We had the pleasure of visiting Madison during homecoming weekend at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and it was similar to being projected into the movie Old School. I have a friend who lives out in Janesville, and Danielle decided to buy me tickets to see My Favorite Murder (our favorite podcast) live. It was a wonderful birthday present and a chance for me to visit my friend while seeing my favorite podcast. My friend visits us every summer in New England, and it was time for me to see what Wisconsin was all about.
Wisconsinites love their state, cheese, good beer, and football. Madison was flooded with a sea of red shirts due to the Badgers game. If you weren’t wearing red you were in the minority. We walked around Madison for the majority of the day as the show didn’t start until late in the evening, and we happened to walk by all of the fraternities near Union Terrace. It was like witnessing every bad night I had in college. Loud music, half naked girls who were hammered at 2 PM, and crowded streets. Madison is definitely a party friendly college town, and we loved the school spirit and vibe.
Madison appeals to the younger liberal crowd. There are vintage clothing stores, quaint coffee shops, a farmers market every Saturday, and an Orpheum Theater. It’s as if the popular jocks fell in love with the creative art students and gave birth to Madison. Some of the stores had anti conservative propaganda, signed photos of Hillary Clinton, and old advertisements from Obama’s campaign that were for sale. On one side of the street is an antique store with refurbished furniture, a cute coffee shop with live music, and on the other side of the street is a Badger’s apparel store where you can get your fair share of t-shirts that say Wisconsin in big red letters.
We knocked out the Union Terrace Memorial, ate cheese curds and drank Spotted Cow at the Old Fashioned restaurant, took a picture by the Wisconsin Badger, and ate as much cheese as humanly possible. Madison bars also have quite the lengthy menu for beer as the craft breweries in the area are thriving.
In terms of lesbian friendliness, I think Madison is the best you can get in the Midwest. Madison is fascinating to me because it is a very liberal area in what is considered to be a conservative state. It goes to show that while a state may be considered conservative, we should not judge a book by its cover. There are hidden areas within these conservative states that are lesbian friendly. These areas just need to be praised and made public.
Top 5 Travel Tips:
- Wear red. Even if the Badgers aren’t playing, Wisconsinites love their state.
- If you are a beer drinker, Spotted Cow is a privilege and hard to get outside of Wisconsin. Give it a try.
- Wait times at the restaurants are miserable when the Badgers have home games. Plan for this. We waited an hour to be seated.
- Parking is also terrible, so be prepared to walk to get downtown to where all the action is near the capital.
- Ask a local where the best fried cheese curds are. If they aren’t cooked correctly you won’t be getting the full experience.
Lesbian Friendliness: 5/5
It was like being in the Northeast with the ocean being replaced by lakes and cornfields instead of mountains.
Sisterhood of the Traveling Lesbians 