Mad for Madison, WI, Madison, Wisconsin

It wasn’t long after dating a Minnesota native that I learned of the Viking fandom tradition, passed along over generations. Purple and yellow were swiftly added to my dresser. Indeed being a fan of the Vikings is wrapped in great hope and regular disappointment. Think: How I Met Your Mother episode where Marshall enters the Walleye Saloon and recounts with all the other Minnesota-New York transplants, the fateful 1999 NFC loss due to a lousy field goal.

Fast forward four years since my own initiation and my car dons a Vikings license plate frame, plus I experienced a firsthand repeat of 1999 in 2016. It’s all good fun, although snarls of Green Bay echo from our elders. I suppose like most rivalries — theirs is built on shared Upper Midwest snow fronts and Nordic roots.

And so, on our most recent car trip from New York to Andrew’s homeland we stopped through Madison, WI in what we had understood to be a wasteland of Packers fans in cheese hats. Nay, I hadn’t really heard it was a wasteland. Madison is an incredibly cool college town that is beautifully set between Lake Mendota and Lake Monona. And that delicious squeaky cheese is quite easy to come by. ...... (follow the instructions below for accessing the rest of this article).