One day (technically two) in Milwaukee

Being in the Midwest means you're accessible to a lot of other states. Because of this, Nick makes a thing of getting out to cities like Detroit and Indianapolis for Bulls games, since they're cheaper there and those stadiums tend not to sell out. (Sorry, Detroit and Indianapolis.) This weekend he had tickets to the game against the Bucks in Milwaukee, and when his friend wasn't able to go, said friend was awesome enough to give me his ticket. It should also be said that this was my second Milwaukee trip since November, so I will be combining stuff even though we did some pretty similar things on both trips.

It's about an hour and a half drive between Chicago and Milwaukee, and on the way you get to pass something that is so freaking Wisconsin it hurts:

Yep, Mars Cheese Castle! Which is not a castle made of cheese, but a building shaped like a castle that has cheese in it. It's kitschy and touristy and probably filled with Chicagoans on their way somewhere else, but they have some really good product. You can get cheeses, meats, wine, baked goods, spices, etc. I found cheap sea salt and jumped on that.

Also once I went there and put a cheesehead hat on my head and my friend said "You take that off," immediately.

Milwaukee itself is one of those small big cities, where you can run into traffic but actually find parking outside a museum on a Sunday. Because it's got a pretty kickin' museum! The Milwaukee Art Museum is gorgeous. The building is art.

That is the entry, which overlooks onto Lake Michigan. You get to the museum via a pedestrian bridge, and if you're lucky the wings on the museum will be up. The museum has wings, y'all. I also didn't think there'd be as much to it as there is, but there were four levels of varying sizes with a lot of collections of contemporary, European and American art. The docents there are apparently all awesome and had no problem with picture-taking, and there must've been a field trip or something because it was full of teens. There was a group of kind of loud, giggly girls who got called out by a docent, but instead of yelling at them, he said, "Want to see something cool?" A minute later we heard happy squealing, and the next time we saw those girls was in a teen room, where kids could add their own messages and drawings to a wall. There was some pretty good art up there! Go, young Milwaukee! There's also a section for kids, and while we didn't go in there, I can only hope it's the same deal.

After that we had a couple hours to kill, so we went to Sprecher Brewing Company. It's a brewery, where you can go on tours and see how they make the stuff, but their soda's really popular. I don't really like soda, I rarely drink it, but I bought a case of this stuff. (For around $22, if you're curious.) Also last time I was there I picked up a root beer cookie mix. Root beer cookies are surprisingly great. I was very sad they were out of the mix this time. I had my heart set on root beer cookies, dammit.

We had a while to walk around downtown Milwaukee, especially the River Walk. Last time we went we were going to the absolutely gorgeous Pabst Theater at night for a Guster concert and found that even on a Saturday night most things close down early. In the daytime, there are people around, restaurants are open, and I can find somewhere to pee if I really need to. Also it was pretty great being up there for a game. A lot of the people in the stadium were from Chicago so I didn't feel weird or out of place wearing my Bulls shirt out in an opposing city. In fact, when we came up on a group of guys also wearing Bulls shirts on the street, they spotted us in ours and gave us high fives. I just met a lot of great people out there.

And to wrap this up, the Sheraton in nearby Brookfield has the most comfortable beds I have ever been on, and if I could choose to live the entire rest of my life in one place, it would be one of those beds. The end.