Hard to believe we came to the end of our time in Milwaukee. In true jerky fashion, it was gorgeous the day we left, just like it was gorgeous the days we were in Vegas. Clearly, Milwaukee did not like us. Whatever Milwaukee, you weren't our favorite city either! However, the point of this is to travel to see new areas we haven't seen before, not to love every place we go. And, we had a really great last week in Milwaukee so we are leaving with good feelings!
Seven Bridges Trail - Grant Park
The Seven Bridges Trail is located in Grant Park and winds around a ravine on unpaved stone paths, staircases and footbridges. The trails are unmarked and can be confusing but exploring the area was really fun. And, once you find the shore of Lake Michigan tucked behind the trees, you will be more than glad you came.
In total, the trail is about 2 miles and crosses 10 bridges. Dogs are allowed on both the trail and the beach. Cody, Emma and Jazzy loved it!
Pabst Mansion Tour
The Pabst Mansion was home to Federick and Maria Pabst of, you guessed it, Pabst Blue Ribbon. While I'm not a beer fan and have never had Pabst, it's hard for me to pass up a tour of an old mansion. The mansion was built over two years from 1890- 1892 at a cost of around $250,000. The house was sold in 1908 and became the archbishop's residence and the center of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Milwaukee for almost 70 years. According to their website, in 1975 the mansion was almost torn down to build a parking lot for a neighboring hotel. After a 3 year fight for its preservation, it became an award-winning house museum.
You can do a guided or self-guided tour throughout the mansion. On the self-guided, you receive a handout with the layout of the mansion and some information about each room, there are also guides on each floor that will answer any questions you might have. We chose this option and it was the best one for us.
The first floor of the house has the majority of the furniture from the Pabst's while the second and third floors mostly have furniture purchased from the same time period.
The rooms were ornately decorated with so many small details that it could have felt like too much, but it all fit perfectly. In the above picture, the music room is shown left above with the dining room on the right. In the below picture, Mrs. Pabst sitting room is shown on the left with Elsbeth's room shown on the right.
Perhaps my favorite detail of the rooms was the ceilings. It's incredible to imagine the level of detail that was put in building and decorating this house.
Harley Davidson Museum
We don't know a lot about motorcycles but felt like it was important to go to the museum of the birthplace where it all started. The shed above is actually a replica of the one where it all started in 1903.
The Harley-Davidson Museum gives a history of Harley-Davidson with memorabilia, including tons of motorcycles going all the way back to the very first model. The museum also had a lot of motorcycles they made that were used for the police, mail delivery and the military. As well as famous motorcycles from the movies and even Elvis's bike. Overall, we really liked the museum. While not expensive, it was slightly overpriced for us given that we don't have a strong history with motorcycles. It did feel like a must-do for any Harley-Davidson fans.
The top picture on the left was used by the Navy and the bottom left picture was Elvis's bike.
River Cruise
How can you not go on River Cruise while staying near the Milwaukee River! We chose to do a cruise through Eldeweiss Boat Tours. They have a number of different tours you can take and we picked the Sippin' Saturdays. Luckily we were second in line to get on and got a great seat outside at the back of the boat. The boat takes a 90-minute tour along the River and you can buy drinks along the way. While it was a little cold, the view was incredible and we had a great afternoon!
Ardent
Ardent was our fancy dinner of the trip. It looked just like Catbird Seat in Nashville so we were super excited to get a spot! It was a 10-course dinner with optional wine and cocktail pairings, which of course we did. Overall, the food was underwhelming for us. The taste just wasn't there and many of the dishes were hit or miss. It was unfortunate but was not worth the cost, at least from our point of view. The space also left a lot to be desired. When asking people to shell out a lot of money for dinner, the atmosphere is almost as important as the food. What was amazing? The wine and cocktail pairings. They definitely ended up being the highlight of our night.
Caroline's Jazz Club
When we were out walking, I got distracted by the sound coming from Caroline's Jazz Club and we decided to go in to check it out. The space was intimate and the music was incredible. Everyone was having a great time and enjoying being able to listen to live music again. The $12 cover was a bummer, who charges covers anymore?! But overall, we had a great time.
Shakers
Shakers Bar is known as one of the most haunted bars in the US. We had heard some really interesting stories about the history of this bar and we really really wanted to check it out. Unfortunately, it's a cigar bar. While we thought it wouldn't be too bad, we walked in and immediately had to turn around and walk out, the smell was just too overpowering.
The history of Shakers is an interesting one. Built in 1894, it was originally used for beer brewing and transport. In 1922, it was sold and made into a speakeasy owned by Al and Frank Capone. In 1924, they opened a soda bottling company to cover the liquor that was made and consumed in the building. There was also a brothel on the second and third floors. There are rumors of murders in the building which were substantiated when human remains were found in the walls during a 2001 remodel. The bones were tested and found to be about 70 years old. The bar provides nightly tours and you can even stay in the third-floor penthouse for the night. Shakers looked like a really fun spot, and I'm still upset we couldn't make it inside!
On to Minneapolis
And now we are on to Minneapolis with warm weather and no sales tax!!!
Until Next Time.
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