This neighborhood (Eastmorland) is a great Madison compromise, close to lots of conveniences, but far enough removed you can park wherever you want and have some peace and quiet.
The following places are within ten minutes walking:
Olbrich Gardens (botanical garden, playground, ice skating, discovery center)
Woodman's Grocery Store (maybe Madison's most popular grocery, and certainly liquor store)
Lake Monona (the east shore, with tennis, basketball, soccer fields, playgrounds, sledding hill, etc)
Shenk-Whitehorse Elementary-Middle Schools (visible from our driveway)
Community garden plots (sunny spot on the other side of the school, only a few years old)
Madison Central Post Office (huge and full service)
True Value Hardware Store
Lussier YMCA
Java Cat (sandwich and coffee shop)
Happy Bambino
Pinney Branch Library
Jade Monkey (bar)
We are only 3 minutes from the Isthmus bike path, which takes you past the capitol, past UW, and out the west side. Milwaukee Street (3 blocks up) heads straight out of town to the east, for those looking for a serious cyclist escape route to the farm roads.
There are multiple CSA's (Community Supported Agriculture farms) who have pickup locations within five minute's drive of this neighborhood.
Transportation:
Three blocks away at the East Transfer station you can catch Bus routes 3, 5, 14, 15, and 9 which head straight to downtown/UW and out to the West Side of town. Other routes like the 30 and 16 can take you further East or North from the East Transfer station.
Stoughton Road is a few minutes away, as is Route 30 and Route 151. You can get out of town real fast from this location, whether to the beltline, 90/94, or up Fair Oaks getting you to the airport in about ten minutes.
There are children's playgrounds all over, including Starkweather Creek, which are popular due to the large number of young families moving into this great neighborhood.
