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Friday, July 15, 2022
I met a woman this morning who was also dragging her luggage out to the car. I made the mistake of exchanging pleasantries and would up hearing her entire life’s story. She mentioned that if we were going East on I-80 we should stop at the largest truck stop in the world as they were having some sort of jamboree. When I went back to my room I googled for that truck stop. We were in fact going East but the truck stop was 40 miles to the West. What I did find, however, was that the largest wooden nickel in the world was just 1.4 miles from us. We just HAD to stop there before leaving town.
Just one exit East off I-80 we found a small, rural road. We knew we were in the right place when we saw another car parked on the side of the road. There it was: the largest wooden nickel in the world. It was a Buffalo (really Bison) Nickel. We took some pictures and continued on our way.
After an hour and a half we stopped in Dyersville, Iowa. One of the many farms in this town was used during the filming of Field of Dreams. We just couldn’t resist seeing it. The owners kept the baseball field just as it was in the movie – complete with a small wooden bleacher on each side. Just beyond, on a small hill was the white farmhouse that the family lived in. Quite a few people brought their mitts and were playing catch on the field. It was very amusing.
We walked to the outfield to see if we could find James Earl Jones in the corn but by the time we got there he was nowhere to be found. We walked the bases and stopped in at the concession stand to see if they had any fresh corn. They said it was still too early.
Just down the hill from the farm house a large gift house has been built. We went in and walked about. It was full of all sorts of baseball jerseys and hats as well as movie memorabilia. The prices were exorbitant.
After we left we drove into the town of Dyersville and had lunch at the Dyersville Family Restaurant. Deborah had a patty melt with mashed potatoes and gravy. I had a meatlovers skillet that came with eggs and toast. The food was very good. We thought that the restaurant would be a tourist trap with high prices but it turned out to be a locals hangout with very reasonable prices.
We walked a couple of blocks down the street and entered the Basilica of St. Francis Xavier. It was built in the Neo-Gothic style between 1887 and 1889. In 1956 it was elevated to the rank of Minor Basilica by Pope Pius XII. It’s a very beautiful church with a deep main altar and stained glass windows all along the sides. We longed to hear the pipe organ but all was quiet when we were there.
After checking into our hotel in Milwaukee we went to Sinbad’s Grill for dinner. We shared a falafel plate consisting of six falafel balls, humus, tahini, rice, salad, and a pita. It was pretty good but not nearly as good as the dinner we had the night before.
Next we headed to Costco for gas. This is the second time in a row that we got (Costco) gas for under $4.00. Then we were off to Kopp’s Frozen Custard. Wisconsin is famous for its custard and we feel it’s our duty to try as much of it as possible.
Kopp’s has been an institution in Milwaukee since the 1950s. They also sell jumbo burgers. I ordered the flavor of the day: Mr. Fudgie. As usual Deborah ordered a dish of vanilla with caramel sauce. Mr. Fudgie wasn’t chocolate and was strongly infused with mint; not something I really like. I decided to go back and order a plain dish of chocolate. The chocolate was wonderful and the vanilla with caramel was also quite delicious. Prices were reasonable too. They really need to find a better name for that flavor!
Saturday, July 16, 2022
This morning we went to the Harley-Davidson Museum. It’s situated downtown along the Menomonee River. The entire complex sits on 22 acres. Entry costs $22.00 per person. The museum starts on the second floor where there is a nice display showing how the brothers came up with the idea for a motorcycle company and how they grew it over time. There is a nice array of photos and documents to go along with the story. The floor also contains a display detailing motorcycle racing, which Harley-Davidson dominated from the start.
The museum has a representative of just about every bike the company ever built starting with serial number one from 1903. The older bikes are on the second floor and the line continues on the first floor where you can also find some famous bikes from the movies including the bike Arnold Schwarzenegger rode in T2 and the one Peter Fonda rode in Easy Rider.
Outside there is a restaurant, a gift shop, and a reproduction of the very small shed that was used as the original factory.
We left the Harley complex and went over to the Riverwalk district. This is a two mile walking path along the Milwaukee River where we expected to find a variety of shops and restaurants. Along the way we encountered a sculpture that has become known as The Bronze Fonz. It is an almost life sized figure of Arthur Fonzarelli from the series Happy Days, which was set in Milwaukee. It’s a popular spot to take some selfies.
There were few shops along the walk and most of the restaurants we found had been closed long ago. The area seems in need of rejuvenation. In the distance we spied a sign indicating Usinger’s Famous Sausage and we headed that way. When we got there we found that they had a small takeout counter. The restaurant had been closed. Milwaukee has a very large German population and the restaurants on this block were all Teutonic in nature. We settled in at Hofbrauhaus.
We ordered a large plate consisting of smoked bratwurst, bratwurst, knockwurst, weisswurst, and rye bread all on a bed of red cabbage, sauerkraut, and kartoffelsalat. We managed to eat all of the meats but hardly made a dent in the rest. We both agreed that the smoked bratwurst was the best of the lot. It was a ton of food and we were completely stuffed.
True to our ideals when we left we drove over to Leon’s Frozen Custard. Deborah had two scoops of vanilla with caramel sauce. I had a scoop of chocolate and a scoop of vanilla. The custard was wonderful. The vanilla was full of flavor, the caramel sauce delicious, and the chocolate was a lighter, milk chocolate, which I really loved. I think we liked this even better than Kopp’s.
