Skiing In Wisconsin

Not that it's impressive or anything, but over MLK weekend I visited my 17th state: Wisconsin! Joe's med school class was going on a ski trip and I got to be his +1 :D

We drove up to Wisconsin on Friday night with our friends Max (who's in Joe's med school class) and his girlfriend Anna, and spent the evening in Madison. I'm sad we were there for less than twelve hours, but it's such a cool city. I'm really looking forward to revisiting it (perhaps in warmer weather) when I relocate to Chicago this summer. 

Even though we had less than twelve hours in Madison, we definitely made the most of it. Soon after we dropped our bags off at the hotel, the four of us met up with the other fifteen med schoolers/their significant others on the trip at The Old Fashioned. I seriously haven't fallen head-over-heels for a bar in a while, but I did there. The O.F. had good vibes, tasty snacks (cheese curds...I'd never had them...omg), a huge beer selection, great cocktails, lots of seating, and good music you can still have a conversation over.

 We started out with cocktails, but then a group of us got flights of Wisconsin beers. They actually came on a board that was shaped like Wisconsin. Details like that always make me so incredibly happy. 

The next morning, we woke up bright and early to go skiing. We didn't see much of Madison in the daylight, but I can confidently say that I liked everything that I saw. More reasons to go back...

The trip to the mountain was easy. In addition to it being my first time out this year, it was my first time on rental skis since elementary school and I was pleasantly surprised. Even though they weren't my own, the boots, skis, and poles were all user-friendly and in really good shape. Skiing with them was a breeze. 

Since it was Joe's third time ever on skis, we started at one of the beginner slope for a few runs to warm up.

 It just so happens that he's pretty amazing at stuff and picked up skiing right from where he left off last year so we decided to head up the mountain for some greens and blues. You might not believe it, but I was actually the first one who fell! Between the combo of getting used to rental skis and looking behind me on flat ground, I ended up tipping over when I wasn't even moving! I don't know why, but 90% of my falls have always been on flat ground, often when I'm not moving or moving very slowly.

Just a few obligatory shots of our fun ski group for the day. 

 At the end of the day, we warmed up by the fire in the lodge for a little, returned our rental equipment, and then drove back to Chicago. On our way home, one really fun thing we did was listen to comedians instead of music. Amy Schumer (my fave) and Aziz Ansari on Spotify. We were all tired, but laughed most of the way back to Chicago.