The University of Wisconsin

Fond du Lac, WI

We left Belvidere, IL (outside Chicago) early this morning (Sunday) and headed north toward Fond du Lac, WI.   We enjoy touring college campuses and were going right by Madison, home to the University of Wisconsin and decided to make a quick visit.  So we parked the motorhome in a Walmart parking lot, unhooked the car (with bicycles inside) and headed for the campus.  From where we parked the motorhome, the route to the campus went through the capitol area, dominated by the capitol building.

Wisconsin State Capitol Building

The campus lies on hills right next to the south shore of Lake Mentoda.  The shoreline has a number of cafes with outdoor seating, as well as a number of fraternity houses.

As we passed by we watched a class on kayaking as students entering the water.  The students sit in the boat on the dock and are pushed, gently, into the water.

A gentle push into the lake

Bascom Hill is the main quadrangle that forms the symbolic core of the campus. It is located on the opposite end of State Street from the state capitol building. Bascom Hall  serves as the main administrative center of the university and has a statue of Abraham Lincoln in front.  There is no connection between the University and Lincoln other than some alumni wanted to honor the favorite son of a neighboring state.

Looking back toward the state capitol from behind the Lincoln statue

Looking back up the hill to Bascom Hall

At the base of the quadrangle a walking bridge goes into Madison

North Hall is just down the hill from Bascom Hall and is the oldest building on campus.

North Hall

Across the quad from North Hall is the law school.  Many a liberal lawyer graduated from Wisconsin!

The Law School

Is the university a beacon of liberal thought?  “Securing the Future”, a plaque outside the law school seems to indicate that it is.

Next to Bascom Hall is another plaque commemorating an event that occurred during the Vietnam protests of the late 60s and early 70s.

This is Sterling Hall, where the explosion occurred.

Sterling Hall

Another plaque commemorates the event.  Evidently they are not keen on recognizing this event, as the plaque is on the side of the building near a small parking area.

Just  outside the campus is the Randall Arch, at the entrance to what was once Camp Randall, a Union Army training facility during the Civil War, where over 70,000 Union troops were trained during the war.  It was later used as a prisoner of war camp for captured Confederate soldiers.

Today the site is the location of Camp Randall Stadium, home to the Wisconsin Badgers of the Big Ten.

Above is the main entrance to the stadium.  I yelled at the lady on the bike to move but apparently she did not speak English!

Down the road a bit is the Kohl Center, home to the school’s basketball and ice hockey teams.

After our brief tour of the university we headed back to the motorhome, loaded the front of the car on the trailer, and continued north to the town of Fon du Lac, a city of 40,000 on the southern shore of Lake Winnebago where we are parked, with full hook-ups, at the local fairgrounds.  They have about ten sites with hook-ups (water, electric, sewer) but it doesn’t seem to be a very popular site, as we are the only ones there.

We chose Fon du Lac as it is centrally located between Milwaukee and Green Bay, and we plan to visit both cities from here.  Tomorrow we head to Milwaukee to visit the Harley-Davidson Plant and, hopefully, a cheese plant or two!

More on that later . . .