Sunday, July 17, 2022
In the early 1800s Milwaukee was a popular place for German immigrants who brought a great deal of their culture with them. As a consequence quite a few breweries originated in this town. This morning we toured one of the largest and most famous of the bunch: Pabst Brewery.
The brewery was actually started by Jacob Best in 1844. None of his sons wished to take over the business so it eventually went to his daughter’s husband: Frederick Pabst. Interestingly enough, one of Best’s sons started the well known Miller Brewing Company which today is owned by Molson Coors. Tickets for the tour cost $12.00 per person which included a ticket for a free beer.
In its heyday the brewery sprawled over a couple of dozen buildings. Most of the original buildings have been repurposed. The tour took place in a building that held administrative offices as well as brewing facilities. Our tour guide gave us a complete history of the company and then walked us through the building including the lovely hand carved wood paneled office of Mr. Pabst.
After the tour we walked down the block to the Milwaukee Brewing Company. We could have taken another brewery tour there but instead opted for lunch. We ordered a Bavarian Pretzel and the poutine (french fries, fried cheese curds, summer sausage, and beer infused gravy). Service was really slow. After 20 minutes we still didn’t have our drinks. I asked a waiter to see what he could do. About ten minutes later our food came and soon after our drinks.
The food was very good. The pretzel was salty and soft and went well with the spicy German mustard. It was good thing we asked for the gravy on the side because we didn’t care for it. We did, however, make liberal use of the cheese sauce, it went well with everything that we ordered.
For dessert we tried another custard place called Gilles Frozen Custard. They started in 1938 and claim to be the oldest custard shop in Milwaukee. We ordered the usual. The chocolate was just ok but the vanilla was the best we’d had so far. It was smooth and creamy and had a strong vanilla flavor.
Monday, July 18, 2022
We decided to have a late breakfast at Ally’s. We ordered at the counter. Deborah requested the quiche of the day (spinach, mushroom, red pepper, and cheddar) and I asked for a croissant with bacon, egg, and cheddar. Just then the chef came out of the kitchen and informed us that they had run out of croissants. I asked to substitute a pretzel roll. We paid and waited for our food to be delivered.
When the food came I got two biscuits with bacon, egg, and cheddar. The waitress apologized but I said it was ok. She offered us a $15.00 gift card as compensation. The food was home cooked and was very good. We decided to go back tomorrow before we leave town and use the gift card. They had some awesome looking cinnamon rolls that seemed worth trying.
We decided that we’d spend the rest of the day seeing churches. The German population is largely Lutheran but there is also a large Catholic population. We identified four churches that we wanted to see.
The first was The Gesu Church, a church run by the Jesuits – a sect started by Saint Ignatius Loyola. The church was fairly plainly decorated but had some beautiful stained glass windows. All up and down the avenue we found buildings belonging to Marquette University, a private Jesuit, Catholic college.
Driving down the road we passed the mansion of Frederick Pabst. It was a large, stone building that reminded us of the mansions in Newport, RI. Tours can be booked online. A little further down the road we found our next church: Tripoli Shrine Temple.
It’s a Shriner’s temple built between 1926 and 1928 that strongly resembles the Taj Mahal. It turns out that it’s not a religious building at all. It’s just an elaborate meeting place for the Shriner’s organization. No one was there to greet us so we just walked around and peered into a number of rooms.
Next was The Cathedral of Saint John the Evangelist. The doors to the church were locked so we tried to enter through the administrative entrance. A man said that we should wait near the church doors and someone would let us in. About ten minutes later someone let us in, opened the church, turned on the lights, and waited for us to look around. This church also had beautiful stained glass windows but the interior was rather sparse.
Our last church The Basilica of Saint Josaphat, a Polish martyr who tried to join the Catholic Church with the Eastern Orthodox Church. The basilica was built between 1894 and 1901. In 1929 it was elevated to the status of Minor Basilica by Pope Pius XI. At the time the church was built the surrounding neighborhood was populated mainly by Catholics of Polish origin.
We entered through the gift shop. The clerk told us that we could tour the church on our own or purchase an audio tour for $5.00 per person. We opted for the audio tour. It was an excellent tour. It took us through the entire basilica and explained how it had been constructed, told us some of the stories depicted in the stained glass windows, and described many of the adornments. It was very informative.
The church is decorated in the style of the Italian Renaissance. Real marble is used around the main altar but to save money much of the rest of the church is painted to look like marble. Downstairs in the Undercroft, there is another chapel that contains a “Boxcar” Organ and a huge array of relics along with a descriptions of the three classes of relics. We also found some interesting displays that described the details of the decorations in the dome. It included a description of the nine divisions of angels (who knew?).
After having seen four churches we earned a good lunch. We headed over to The Milwaukee Public Market. It’s a large building. On the first floor there are a number of food vendors. The second floor contains tables where you can sit and enjoy your meal.
We toured the entire first floor before deciding what to get. At Foltz Family Market we got mac & cheese with pieces of BBQ, spicy meatloaf, and several slices of corned beef. For our drinks we went to a Middle Eastern place called Aladdin and got homemade lemonade that was infused with rose water. The food was great but we were in full agreement: the lemonade was just awesome.
