Holiday Vacation: Mad Town and Lumberjacks

Yesterday Hans and I traveled to Madison with two of Hans' cousins. Hans' sister wasn't feeling well because of jetlag/finals/cold season, so she stayed behind. We visited another cousin's biochemistry research lab, where he works, and then we went to State Street, near the capital, to do some Christmas shopping.

Looking through the viewfinder of a fisheye lens camera

I found a few gifts for other people and purchased a French press (!) at a neat kitchen store. After following one of the cousins through several very froofie gift shops, the rest of us made a pit stop at a pub while she finished her shopping.

We had an excellent dinner at the Weary Traveler tavern, where they had games for patrons to play with. We played a few rounds of Apples to Apples. It was getting late, so instead of driving back to the house (two hours away), we decided to do a pub crawl and then spend the night at one of the cousin's apartment. We spent a couple of hours at a bar with pool tables and shuffleboard (which everyone really liked). At the end of the night we all picked a spot on the floor (after those who had claimed the few pieces of living room furniture) and kipped for the night.

This morning, after a quick stop for food and coffee, we drove back to the house (grungy and damp from the slushy Madison streets) for showers, toothbrushes, and a bit of rest. In the afternoon more relatives arrived and we sledded for a little while before felling a couple of small property trees for the house (one of which Hans cut through so fast I didn't hardly have time to get the camera ready).
The rest of the evening will be spent catching up over meatballs and finishing the holiday decorations.