Madison + Milwaukee

August 18-22, 2018

TL;DR: Wherever we settle, we know one thing: We want an axe-throwing station in our backyard. Also, cheese curds are delicious.

THE SIGHTS

University of Wisconsin, Madison

Had a bit of trouble parking but finally found a spot about a mile from the center. Only took a small branch off the tree.

Walked to the Madison Union Terrace and got a pitcher of the famous Spotted Cow (shout-out to Jimmy!). Apparently there are more than 12 million pints of the stuff consumed annually, but you can only get it in Wisconsin. It tasted good. Very rare year.

The scene was made even better by tons of puppies running around.

Madison, downtown

Walking off campus and onto the streets of Madison was rather colorful thanks to the pride parade, complete with drag queens, rainbow tutus, and lots of doggos.

Including a trio of bulldog puppies. Do we think this guy really has three bulldog puppies? Or is this just a puppy magnet play?

We also got some ice cream, and Great Dane cheese curds. It’s all about balance.

I mean, it’s charming and all. But I’m not sure we’d go this far.

Lakefront Brewery, Milwaukee

This “lakefront” brewery is ironically on the Milwaukee River, but has a great tour (snarky guides to boot), and delicious beer.

You can also get cheese curds with garlic dipping sauce and eat them right on the water. We like cheese curds.

Pilcrow Coffee

Cool spot that makes an award-winning cold brew. Was good. But not $5/cup good.

Oak Leaf Trail

This is a really great trail right along the water, which was a beautiful color.

About what we imagine the Florida Keys will look like. Biked by Discovery World, past the Milwaukee art museum, and a cool lighthouse.

Biking whilst filming is not as easy as it looks. We also passed a guy who was just aimlessly standing on a table with no shirt on …and Bri said that’s what he would be like if something ever happened to Jess (meep).

Good City Brewery

Biked here and Jess got a sampler with a smoky beer that was really good, the BFG (big friendly goodness) which was a malt beer (not her favorite), a stout, and a witbier. Bri got an IPA. Tempted to get mac and cheese with pretzel bread but resisted. Gotta watch our figures.

AXE MKE

OK. So axe throwing is amazing. We drank and threw axes. At the same time.

One of the guys told Brian his throw was “too perfect.” *Eyeroll.*

Jess was… not quite as good.

Working on how to get an axe-throwing station in our backyard when we settle somewhere.

(Not staged.)

Upper East Side of Milwaukee

We didn’t get to explore this but it looked like a really cute area when we drove by.

DETAILS, DETAILS, DETAILS

At University of Wisconsin, a pretty young kid was awestruck by Layla, and told Bri such. Cute.

AND THEN THIS HAPPENED…

Bri’s flip flop finally broke on the way to UW. This is a bigger deal than you think when you only have one pair in your RV. Had to walk with one bare foot back to the RV holding his broken sandal. Not happy.

While working in a Starbucks near Madison to the tune of some crazy rain, the power went out. Good thing we had Layla. Avoided downed stop lights and traffic and instead made dinner and played dominos while everything got sorted. Layla FTW.

NOW WE KNOW

While in downtown Madison, we stopped at a German bar for a beer and discovered Monster Jam on TV. Now we must find a Monster Jam rally STAT.

“No overnight parking” is often not exactly true. We drove to Cabela’s after a very long day, saw this sign, and called. Dillon (thank you Dillon!) double checked with his boss and said we could park there. Thank goodness.

The Pabst brewery in Milwaukee is closed on Wednesdays. Logical.