Roadtrip Southcentral

The Daily Scoop at the Memorial Union serves ice cream made fresh from cows at the Babcock Dairy Plant. We recommend the orange custard chocolate chip. The lines are long, but it’s worth it to sit out on the terrace’s signature sunburst chairs. Street parking is limited, so it’s best to shell out for a parking garage. Better yet, you can arrive by bike or bus.

About an hour from Madison, visitors at Devil’s Lake State Park can stargaze for an evening or camp to take in the night sky. The Madison Astronomical Society and UW-Madison occasionally host stargazing events on site. Keep in mind the park closes at 11 p.m.

More than 900 effigy mounds existed in Sauk County at one point, according to the county’s historical society. More than 75 percent of these mounds have been destroyed, plowed or otherwise erased. Man Mound, northeast of Baraboo, is one of the few effigy mounds in Wisconsin that remain nearly intact.

Whitewater has three cemeteries forming what has been referred to as the Witches Triangle. The city has a history of hauntings and Morris Pratt built an institute for spiritualism that has been called the Spook Temple. The former Winchester house, now a realty office, is allegedly cursed by the axe-murdering witch Mary Worth.

This Madison convention center with views of Lake Monona is just blocks from the state Capitol. The building was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, who proposed the design in 1938. After the city rejected it, it took six decades for his vision to come to fruition. The architecturally interesting building opened in 1997.