Train Graffiti and Salsa on the Rooftop

 

Today I worked from home and Travalon didn't have to work, so we tried to figure out where to go for a lunchtime walk. The road to Governor's Island is all torn up, and Jackson's Landing is closed until further notice. I don't know if this is because of storm damage or because there are Karner blue butterflies there, which are endangered. I am totally speculating about that, but I have seen the butterflies there as well as in Necedah, and like Necedah there are lupines there, which is what their caterpillars eat. Anyway, since it was no longer a close, shady option for a walk, we went to Tuggle Road off of River Road and hiked on the trails there.

In the evening after we took care of our neighbor's cat, I said we should get going right away to get to the salsa concert on the Monona Terrace rooftop, but we weren't fast enough and we just missed a train heading north. Then when we drove by the railyard here in town, we saw so much cool graffiti. Travalon happened to have his good camera... but the battery was dead, so we ran around with our cell phones and took photos.

The traffic was terrible getting to the Monona Terrace because Concert on the Square had been postponed from yesterday due to rain, so everyone was heading downtown at once. (I hear their theme was the songs of Elton John and Billy Joel.) It was a beautiful night, as you can see from these photos.

The band played salsa, bachata, merengue, cumbia, and even a Mexican song, so sort of pan-Latin. The music always sends me to another place, with a very green mountain overlooking water. It looks sort of like Trempeleau, or like the view of the hill in Pheasant Branch with the creek in front of it. Does this place really exist? I'm beginning to wonder if it's somewhere in Puerto Rico, because when we were approaching it while hanging out in the Zen Room, listening to Enya, the misty mountains looked so mystical and sacred. Whatever this place is, I wonder if Heaven will look like that. How amazing if it did.

Famous Hat