Milwaukee Here We Come

We were eager to get an early start to the day, as we had a lot we wanted to fit in to the day. So we got up and packed our bags and had a breakfast bar in lieu of the buffet breakfast at the hotel. We wheeled our bikes out of the room and down the hall. Then we saw it. “Elevator out of Order”. There we were with two bikes that are heaven when unladen, but currently holding about 60 pounds of gear each. We had no choice but to take the bags off, carry the bikes down one at a time, then carry the gear down, and reload everything. Ugh. We were sweating and worn out before we even got on the trail.

The trail made us forget all about the struggles of the morning. We rode along the lake for a while as we exited the park. Then we rode through the North Dunes Nature Preserve where we saw a beautiful wild turkey. We stopped to look at him and were quickly swarmed by mosquitos, so off we went.

Once out of the Preserve, we found ourselves on Lake Shore Drive (not the one in Chicago!). Several miles of beautiful houses along the lake. It was cycling nirvana! As we were going along, a runner passed us going the other way. He did an about-face and jogged alongside us asking us all sorts of questions. We wished each other safe travels and we continued on.

We rode through Kenosha, then on to Racine. We had reservations at the SC Johnson Headquarters for a tour of the Frank Lloyd Wright designed Lily Pad building and Research tower, and the much more recent Fortelesa Building. This building was so named because the third generation Johnson went to Fortelesa, Brazil and found the tree that produces Carnauba Wax, the lifeblood of their business for several generations. The tour was a great respite before continuing on.

The rest of the journey was on bike trail to the outskirts of Milwaukee. We had a quick bite at the hotel bar and turned in early.

The next day was a day of enjoying the sights of Milwaukee. Bruce had researched what were must-sees and we plotted a course to see several of them on the way to our hotel downtown.

First up was the Basilica of Saint Josaphat, a beautiful cathedral build by Polish immigrants in the late 1800’s. A service was going on, so we could only peek through the windows. Very impressive!

Then on to Burnam Block. A block of Frank Lloyd Wright designed homes that were designed and built for working class families in 1916. A couple of them really just looked like miniature versions of his impressive homes. While we were going down the block, a resident of one of the homes came out and asked about our journey. She then answered a few questions for us, and offered us a chance to peek inside the most impressive home where we could see some examples of the built-in furniture as well as some other Wright chairs, etc.

We then went to Mitchell Park, home of the Mitchell Park Domes, a series of large geodesic domes that house a variety of ecosystems, from rain forest to desert. The domes and the plantings were quite impressive.

We then went to the Allen-Bradley Clock Tower. At one time it was the largest four-sided clock tower in the world, larger than Big Ben. On the way to the clock tower, a car honked several times at us, and a woman yelled something out the window. We didn’t understand her, so we just kept going. As we were heading to our final tourist destination, Bruce realized his jacket was not on his bike. We wondered what to do, as it could have fallen off almost anywhere. Then we thought of the lady, and realized she was trying to tell us something fell off our bike. We high-tailed it back to the spot, and sure enough there was his jacket. Another example of how people go out of their way to be kind and helpful.

Our final destination was Marquette University and the Joan of Arc Chapel. This was a chapel that was built in France in the early 1400’s. It had fallen into disrepair, so they were going to tear it down. So in 1966 generous benefactors gifted it to the university and they had it rebuilt, stone by stone.

After checking in and showering, we headed to dinner. After dinner we walked down to the lake to see the Milwaukee Art Museum, an impressive building built on the lake to resemble a sailboat. It is very unique to say the least, designed by the famous Santiago Calatrava. On the way back to the hotel, we strolled past the ladybug building and walked the Riverwalk to see the Bronze Fonz.

Total miles Saturday 48

Total miles Sunday 20 + 4.5 miles walking