Lost Weekend in Milwaukee

A couple of weeks ago, Clare and I took a trip up to Milwaukee. Usually I like to write about trips Clare and I take especially if they involve biking. I also like to post pictures with humorous captions (That's kinda my schtick).

This trip was a little different because it involved no picture taking and no biking. We kinda decided on a whim one Friday that we'd take the Amtrak up to Milwaukee. This would mean catching the train on Friday night and wearing whatever we happened to have (Heck, I made it through a weekend at Madison with one pair of pants, why not Milwaukee). After we decided we were going to go, Clare put her fantastic research skills to use and found us a great room at County Clare Inn. She also got the "Lucky Friday" special which involved free drinks and free breakfast on Saturday morning. We also got a break on the price because it was a "snug room," which means it's small because it's next to the elevator. Still, the room had a double whirl-pool tub.

We also made sure to have dinner at a place we discovered on our previous trip, Joey's Italian Restaurant. The food was awesome, but the service was abysmal. Our waitress would spend most of her time talking to a couple of regulars at another table and when she came over to us, she had a very what-the-hell-do-you-want attitude. Still, the food's reasonably priced and very tasty.

There is a restaurant/ pub attached to the County Clare, so we had dessert there. The place was packed and we had gotten there right as the place was converting from restaurant to pub because apparently they can't do both at the same time. We were able to get dessert, so it was all good. There was a bachelorette party and a middle-aged drag queen at the bar (not together) which made the scene a little surreal.

After the conversion to pub was complete(which involved the waitresses taking all the condiments, placemats and silverware off the table) the live entertainment began. The performer for the night was this 20-something guitar player who wore his hair over his eyes and did his best to sound like Bob Dylan. I couldn't make out much of what he was singing about, but it was something about traveling a hard road. After the first song, a handful of people clapped and he stopped them saying, "Hey, thanks. That's cool. But you are under no obligation to clap. You just do your thing and I'll do mine. It's cool." I was thankful that he took the pressure off us as an audience. He did play a cover of Neil Young's Pocahontas, which Clare and I sung along to.

The next day we spent wondering around town and even stumbled upon a farmer's market in Cathedral Square. We also found this cool used book store that had three floors of books.

Again, sorry for the lack of pictures which is why I titled this the way I did. The funny thing is that this is Clare and I's second trip to Milwaukee and on the first trip I think I took two pictures. It's weird for us to have been to a place and have no photographic record.

"In-Laws" and Bomb Squads

I finally got the pictures from Clare's parents' visit. Unfortunately, not many would be much interest to the general public... except this one:



When we went to the Museum of Science and Industry, there were all these Cook County sheriff's cars and trucks out front. The little driveway that leads into the museum was blocked off as well. They let us in with no problem so I suspect that there wasn't a serious problem. It might have been a drill or something.

I really like the Bomb Squad's Logo:



I think it was inspired by either Snidely Whiplash:



Or more likely, Boris of Boris and Natasha: