Got the late-Madison-winter blahs? Tired of the cold and snow? Remedies come in two trains of thought—embrace winter or plan ahead for spring. Either way, our city offers lots of simple, cheap or free things to do before first thaw.
- Go sledding.
Madison's best choices are Elver Park, Warner and Heistand parks. - Take up snowshoeing.
Madisonians are really getting into snowshoeing. Emily Mills at Lost Albatross says Indian Lake, just northwest of Madison is a great snowshoe or cross country destination. - Walk in the woods.
UW Arboretum is the place to go if you want to experience the beauty and solitude of a walk in the woods. You can go it alone or join a special winter’s end or spring equinox walk. - Get out your camera.
Capture winter beauty on the lakes or in the woods. The Madison Flickr group organizes Sunday morning photo walks all year long. Want more colorful subjects? Lady Liberty is back on Lake Mendota, and check out Tim Browning’s Loch Ness monsters in Lake Monona. - Practice ice skating in Tenney Park.
Skating at Tenney is a tradition, but other Madison area parks also have rinks. - Soak in warmth and savor scents at Olbrich Gardens.
Olbrich offers a great winter music series and the March Spring Flower Show. - Volunteer your time.
Holiday food drives are over but the long cold months aren’t. What’s warmer than sharing food with others at the River Food Pantry on Friday nights. - Support public media.
WPT, WPR, WORT all have late-winter fund drives. Answer phones, serve food to fellow volunteers, help with paperwork. Get a neighborhood group, PTO or friends together and go. - Learn a new skill or take up a hobby.
Latin dance lessons, rock climbing and stand-up comedy are offerings at UW Breaking Away minicourses. Learn computer, jewelry making or woodworking at MATC Adult Continuing Education. - Pretend it's summertime at the indoor Farmer's Market.
Dane County Farmers' Market is held almost year-round now thanks to central heating at the Madison Senior Center!
Excellent use of what we've learned in class!
ReplyDeleteWell formatted and easy to read ~ go lists!
Links are long and descriptive.
Lets people easily grab and go.
Very, very well done. Not to mention the content is very nice.
I don't really get the winter blues because I don't let it stop me from doing the things I love and I enjoy a host of winter activities.
You've put together a very valuable list that would be especially useful to people who are new in the area or just visiting for a while.
You have a good list of things to do in Madison during the winter months. I was unaware that the farmer's market is basically open year round. You've provided me information that I wanted know, but I didn't even know that I wanted to know it, so good job. You have a well organized site.
ReplyDeleteThis post is very well organized and makes for a quick and easy read. The links took me exactly where I thought they would take me. They were useful too.
ReplyDeleteYou did a very good job utilizing the list method on your post. All of the info is spaced out well enough where someone could easily find something specific that they were looking for and simply needed more info on that subject and did not want to read about the other 9 items.
The suggestions to make Madison not so blah I think are great. The suggestions are free or cheap which is a plus in just about anybody's book.
Not only do you suggest fun things to do, but you also suggest productive things to do. I have been a Madison native my whole life and some of the ideas you brought up are fun winter things to do that never crossed my mind.