I was very generously put up by some former Bostonians now living in a coop in Madison. It's a great house, only a block from the lake.

My time in Madison was jam packed with activity - I walked around with Emily when I got in, and within an hour had seen a bit of the university, the capitol building, and downtown. After grabbing a beer on the terrace, we got caught in a downpour on our way back to the house.

It was warm, though, and a bunch of folks from the house actually took a swim (probably ill-advised) during the storm. And, the post-storm sunset was gorgeous.

The next day we hit up the farmer's market by the capitol (highly recommended are the cheese curds) and did a little more swimming before participating in the Madison Hash House Harriers.

A hash is something in between a footrace, a scavenger hunt, orienteering, and a beer-drinking bonanza. Needless to say, it's fun. You run around in big group trying to follow a trail that someone set earlier in the day - it likely takes you through creeks, mud puddles, brambles, parking lots, etc. with a few stops for beer along the four or five mile course.

After this particular hash, there was a dinner/bbq at one of the member's place, which turned out to be a beautiful farm. It had started raining just as we finished the run, and it stopped as we arrived at the farm - we were treated to a beautiful double rainbow.

There was time for some frisbee & fun before the main event of the evening.

Each year the Madison hashers collect Christmas trees after the holiday, and then have a big bonfire on the 7th of May. This year, the burn was postponed due to wind, and we were lucky enough that it was rescheduled for the day we ran.

So, with much pomp and circumstance, the first pile of 30 or so dried trees was lit.

Wow, do those burn easily!

It was so hot, you couldn't stand much closer than 25 or 30 feet from the fire. Gives you a newfound respect for firefighters, really.

The crowd was impressed.

As one pile burned out (really only took about 5 or 10 minutes for the whole stack of trees to go up), the next was lit.

Quite a dramatic experience.

It really was one of the more impressive things I've seen in a good long time.

And the sunset after the fires went out wasn't half bad, either.

The next day I ate well, swam more, and played some frisbee, further bolstering my feeling that Madison in the summer is a lot like summer camp (though it should be noted, the eats in Madison far exceeded camp food).