<p>Every day is a gift, regardless of the weather, but this past week has been something to revel in. I always say that the best part of being in Madison from November to March is that you get to be here from April to October.</p>
<p>Ok, so now I am ready to make my reservations for my trip to visit UW…I can get a very reasonable air fare on Air Tran to Milwllaukee, but then have to drive to Madison from there. The flight I am considering reserving would arrive in Milwaukee almost 6 pm on a Thursday night, (the night before Veteran’s Day) , and then would leave on a Saturday at around 9:30 am . Which would mean I would have to get up very early to get to the airport on Saturday…How long a drive is it from Milwaukee to Madison? Is arriving at 6 pm on a Thursday night going to take longer since it is rush hour? Would I just be smarter to just pay more to fly directly into Madison? Any suggestions?</p>
<p>It probably won’t be cheap to fly directly into Madison. Getting into Milwaukee at 6PM, by the time you get the car, it’s past rush hour so that shouldn’t be a big issue. And with the 80 mile drive you’d probably be in Madison by 8:00-8:30 anyway. Coming back to Milwaukee from Madison on Saturday morning, yes it would be early–you’d have to leave around 6:30 to drop off the car around 8:00 for a 9:30 flight.</p>
<p>Sounds like a reasonable flight schedule. Easy to get to get to Madison hotels in time for R&R that evening. It will be dark so you may not do a lot of “sightseeing” in the evening. It may be easiest to choose a hotel in Milwaukee near the airport the night before your return to make it less stressful for your morning flight- could leave Madison late evening (you won’t want to stay up late and drive in the morning, anyhow). Do keep your speed within 10 miles of the speed limit on the highways (here they aren’t as picky about crossing the solid white line when entering freeways- some relatives from S Cal were aghast when they visited years ago and I did that). If you have AAA get city and state maps, a gps would be helpful as well. Madison streets can be confusing as they are laid out between and around lakes. Milwaukee to Madison from the airport is very easy. Nothing shuts down here for Veteran’s Day (except no mail)- some states do many more holidays than WI.</p>
<p>May be too late here. Looks like you are in SoCal. We fly into Madison through Minneapolis or Denver. Several major airlines. Elapsed time is usually well under 6 hours which is similar to flying to Milwaukee or Chicago and driving. Have done both. With enough advanced booking, the cost of the flights into Madison are not much more. We like the smallness and simplicity of the Madison airport. Cabs are $15 to campus or rental cars are easy and not expensive.</p>
<p>I did already plan my trip. We are flying in and out of Milwaukee simply because it was a lot cheaper to do so…Should my son end up attending there, I would think he would fly into Madison…I decided to drive back to Milwaukee the night before we leave and stay at a motel near the airport just to make it easier on ourselves since our flight leaves early on Saturday. So it all looks like it will work out fine.</p>
<p>Now, does anyone have any suggestions as to any good restaurants near the campus? We will need to eat there probably two nights. Not expensive, but good food…Any type of food would be fine.</p>
<p>I would recommend you all just hit up State Street. There are tons of different options so you can just get whatever you are feeling. They are numerous ethnic restaurants and a variety of others. If you are looking for an over the top Wisconsin style restaurant I would check out Old Fashioned up on capital square. Very tasty and they have cheese curds!</p>
<p>Ditto on State St restaurants- many different ethnic groups to choose from. If you want to sample good dorm food you can do so at any Res Halls dining hall or snack bar. They are open to the public and you pay cash prices- a la carte. You can find locations, hours and daily menus under the housing- Res Halls site of the UW website.</p>
<p>That is pretty interesting that you can sample the dorm food. But how do you get into the residence halls as a member of the public in order to say, eat lunch? They let you in, do they?</p>
<p>The living sections of the dorms with cafeterias are locked and for resident access only but the main entrances to dining halls are open to the public. There are also freestanding eating places run by Res Halls. You could even walk through the food service areas and choose not to make a purchase. I believe the posted prices are for dorm residents- cash payers pay 60% more (part of the housing bill subsidizes the food service buildings/operations). Dorm residents use money they (or their parents) put into their dorm food account to get dorm prices- they can spend as little or as much as they wish in Res Halls facilities during the year. This also means dorm residents can eat anywhere on campus, they don’t need to return to their dorm area for meals and can have nondorm friends join them in the dorm cafeterias/snack bars.</p>
<p>The two Unions have food/restaurant facilities as well- these are entirely separate and also easily accessible to the public (there may be a technicality about belonging to the Union, such as being a student, but that has never made a difference- except perhaps in buying beer). The food variety and quality can be different between Res Halls and the Unions.</p>
![http://www.aos.wisc.edu/~sco/clim-history/stations/msn/msn-sts-2007-08.gif[/url]](http://www.aos.wisc.edu/%7Esco/clim-history/stations/msn/msn-sts-2007-08.gif%5B/url%5D){kind=link}
![http://www.aos.wisc.edu/~sco/clim-history/stations/msn/msn-rts-2008.gif[/url]](http://www.aos.wisc.edu/%7Esco/clim-history/stations/msn/msn-rts-2008.gif%5B/url%5D){kind=link}
