wave your flag

After dinner tonight, Dave and I went for a walk to check out the neighborhood. We learned from visiting here prior to moving that Madison has lots of great neighborhoods and chose to rent in one of our favorites. Since Madison's neighborhoods are older, the boundaries are indistinguishable as you drive through town. We're technically in the Westmorland neighborhood, right next to Dudgeon-Monroe. 

We're not the only ones who think this is a neat area of town. Madison Magazine listed these neighborhoods in their top 8 (number 2 and 4)!

So anyway, back to our walk. We set our sights on Lake Wingra, one of Madison's four lakes and the one closest to our condo - just a mile and a half away. Here are a couple pictures from the boat launch on the lake:

On the way back, we decided to take a different route home. We were about to cross Monroe Street, the main drag and a pretty busy road, when we noticed a family crossing the street ahead of us. Before crossing, they swiped a red flag on a dowel from a canister on the sidewalk and walked across. What the heck? We rushed up to the canister to read the sign. The flags are pedestrian flags, to alert drivers you are about to cross the busy street. Well, this is just too fun. Of course I had to do it and of course Dave was slightly embarrassed. But I grabbed the flag and took a step towards the road and those cars stopped instantly! Like, on a dime! Those drivers saw that flag and they reacted! I know I looked like a nerd with that flag, but wielding that kind of power waving a little red flag was pretty fun.