Madison WI. Farmer’s Market, Biking and Hiking…

Our short stay in Dubuque Iowa came to a close and so did our stay in Iowa. We drove Northeast around 95 miles before pulling into Lake Farm Campground just outside of Madison Wisconsin. We stayed here once before a few years ago and knew this would be a great place to hide out for the July 4th weekend.

Lake Farm Park is an electric only site but online I found site 3 was available and it was close to a water spigot where we could fill up with water after setting up, so we did. They have free WI-FI, a dump station and great (free) showers so we may not have to worry about dumping during our entire stay here. What is also great about this park is the proximity to the bike trails in the greater Madison area.

We love the bike trails in Madison but don’t like the user tax on them. There is a trailhead next to our campsite and to use the trail to go into town is $5 per person per day. However we learned the last time we were here to put the bikes on the car rack and drive two miles toward town in order to use the free bike trails there. Free parking and free use of trails begins inside the city limits.

We have been taking advantage of using these bike trails a lot to see some of the things we missed last time such as the Saturday Farmer’s Market which was indeed amazing.  It was set up on the square around the capitol and was very well attended so it took quite some time to make our way around it through the crowds.  We picked up a few things and really enjoyed the people watching as well as visiting the various venders at the market. 

Next we embarked upon a historical walking tour of the downtown area. We found a free self guided downtown walk of Madison’s Historic Neighborhoods. We decided to mostly follow the Madison’s Pioneer Buildings: A Downtown Walking Tour. We had already visited the State Capitol last time we were here so we didn’t go in it this time around and instead focused on the other buildings. The tour included several old churches including the Grace Episcopal Church (1855) which is the only remaining church of four that originally faced the State Capitol.

Also in the tour were many homes built in the mid to late 1800’s with varying architectural styles including German Romanesque Revival, French Empire Style, Italianate Style and even Victorian. The tour even included a charming Period Garden Park in front of the Keyes House. There were historic businesses as well probably the most noteworthy was the Hooley Opera House where Buffalo Bill performed.

We have loved rediscovering Madison and who would have known that we happen to be near so many of our RV friends this time of year more on that later…