Milwaukee, Wisconsin and the Lake Michigan Shore- Thursday, June 29, 2017

     Probably not many people think of lighthouses when they think of Wisconsin, but since we left Chicago a little early we had some time to fill.  We called an audible, and decided to spend a least part of the morning exploring the Lake Michigan shore to find lighthouses.  Scott had the idea partly because he found a list of them in one of the Wisconsin publications that we received in the mail before we left, and partly because we hadn't seen as many lighthouses as we had hoped when our Connecticut trip was cut short last month.

     Since we were waking up in Wisconsin this morning, we went to the Brat Stop, which was right near our hotel.  Naturally, we picked up some cheese-- in this case, some cheddar curds-- and some summer sausage pieces to nibble on in the car.  Then we headed south on the local roads to find a "Welcome to Wisconsin" sign.  Scott didn't like that the video of the sign from the car was blurry last night, so we went to take a "family selfie" at one that ended up being identical to the one that was on the interstate.

    We then headed north a few miles to our first lighthouses of the morning.  They were in a beautiful spot in Kenosha.  One was a red one which stood about 50 feet tall out at the end of the pier.  This style of lighthouse is apparently common on Lake Michigan.  The cooler one, right near by, was part of a rather impressive museum complex for Kenosha County.  We started in the historical society's main museum and admired the quality of the exhibits.  Among them was a long wall of toys from the 1960s and 1970s, and Julie and Scott spent a while admiring these.  There was an entire room filled with Nash Rambler cars, which had been manufactured in Kenosha.  But we were here for the lighthouse, which stands out back.  The Southport Lighthouse was built in 1866, replacing earlier lights, and stands 55 feet tall.  For $10, we were allowed to climb the 72 steps ("Piece of cake!" the guide said), up the winding iron staircase to the top of the lighthouse.  Of course, it was hot and cramped up in the top.  Emma was the first up, and when she announced there were spiders up there, Anna decided not to go the whole way.  Scott was the next to make it and admired the view of the harbor.  Julie was last, and unfortunately, strained her knee as she tried making the awkward last step before the top.  After the lighthouse, we were taken into the keepers house, where there are various exhibits about the life of the keepers, the light house itself, and the maritime history of the area.  People in Kenosha certainly like to talk.

     After Kenosha, we dove up the Lake Michigan coast to Racine.  There, we found the Windport Lighthouse.  It is 108 feet tall, and the sign in front of it says that it is "one of the tallest and oldest lighthouses still serving navigation on the Great Lakes."  It is only open to climb a few days a year (and today is not one of them), but it sits in a cute little park.  The keepers house is being utilized by the city.  In front of the lighthouse is a cute, rocky little beach that we strolled down to, though the flies started biting Scott's legs, so we didn't stay long.  It was a nice stop though.

     By that time, it was getting close to noon and we were getting near Milwaukee.  That sounds like "Miller Time."  If you're think of Milwaukee, you have to think of breweries, and the best tour sounded like it was at the huge MillerCoors facility.  It's a free tour, and at the end of it, yes, you get free samples.  We drove past Miller Park, home of baseball's Milwaukee Brewers, and down into Miller Valley.  It was there that the German immigrant Frederick Miller eventually established his brewery, centered around his family's yeast recipe and the plentiful water, grains, and hops of the Milwaukee area.   We started with a movie, narrated by the Girl in the Moon, the symbol of the Miller High Life whose actual origins are apparently a bit of a mystery.  According to legend, she is supposed to have appeared in a vision to an advertising executive who was lost in the woods.  Following the history given in the movie, we were taken through the front portion of the brewing complex.  We first were taken to the packaging building where beer is put into bottles, cans, and kegs and astonishing rates, though the part we could see seemed to be experiencing a temporary malfunction.  We then went to the shipping area, a building the size of five football fields.  Scott and Anna went to the next part where they climbed 56 stairs (almost as many as in the lighthouse), to see the large vats where the brewing process begins.  After that we all went down to the "Miller Caves" which is originally where the kegs of beer were stored in order to keep them cool.  The decor in that area was very fun and atmospheric, and a movie of the ghost of Frederick Miller ended the tour.  Then came the free beer in the pub and in the beer garden.  The two of us over 21 were given good-sized samples of three beers, and since Julie isn't really a beer drinker, Scott helped her with hers.

     By now it was going on three and we needed to find lunch.  Emma and the rest of us had been nibbling on the summer sausage bits that we bought this morning, but now we needed something more substantial.  The only thing open in the immediate area was a bar named Spitfire's on State.  It had some good food and we ate heartily.  But it was here when we realized the bad news, for us, about Milwaukee.  The bar had a shuttle bus running, and when we learned where it was going, we realized that we shouldn't really go any further into Milwaukee tonight.  It is the weekend of Summerfest, which is billed as the "World's Largest Music Festival."  That meant there would be crowds of people and headache inducing traffic, and probably right in the parts that we wanted to see.  Since Milwaukee is part of the historic "German Triangle" (along with Columbus, Ohio, and St. Louis, Missouri,) Scott had been looking forward to seeing the historic German neighborhoods and buildings.  Turner Hall, for example, couldn't be a more important part of the old German-American community, and was the location of the wedding reception of one of Scott's cousins last year, but we couldn't make it.  We also wanted to see some of the pop-culture connections, like the statue of Fonzie, the clock tower from the beginning of "Laverne & Shirley," and maybe even the street that they were supposed to live on.  However, it didn't seem like it was a good decision to try going downtown now.  Luke Bryan will have to go on without us.

     We set the GPS for Green Bay, which was still about two hours away.  We were amazed when we saw the hotel that we're staying in.  It's right next to the convention center, and has a huge atrium in the middle of it that all of the rooms face.  Our room is actually more of a suite, with a sitting room in front, a bar and kitchenette, and a large bedroom in the back.  From the bedroom, we can see Lambeau Field over the top of some of the nearby buildings.  We got a real deal booking this one online.  It's not only luxurious, but it also has a washer and dryer just a few steps from our room, so we'll get some laundry done.  We ordered Domino's and settled in early tonight.