When I moved to Madison in 2008 I was pretty excited that my college was located right on Lake Wingra. Now, Lake Wingra is much smaller lake than it’s siblings in the Yahara River basin. “Wingra” is a Ho-Chunk name meaning duck- how thrilling. No bones about it, this lake is small and a little dirty compared to Lake Mendota and Lake Monona, but it has a nice homey feel. The other lakes are so big…and well…crowded. Living on an isthmus makes one a little snobby about lakes (we’re entitled, okay? Besides being on an isthmus we’re in a state surrounded by the two largest of the Great Lakes).
It’s been a few years and I’ve moved out and around the city a few times. I find myself back in the same area since earlier this year though. My little studio apartment is within walking distance of the lake, the boathouse, the boardwalk behind campus, and the surrounding arboretum. Yesterday evening I had some time and the weather was beautiful so I picked up a Gouda sandwich from my favorite coffee shop, packed my camera, a book, and headed out. The boardwalk behind my old campus it heavily forested and I trekked through the woods for a while before discovering a new little boat dock that had been built since my departure. It was cute and quiet: perfect.
There was a college football game going on and the stadium is just minutes away from this spot. Luckily the woods block out most of the noise so it wasn’t hard to forget about all the hubbub going on.
The fish were quite excited to get some tomato cast offs from my sandwhich. I leaned over to take a photo of them and ended up with no fish (well, they are there, but you have to look reeeaalllly closely to see them) but a cool self portrait.
It wasn’t a perfect day preceding the lake adventure, but I thought hey, why not end on a good note?
*Post Scriptum: I found some chicken eggs arranged in the woods near the lake shore. It was very Jurassic Park.
captainiameryka 
Stunning photos!!
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Thank you!
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