how to live, travel and explore the world from your van

Milwaukee Wisconsin on $20 a day

This is part of an 18 week, 7,532 mile, Vanabode road trip detailed in the book from Amazon
titled Big City Wild Country East Coast Road Trip on $20 a Day for just $2.99
See East Coast Road Trip for more pictures, itinerary, maps and trip overview.

We start the day in Milwaukee on the Downtown Riverwalk, an extraordinary network of dozens of pedestrian and automobile bridges. Boats anchor on the sides of the inland waters.

Milwaukee Wisconsin's Downtown Riverwalk

Above: Brewery outlets, pubs, restaurants, retail shops, tasting shops, and more line the river. The water appears dark brown and the walk is quiet this time of day. We pay four dollars to park and supplement that with a free hour of parking at the Farmers Market.

milwaukee old church buildings

Like all the other big cities on this 18 week road trip, the older downtown areas always hold treasures from the architectural world that are hard to describe in word or photo. You really have to be here to get a handle on just how nice it all is.

milwaukee wisconsin downtown architecture

milwaukee wisconsin architecture

Milwaukee's wisconsin cheese mart

Above: Later we stroll into the most extensive cheese store I have ever seen, the Wisconsin Cheese Mart. They claim to have the world’s largest selection of Wisconsin cheese. I’m convinced. Hundreds of individually wrapped artisan cheeses and large wheels line the shelves from nearly every cheese producing country in the world. The proprietor slowly walks us through the shop. He opens and serves samples of at least twelve different cheeses. A hot pepper infused cheese takes my breath away for a moment.

Then we taste his eight-year-old Gouda with crystals from Holland. This hard cheese is simply unreal. Each tiny paper-thin slice has more deep delicious flavor and rich intoxicating aroma than an entire pizza worth of Swiss or Mozzarella cheese. I buy a six-dollar chunk, which will probably provide sixty tastings or more.

Veterans Park and McKinley Marina on Lake Michigan

Above: Later we walk Veterans Park and McKinley Marina on Lake Michigan. Combined, they span hundreds of acres of green space coupled with waterfront play areas.

The inland tidal basin provides calm water kayaking and fishing for children. Hundreds of boats are docked and moored here, but none seem over sixty feet long.

Tripoli Shrine Temple in milwaukee

Above: We nap in the shade then head to a place Kelly wanted to photograph called the Tripoli Shrine Temple. This joint is in a questionable part of town, so I keep watch as she runs around snapping pictures. Stray men are already heading our way like numbed down zombies. Something funny wierd happens here thats too crazy to put on a website - read about it in the book.

Miller Coors Beer Brewery signage

Above: Kelly wants to visit the famous Miller Coors Beer Brewery about three miles from here so we head in, park in the shade, nibble some cheese, sign up for the free guided one hour tour, and shoot pictures of all the memorabilia and history in the gift shop.

miller coors beer brewery stainless steel beer tanks

Above: This brewery is colossal, an absolutely towering work of American ingenuity and manufacturing prowess. Here on over eighty acres, from more than seventy individual buildings, millions of bottles, cans, and kegs of beer are produced and shipped to ten states monthly. The tour guide takes us through the actual brewing, bottling, packaging, and fermenting buildings. Then we get to walk through one of the original caves built far underground. In the old days the brewers stored beer in this actual cave to keep it fresh. Every year they would stack thousands of pounds of lake cut ice around the tunnel shaped caves to keep the beer cold through the summer.

This is hilarious....read the small print too. No grills, no visible underwear, no do rags, no bandanas. It's funny just how many ways people can choose to dress pathetically if they are given the freedom to do so.

For thousands of unforgettable experiences on this affordable 18 week 7,500 mile road trip
Click to see the book "Big City Wild Country East Coast Road Trip on $20 a Day"
from Amazon

List All Vanabode Pages
List All Destination Pages
How will this book help Me?
Links
Affiliates
Contact us, Get Help

click to buy Vanabode which shows you how to happily live, travel and camp in your van forever on $20 a day