Weekend in Milwaukee

 For Father's day weekend we headed up to Milwaukee.

We found a dedicated gluten free restaurant in the 'burbs with a Friday Fish Fry.

And fried cheese curds.

They had a very limited menu so I enjoyed a local brew and skipped the food options.

It was time to check in at our hotel.

Then we headed over to the Riverwalk. We had the walk to ourselves.

We stumbled upon a beer garden and played a game of name that tune bingo.

We kept walking north to Lakefront brewery and enjoyed a few drafts by the river.

They had colorful crowler's for Pride month.

Heading back to the hotel we enjoyed the lights of the city along the way.

Night view of the "bridge to nowhere" from our hotel room.

Saturday morning we headed in the other direction along the river walk, towards downtown.

First stop, Milwaukee Public Market.

We picked up bikes at the station behind this building. We were able to cover over 60 miles over the next two days.

It took us awhile to find but we finally came upon the lighthouse to the north of the city.

This park had public croquet and lawn bowling fields!

Then we were off to find a gluten free bakery.

We headed over to a local whole foods to sit down to eat our goodies and grab some beverages.

Then it was off to a vegetarian cafe for lunch. It was delicious.

Chorizo tacos

And a grilled cheese

After lunch we rode back to the city center and decided to explore the third ward area on foot.

We stopped at Wizard Works brewery. It was a cute place but we didn't like our drinks here and it was way too busy for us to enjoy the small space.

After hanging out at Milwaukee Public Market's patio for drinks we walked back to our hotel along the river walk.

Then we decided to have dinner at the famous German restaurant, Maders.

They like to mention all the famous people who have eaten there.

And have a hallway with pics of those celebrities.

We didn't have reservations but sat at the bar. Not much options for food for me here. But they had really good German beer on tap!

They had lots of gluten free meat for husband.

On Sunday husband's choice of activity for Father's Day was an architecture & historical boat tour.

Great views from the river

And the lake

After the boat tour we picked up bikes to go to lunch at a burger bar.

Then to Purple Door Ice Cream. They had interesting flavors, even alcoholic ice cream?

After this we biked over to the Great Lakes distillery. I tried all 7 of their gins.

It was 5pm on Sunday so we decided it was time to head back home. 

What a great weekend adventure.

Memorial Day Roadtrip

 We spent the three day weekend heading up to Minnesota.

It was nice to see this eldest kid and catch up on what he's been up to this year.

We met up Friday night at husband's favorite place, Pizza Luce.

The next morning we headed to walk the 5 miles of paths around the arboretum

We packed some snacks to enjoy with beautiful views of the park.

We headed back to check out Chance's apartment building's  roof top common area.

After the tour we headed to St Paul where Chance treated us to late lunch at Foxy Falafel.

After lunch we stopped by the gluten free brewery.

Then back to Chance's apartment to check out his balcony.

First thing the next morning we headed out on the trails across from his apartment. It was a beautiful morning.

Then we headed to another local park and rented some kayaks for a paddle. 

Then it was time for one last hang out on the roof time with drinks and food.

Camping Fun

 After a couple of years of no tent camping we decided to check out a new to us park in central Illinois, Lake Shelbyville.

Since we were driving right past Normal we stopped for dinner and drinks at my favorite brewery, Destihl brew hall.

There are 8 campgrounds at the Lake. We picked Opossum Creek for this adventure. Our site was a walk in site so that meant carting our stuff down the hill from the parking area. 

Here's a view of our camp from the lake. Nicely tucked into the woods.

This was the first weekend this campground opened in the middle of May and boy was it chilly!

No firewood was for sale at the campsite so we headed into town to pick some up so our evening wouldn't be so cold for our second night. We stumbled upon a cute coffee shop, Oliver Coffee Shop,  made from a shipping container so we stopped to grab a couple of drinks.

The rest of the day we spent on the water.

And reading lakeside.

And napping in the hammock.

It was sunset time so we started our fire and poured ourselves some drinks.

And of course made smores!

We biked down to the marina the next morning before we packed up. 

Our camp weekend was a nice break from city noises.