5083. Go to the Pope Farm Conservatory in Middleton

For the last couple of years, I've waited to stand in a field of sunflowers and take a picture. It is the new trendy Instagram picture apparently. The other year I thought about it but realized sunflowers are really just green stalks with a giant flower at the tippy top. They didn't look as cool as I thought they would so I moved onto another adventure.. probably wine tasting.

This year I was determined to do it no matter what these sunflowers looked like. I saw that several of my Madison area (Facebook) friends have been to the Pope Farm Conservatory. They were suppose to have a sunflower field. I added Pope Farm Conservatory to the list of things to do in Madison.

Pope Farm Conservatory is a nature park on the outsides of Middleton. There are several walking trails, fields of crops, and along with some history of the area. None of which we had time to explore.

We got to the conservatory around 5 pm which was a good thing since many of the crowds disappeared for the day. There were a few families taking pictures and picnicking by the sunflowers but the amount of people was tremendously less than if we went in the afternoon like originally planned.

Silly us, we parked a good distance away and ended up walking uphill to the sunflowers. There is a closer parking lot that apparently we missed.

The sunflowers were in a large field. It wasn't particularly sunny but that's okay. Apparently they turn towards each other when it's cloudy. We took a few pictures and headed back to our car. Mission accomplished.

I really just wanted to see the sunflowers although exploring the entire conservatory would be fun. There is a lot to see and do at the conservatory. They are guide maps available by the parking lots to help navigate the area.

Maybe one day I will be able to explore more of the conservatory. If you are in the Madison area and want some free nature walks, head out to the conservatory.