Arriving in Milwaukee

Linda and I drove into Milwaukee Labor Day afternoon. The drive had been nice and there was still plenty of time to see a few things.

The first thing along the route was the Milwaukee Mile at the Wisconsin State Fairgrounds. As we drove by, we saw cars on the track, something was going on. We pulled in and made our way to the stands just as people were coming down. Since the event was actually over, nobody was there to ask for a ticket so we climbed the stands and got a nice view of the facility.

I'd heard of the track as part of the Indy Racing League and NASCAR Truck and Busch racing. I read the following on Wikipedia.

The Milwaukee Mile’s premier distinction is as the oldest operating motor speedway in the world, hosting at least one auto race every year since 1903.

We left the Mile and went on to the lake shore. The breeze was nice as we walked. One of the attractions in Milwaukee is their art museum and part of that is due to the building itself. As you can see in the images to the right, it's a striking white building with wings. We paused to take photos and again found our timing was again very fortunate. As we watched, the "wings" began to fold; it was five o'clock and the museum was closing. It was a pretty nice thing to have been present to see actually happen. We later learned that the wings open each morning with the museum, close and reopen at noon, and then close at five (or wind speed reaches twenty three miles per hour) nightly.

We got checked in to the hotel and took a stroll to see the city. German immigrants were attracted to the city in the mid 1800s and continued to arrive for many years. Many of the buildings have features that show european influences. One of the newer attractions downtown in the riverwalk. We took it on our way to a restaurant one of Linda's friends had recommended, the Water Street Brewery. In a town known as Brew City, it makes sense that you'd find a lot of breweries.

On our walk back to the hotel, we were crossed the Wisconsin Avenue bridge and learned about Gertie the Duck, Symbol of Hope.

A war-ravaged world in 1945 took time out from the stress of dealing with the death and destruction of World War II to watch as a duck hatched her young on a bridge piling in Milwaukee.

It's a nice story and there's a monument to Gertie and her ducklings on that bridge.