Saturday, July 8

After an easy drive from Grand Rapids to Muskegon, I (and my car) boarded the Lake Express high speed catamaran to cross Lake Michigan to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. When it was introduced in 2004 it was the first high speed (39 mph) car ferry in the US and taking photos from it’s sun deck was definitely a windy experience.

My target for the day was the Harley-Davidson Museum in downtown which proved to be so much more than just a museum. This is obviously a Mecca for bike enthusiasts and there were thousands of bikers milling around outside the museum inspecting the parked bikes, engaged in enthusiastic discussion, watching vintage bike riding challenges, eating, drinking and having a good time. Harley-Davidson was founded here in 1903 and, in 1915, had the foresight to keep at least one example of every model they ever made and bought up examples from the missing 12 years. I am not a biker (although I did ride several Lambretta scooters before I got my first car) but the collection and displays interested and impressed me and I spent far longer here than I had imagined.

Soon after 4 o’clock I was ready to leave the museum and walk around downtown but, after two days of museums and slow walking, my back was aching so I decided to head to my hotel.

The road map/video is here.

Sunday, July 9

Wisconsin is known for its cheese but what made Milwaukee famous is beer and I found 15 breweries in the city that offer tours. After a late breakfast, a little trip planning and catching up on e-mail I researched the options. Miller-Coors are the original and biggest brewers here but Lakefront Brewery offers what it claims is the 4th best brewery tour in the US, brews craft beers and is located on the Milwaukee Riverwalk so that was where I went.

The brewery itself is only about one third of the property as it has a huge beer hall and a riverfront patio. The tour was fantastic. Most brewery tours include a free drink at the end but, for $10, I received four tokens, each for a 10 ounce pour of any beer, a free souvenir glass and a very entertaining tour with a bar half way so you could top up your glass. If there are three better brewery tours I need to find out where they are 🙂

After drinking 40 ounces of good beer I decided a walk into downtown along the Riverwalk was needed before I got back into the car.

The Lake Express, seen here pulling in to Muskegon, MI is a fast catamaran
The Milwaukee skyline as seen from Lake Michigan

A couple of the scenes outside the Harley-Davidson Museum

The city’s baseball team is called The Brewers and, when they hit a home run, their mascot, Bernie Brewer, used to slide into a large beer mug. Lakefront Brewery bought the mug when the team moved to their new ballpark in 2001.

My trips would be far more complicated without GPS but, after recognizing Lakefront Brewery as a destination, it told me to “turn left” when I was above the orange sculpture and driving from right to left across the top level of the bridge. That would have been a complication!

The Milwaukee Riverwalk has revitalized many areas of the city and provides attractive views.