Weekend Excursion to Wisconsin
A week ago, a few friends and I took a weekend excursion north for a camping trip at Harrington State Beach in Belgium, Wisconsin, located about 40 miles north of Milwaukee, right on Lake Michigan.
We left Saturday morning and encountered little traffic. Before we knew it, we were in Milwaukee and decided to get off the highway for a little venture into the city. Out of the four of us, three (including me) had never been to Milwaukee, so this was a new experience for most. We went along Michigan Street straight to the Lake, then took a left, going by the Milwaukee Art Museum, which, to me, looks like a combination of a sailboat in the front and a whale fin in the back, and altogether very modern. We then drove along Veteran’s Park to the north of the museum, where it looked like something was going on, so we stopped to check it out. It ended up being the Frank Mots International Kite Festival, and, wow, was it bad. When we arrived, the festivities were just getting underway. A woman was reading a rather awful poem about 9/11, which followed by the announcer admitting she had just written it the night before. Then the young woman sang the National Anthem… of Canada. She sung part of it in French, part of it in English, and none of it in tune. Then she sang the American National Anthem, which was flat also. For the mercy of everyone attending, they finally removed the microphone from her and released the kites into the air while blasting a soundtrack of Mary Poppins, “Stairway to Heaven”, and the theme to “Indiana Jones”. Apparently the latter was synchronized, with the kites flying to the tune of the song. By then we were already racing back to the car, but not before the song wrapped up and the announcer yelled “And those were the iQuads!!!!” Gee, thanks kite festival. As if I wasn’t already saying WTF enough to everything I had just encountered, as a parting gift they have to make me think about why a bunch of kites synchronized to a John Williams composition are called iQuads. We drove to the other side of town by the river for lunch at the Water Street Brewery. Being that we’re spoiled by Chicago’s extraordinary gastronomic offerings, the food at Water Street was nothing special and nothing we haven’t seen or tasted before, but we were hungry and it satisfied us. Their beer (brewed on site, as expected), was the star of the meal, all of us very happy with our selections (a honey lager, an Oktoberfest, and a Hefeweissen) as well as the price ($4.50 each). I’ll say it once and I’ll say it again: the Midwest crafts some dame fine beers.
We continued north to Harrington Beach, checked in to our campsite, and got ourselves set up with the tents and such before driving back south about 10 miles to the nearest full-service grocery store (according to my findings on Google Maps) in Sauksville. Right off 1-43 was a Wal-Mart (NEVER!), a Pick ‘N Save (looked nice and new but nothing special), but when we spotted the Piggly Wiggly, the choice was made. We got everything we needed (beer, hot dogs, ingredients for s’mores, Easy Cheese) from the folks at the Piggly Wiggly, then returned to the park and drove straight over to the Lake Michigan end, where my friend Eric and I took a quick dip in the chilly water. We dried, thawed, and returned to the campsite to make a fire, roast hot dogs, drink some beers, and make s’mores. It got dark and, as the skies were clear, the stars were out in their full glory. For an urban dweller like myself, to see that many stars is a rare and breathtaking treat. The next morning we took one last trip out to the lake, which was stunningly serene. To be surrounded by pure nature is just a reminder of how different life can be without our human distractions.
We had a wonderful time camping at Harrington Beach State Park. We’ll be going back next summer.
We left Saturday morning and encountered little traffic. Before we knew it, we were in Milwaukee and decided to get off the highway for a little venture into the city. Out of the four of us, three (including me) had never been to Milwaukee, so this was a new experience for most. We went along Michigan Street straight to the Lake, then took a left, going by the Milwaukee Art Museum, which, to me, looks like a combination of a sailboat in the front and a whale fin in the back, and altogether very modern. We then drove along Veteran’s Park to the north of the museum, where it looked like something was going on, so we stopped to check it out. It ended up being the Frank Mots International Kite Festival, and, wow, was it bad. When we arrived, the festivities were just getting underway. A woman was reading a rather awful poem about 9/11, which followed by the announcer admitting she had just written it the night before. Then the young woman sang the National Anthem… of Canada. She sung part of it in French, part of it in English, and none of it in tune. Then she sang the American National Anthem, which was flat also. For the mercy of everyone attending, they finally removed the microphone from her and released the kites into the air while blasting a soundtrack of Mary Poppins, “Stairway to Heaven”, and the theme to “Indiana Jones”. Apparently the latter was synchronized, with the kites flying to the tune of the song. By then we were already racing back to the car, but not before the song wrapped up and the announcer yelled “And those were the iQuads!!!!” Gee, thanks kite festival. As if I wasn’t already saying WTF enough to everything I had just encountered, as a parting gift they have to make me think about why a bunch of kites synchronized to a John Williams composition are called iQuads. We drove to the other side of town by the river for lunch at the Water Street Brewery. Being that we’re spoiled by Chicago’s extraordinary gastronomic offerings, the food at Water Street was nothing special and nothing we haven’t seen or tasted before, but we were hungry and it satisfied us. Their beer (brewed on site, as expected), was the star of the meal, all of us very happy with our selections (a honey lager, an Oktoberfest, and a Hefeweissen) as well as the price ($4.50 each). I’ll say it once and I’ll say it again: the Midwest crafts some dame fine beers.
We continued north to Harrington Beach, checked in to our campsite, and got ourselves set up with the tents and such before driving back south about 10 miles to the nearest full-service grocery store (according to my findings on Google Maps) in Sauksville. Right off 1-43 was a Wal-Mart (NEVER!), a Pick ‘N Save (looked nice and new but nothing special), but when we spotted the Piggly Wiggly, the choice was made. We got everything we needed (beer, hot dogs, ingredients for s’mores, Easy Cheese) from the folks at the Piggly Wiggly, then returned to the park and drove straight over to the Lake Michigan end, where my friend Eric and I took a quick dip in the chilly water. We dried, thawed, and returned to the campsite to make a fire, roast hot dogs, drink some beers, and make s’mores. It got dark and, as the skies were clear, the stars were out in their full glory. For an urban dweller like myself, to see that many stars is a rare and breathtaking treat. The next morning we took one last trip out to the lake, which was stunningly serene. To be surrounded by pure nature is just a reminder of how different life can be without our human distractions.
We had a wonderful time camping at Harrington Beach State Park. We’ll be going back next summer.