Well, we may not have found any pinball machines while visiting Madison, WI- but we did visit two great attractions that neither my husband nor I visited while a student at UW-Madison (too busy studying- of course ).

Our first stop was Olbrich Gardens BolzConservatory. In the summer their gardens are amazing- but in the winter their tropical greenhouse is paradise! It houses "more than 650 plants representing more than 80 plant families and 475 species and cultivars from tropical and sub-tropical environments around the world." (From their website http://bit.ly/UWMOlbrich). One note of caution though- during the winter the change between the outdoor and indoor temps/humidity will cause your camera lens to fog up, so bring a clean cloth to wipe it off continuously.

We then wandered over to the UW-Madison Geology Museum (http://bit.ly/UWGeology). It is a small yet very cool museum. It includes a good selection of gems and minerals, a great explanation of the geology of Wisconsin, glow in the dark minerals, and a fine collection of fossils. At the very end of the exhibit is a room with several dinosaur skeletons.

Both stops were great fun for the whole family. Each stop took approximately an hour, and the cost of admission was right ($1.00 for the Bolz Conservatory, the Geology Museum was free!)