridge that we had to cross to get to Madison...oh and as we were told, remnants of an old pier!

After walking around on the waterfront, we ventured back up to Main Street and had lunch at Downtowners, a great little cafe that had delish sandwiches and good salads!

Main Street!

After lunch we walked down a couple streets a few blocks from Main Street. Madison is full of historic buildings and beautiful homes! You can tell that there was or is a major attempt at a town-wide renovation/revitalization. There are some buildings that you can tell have been restored right next door to ones that look like they are about to fall apart. Despite some of the eye sores, we really enjoyed the style of architecture Madison had to offer.

We found this great little plaque on one of the residences in the neighborhood, poking fun at all the historical happenings that had taken place in the town!

After hoofing it around the town we were in great need for some good wine! There were two stops of a wine trail in Madison, so we could not resist. Our first stop was the Thomas Family Winery. It had a great 19th century feeling: dark wood, short ceilings, and very good Reisling! We spend probably a good hour in the booths by the window looking through coffee table books and enjoy some wine.

Stephen caught me enjoying a glass of Reisling at the Thomas Family Winery.

We then made our way over to Lanthier's Winery which was right on the river and had what I'm sure would have been gorgous grounds had the garden been in season. We literally walked into a wine cellar entering the building and followed our ears to a bar where several couples were being served wine. We samples some very good wines and had a great time trying to pronounce some. Try: C-H-A-T-A-Q-U-A-B-L-U-M-C-H-E-N we had a blast finally mastering this one. Some of our favorites here included:

• Cranberry Grande
• Chataquablumchen
• Festival Cherry
• Blberry Social
• Mill Street Red
  

Stephen picking out some wine at Lanthier's

Overall, we had a great time exploring the town and enjoying some good wine and good company before I had to head back to school and he had to head back to work.