Fifth Monday After Pentecost: A Holiday Getaway to Milwaukee
Please bear with me as I share the story & photos of our holiday road trip!
It’s getting late on Sunday evening after a long day driving home. So, no regular format tonight for my post. Instead, I’d like to share with you a few of my best photos from my first trip since I’ve been identifying as a Planetary Pilgrim on the Path of Christ. This is significant, as I’m seeking more sensual, creation-centered, experiences and encountering them with greater curiosity, wonder and depth.
My wife Erin and I travelled last Thursday (the 3rd) about nine hours north to stay in Kewaskum, WI. It’s the blue icon on the map below:
We stayed in a cute Air BNB adjacent to a coffee shop at the center of the village. Our windows are the three upper floor ones in the building behind the shop:
There’s great decor and excellent coffee in this little cafe:
The first night we were there, I watched the town’s firework display - from our bedroom window:
On Independence Day, our first stop was the lake town of Sheboygan. Note their “motto” on the sign (with Lake Michigan in the background)
Not far from where we took that photo, the town has a wonderful little park:
Later that holiday, we headed down to the AMAZING!!!! Milwaukee Summerfest. We’d never heard about it before we discovered a favorite band was playing at it. We were blown away by how cool the “state fair” vibe was in this park right along the lake shore. And they had a quiet, environmentally friendly drone show rather than fireworks.
And this being Milwaukee, they spelled out another word:
And there was this cheeky display. Looks like drumsticks, but look closer…
The band we went to see was Fountains of Wayne, best known for this earworm from the 1990’s:
They played this hit of course. My wife and I are more fond of the clever story-songs in their songbook, like these:
Not surprisingly they opened with “It Must Be Summer” (but didn’t play my favorite of theirs - “New Routine”)
We were able to get close with a great view:
After sleeping in on Saturday, we headed to a lovely park with one of my favorite things - a labyrinth!
If you’d like to see a few short videos of the labyrinth, check out my post from Sunday:
Independence Sunday: A Quick Video Check-In from Wisconsin
https://youtube.com/shorts/k1OM97q4yYk?si=kykTmAr1jj1bDx4-
We then headed to a remarkable site in Milwaukee - The Mitchell Park Domes
One dome is for the tropics:
The second large one is for the desert:
And the third, smaller dome is for seasonal exhibits:
To cool off after the warmth of the dome, we went to Milwaukee’s Central Library which has a grand entrance:
I struck up a conversation with Eric, a librarian. Since it was a slow day at the checkout desk, he offered to take my wife and me up to an amazing feature of the building - a living, green roof!
In case you’re wondering how its layered and what plants grow on it, here’s an illustration:
On Sunday, as we drove home, we stopped briefly at another national park that I can check off of my “bucket list” - Indiana Dunes National Park.
And you can’t see it in the photo above, but Chicago is visible in haze across the lake behind us:
Thanks for looking at my photos. I hope they’ve given you some ideas about places to go and things to do along the shore of Lake Michigan. As this is our only trip of the summer, I’ll be back with my regular format for posts starting tomorrow.