Day 18 - July 19, 2020

Amber DeBono
Jul 20, 2020
3 min read

Last night, I found 12 sites I wanted to see in Milwaukee - about 3 of them were closed due to COVID, so we still had a lot to do before heading to Louisville! Unfortunately, the last guest left the alarm on which went off at 6 am! We had trouble sleeping after that and didn't leave the hotel until 10:30 am, which is a pretty late start for what we had planned.

First, we visited the Lynden Sculpture Garden. We weren't entirely convinced we should go because it meant driving 15 minutes north - the opposite direction of Louisville, but we were glad we went. There were some funky sculptures and we always enjoy getting a walk in right away.

Next, we saw a lighthouse and checked out Lake Michigan. There were a few families on the beaches, but there wasn't a whole lot of activity considering the weather was fairly decent. The lake looked very welcoming, but we had so much to do - we'll definitely need to check out this city again in the future!

After that, we visited Black Cat Alley, which were murals (some of cats) in an alley. There was also a cat cafe on the corner and we enjoyed watching two cats sleep - we can't wait to see Grunty tomorrow!

Then we shopped in the Milwaukee Public Market. It's a mini version of Seattle's Fish Market - it was very clean and EVERYONE was wearing a mask - impressive! We bought some waxed cheddar cheese in the shape of a cow and some iced coffees to go. We'll find out if the cheese is any good when we get home, but the coffees hit the spot!

Next stop: The Fonz. Not the actual Fonz, but a statue of him. We took some pictures and got back in the car.

Last stop in Milwaukee - the Milwaukee Brewery of course! I ordered a shandy, but kicked the keg, so I only got a half pint. The bartender said he'd bring me a full pint after he replaced the keg. About 20 minutes later - no pint of beer - so I went back in and it was clear he completely forgot. No big deal - but I asked for a refund and he did. It was a nice place and the shandy was good. We ate it with our leftovers from last night. I really enjoyed my vegetarian spatzle more cold than I did warm last night.

On the way to Louisville, we got some stuffed Chicago-style pizza at Chicago Pizza. I ordered it online so it would be ready when we got there - which it was. It was very good, but we're starting to realize they all pretty much taste the same. We've tried several others - Gino's, Giordano's...but it's all basically the same stuff.

Our last stop before Louisville was Indianapolis. I found a brewery - MashCraft on Delaware. We split a pint and I really enjoyed the shandy and the Berliner Weisse. Ian enjoyed his Barleywine. They also had an experimental ale that tasted a bit like a dry cider, but it was made from grapes. It was a nice place, but at this point it was getting late - we left at 8:45 pm.

We arrived in Louisville around 10:30 pm and we hadn't booked our hotel yet because we wanted to check out the downtown first and we are SO glad we did. There was nothing open downtown. In fact, many businesses were boarded up...seemingly due to broken windows from rioting. We even passed a protest as we were driving around. There was smoke everywhere and we did not get a good feeling...so we are skipping Louisville. It's too bad, I remember it from a job interview nearly 10 years ago - it was a really cool city.

We found a Sleep Inn on the east side of Louisville - for $45! It's nice enough - maybe about the same quality as the Super 8 in Driggs, but a smaller room. We got a 1st floor room - this way we can avoid elevators and stairs (this allows us to avoid more unmasked guests).

So this is our last stop before heading home. It's been quite a trip! I'll do my best to do another post tomorrow with some reflections about what it was like to travel during this time.

Milwaukee, WI - Lynden Sculpture Garden: