In June of 2003 we were in Madison for the Much of the time was spent at the LWMS Convention but we did get to do a couple of things in the afternoon/evening.
Friday night after the last workshop we went to see the Wisconsin State Capitol but were too late for the tour. We still walked around and took some pictures. It is a really nice looking capital. The completed structure measures two hundred and twenty-six feet from east to west and three hundred and ninety-six feet from north to south. From the base of the building to the top of the flagstaff, the height is two hundred and twenty-five feet. Maybe we will get to do a tour some other time. Please check out their website above if you’d like to find out more about the WI Capitol. Since we were unable to tour the capitol, we did something exciting and went to the Cave of the Mounds.
It was really cool, literally. It was the first time we were in a cave and I was amazed at how cool it was down there. There is a lot of history about the Cave, too much to list here, so read their webpage if you are interested in the history or want to take a tour. I will however say that Cave of the Mounds itself began to form 1 or 2 million years ago when the Galena dolomite was still beneath the water table. The water table is defined as that level below which all of the rock is saturated with water. Often, the top layer of the water table becomes acidic because rainwater and melting snow absorb carbon dioxide as they seep through surface soils. The water combines with the carbon dioxide to form weak carbonic acid, which can dissolve limestone and create cavities within the rock. When a major crack lets large amounts of acidic water into the limestone below the water table, large amounts of rock dissolve along this crack. This is what happened at Cave of the Mounds. The Cave was formed along a major crack that can still be seen today. This crack is called the "lifeline" of the Cave. It was amazing how beautiful it was down there, I can’t wait to do more cave tours in the future.
Like I said, we didn’t get much time outside of the convention, but we did do a couple of things. Here are a few other things that sounded interesting to see or do:
| Wisconsin Historical Society | Madison Art Center | Olbrich Botanical Gardens |
| Madsion Museum of Contemporary Art | University of Wisconsin | Wisconsin Veterans Museum |