Today I took my mean Mustang machine out on a road trip to Wisconsin.
Milwaukee was the first stop. The downtown area is smaller and has fewer tall buildings than I had imagined. I walked along the Riverwalk, which is a pedestrian walkway along the Milwaukee River in the downtown area. To my disappointment, the water in the river is brown. Nor is the walkway very impressive. There is little to see or do and the walkway stops and starts. I had hoped for much more.
My goal was to drink a beer and eat a Wisconsin brat. I asked a tour boat employee for a recommendation within walking distance. She had to give it a good deal of thought, since few places are open on Sunday in downtown Milwaukee. She sent me to the Old German Beer Hall. It was perfect. I drank some Hofbrau Original and ate an Usinger’s brat in a place with a lot of atmosphere.
My next stop would be Madison, which is the state capital and site of the main campus of the University of Wisconsin.
This campus, which has an enrollment of 42,000 students, is even bigger than I had expected, covering 935 acres. It has a picturesque location beside Lake Mendota.
My Milwaukee bartender had been a student there for three years and he recommended visiting the student union terrace by the lake. The place was packed with people enjoying the 75-degree weather.
That is where I ate some Wisconsin cheese. I would have rather had the ice cream, but the lines were too long and, after all, Wisconsin is known more for its cheese.
Shortly after I returned to Evanston my roommates returned from their weekend trip to Cedar Rapids, Iowa. They were good enough to share with me a taco pizza from Happy Joe’s. The pizza looked strange but tasted very good. It comes with little packets of taco sauce.
Guinness colored, not Pilsner, Wisconsin River. Unambulatable ambulater. Odyssey.