When despair grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting for their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
— Wendell Berry, The Peace of Wild Things
Madison, Wisconsin is the capital of the state and home to University of Wisconsin-Madison. It has a metro-area population of 654,230, making it much smaller than a city like Milwaukee, but with the college and a pretty active food and arts scene, it still has plenty to do. We opted to stay in Sun Prairie, one of the suburbs of Madison, because the hotel was much cheaper and the drive in to the city was still relatively short.
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