weeks went by: part 2

so, for the second half of our time together, we had already planned to cash in a groupon that crossed my desk almost immediately after i returned from ohio in july. there is a sport cafe in one of the madison suburbs that was offering what equated to a 2-for-1 kayak rental for half a day. matt has been telling my that i would enjoy kayaking, so this seemed like a perfect excuse to try it out.

as it turns out, he was mostly right.  aside from an afternoon-long fear of falling in the very, very seaweedy water, i really enjoyed myself. i was better balanced than i thought i would be and (perhaps because we were in a lake instead of on a river) my arms weren't as painfully exhausted as i thought they were going to be. i should say that this type of excursion usually is not a lake trip, but because the summer has been so dry, the river won't carry a kayak like it should. in any case, i dare say that we championed lake ripley like real troopers. i would definitely go back. especially if every day was as gorgeous as the one we got.

actually, the majority of the second half of matt's visit was spent in beautiful weather. this was great, because we like to spend time outside. after one fairly productive day, we trekked to the historical union terrace, where you can sit by the lake, have a drink, listen to live music, and just chat with good company. and - because this happens more to matt than to anyone else i have ever met, this little bird basically came and joined us. do you see him sitting on the railing in the picture? our table is pretty much pushed all the way up to where he is perched, but he just sort of flew in and hung out. it was almost reminiscent of the peacock that followed matt around the milwaukee zoo.

true to form, happy hour turned into hungry hour. we headed back to the willy street neighborhood, which is quickly becoming one of our faves. it was a short walk from the lot where i rent a parking space to the blocks and blocks of adorable little eateries. i think we both pretty much knew that we would end up at one of our favorite little pizza joints (they make a spicy pizza sauce). we got to sit outside and take take in both the sun and the yummyness.

actually, you can see the pizza place behind me in that picture, i think. i'm pretty sure that the big red block is where all of the outdoor tables are at. (we walked past it at first like we might eat somewhere else. . . yeah right).

he didn't say anything at the time, but i can tell from this photo that matt was done being amused and ready to eat.

but i couldn't help myself. it was so gorgeous out and i kind of really love this town.