Madison, Wisconsin

I spent four years in the Spartans Drum and Bugle Corps and during those four years I got to travel all over the country for competitions and practices. Very rarely, though, did I actually get the chance to actually see these places.... whenever I mention that I've been to a major city or capital, I am always bombarded with questions about the sites I've seen... well usually I didn't have much to say. Traveling was more for business than for pleasure. So it's no surprise that when I did get the opportunity to be a tourist I ate it up. 

Every year during tour we got 2 half-days off; laundry day and I&E day. These photos are from

 I&E day in Madison, Wisconsin in 2006. I&E (individual and ensemble) day is  when every drum and bugle corps gets the opportunity to put their best individual and group of musicians forward for one on one competition. Those of us who are not competing get the last half of the afternoon off to roam the city and see the performances. With over 60 corps represented and on average 115 people per corps, DCI pretty much takes the city over with buses, trucks,

equipment, performers, and obnoxious people enjoying a free moment. All of the photos on this blog were taken by me with my rinky dinky disposable camera, and I am very happy with the way they came out. 

My favorite part of the city, strangely, were these strange painted cows that were all over the place. These statues were painted in every design imaginable... this one was painted with flames. There were flower cows, black and white cows, goth cows, clown cows, car cows... you name it they had a cow for it 0_0. I loved it. i ended up using an entire disposable camera just photographing the cows (yeah.. thats just the kind of person I am). Up in Toronto, Canada they have the exact same thing, except they're moose, not cows....why cows? Am I missing something?

This was another structure they had all over the place. These fountains were really cool, because some, like this one, just covered a street

 corner, while others surrounded entire buildings. The water ran from pool to pool and was very teasing, seeing as to how it was around 100 degrees that day. 

These photos I was very excited about. They're of the Capital building that sits in the exact center of down town. 4 main roads sprout off from this building (I'm almost positive that they went North, South, East, and West) and this building was at the heart. It was an amazingly beautiful building, which is why I have so many photos of it =P. The weather was sooooooo beautiful that day. *sigh*

This one is my favorite (the one on the left). It may be a little blurry but I love the angle its at. You see how the building is build with halls sprouting from its center at right angles? well it was like that the entire way around, so with the street being the way they were it was a really cool design. 

Like I said before, the city was taken over by DCI for the day. Every where you turned there was a string of busses or an

 ensemble rehearsing.