I have never had an inkling to visit Milwaukee, Wisconsin, but when researching stops for the road trip, I found that Milwaukee is home to the world’s biggest, 2 week, music festival, Summerfest. Since Milwaukee is only a 1hr 30min drive north of Chicago, I couldn’t resist, especially when I found out that Ray LaMontagne, Passion Pit and Alabama Shakes were going to be playing on consecutive days during a time that would be most convenient for me to be there! So, Milwaukee, here I am, and I’m glad I made the journey. It’s a pleasure to meet you.
Because the road trip starts with a tour of cities, the one thing that we took care to arrange for the first leg of our trip was our accommodations…However, a plan to stay at a friend of a friend’s house fell through last minute and the trip started with a bit of a panic. Milwaukee does not have any hostels (gasp,) campgrounds are not close to the city, and hotels are too expensive for my budget, including the lodges and inns near the airport. Fret not – there’s couchsurfing!
Couchsurfing is amazing. The noun couchsurfing aptly describes the experience – you can, if you wish to, surf from couch to couch as you travel. It’s like airbnb for free. Really free. You create an account, write a profile, and search through possible places to stay. You can read reviews to learn about hosts and homes to best match your needs. The catch – you’ll usually be sleeping in a living home where people get up to go to work, have dinner, clean, etc. You’ll usually be sleeping on a couch or futon. Most people become hosts to meet people, exchange ideas and cultures, and to get the couchsurfer enjoy the local’s experience of the place you are visiting, so come prepared to be social and join in. Couchsurfing is also great if you just want to meet up for a coffee with a local – many hosts will arrange things like movie nights, potlucks and picnics – you can use the service to simply meet friendly locals if you are uncomfortable sleeping on a stranger’s couch. J’s couchsurfed plenty of times (and highly recommends it for people budget travellers heading to Portland, OR.) Some houses and hosts are better than others, but it’s always an interesting, if not super fun, experience. Luckily we were able to find a place that would host us for three nights, that was walking distance to central Milwaukee – we just needed to be cool with sharing the room with 3 other couchsurfers. It was a bit crowded, and we had to share futons, but our hosts were wonderfully friendly, dispensed useful information about the city, and they were fostering a bulldog named Emmy who was very sweet.
Notes about parking in Milwaukee: if you intend to park on the street overnight you have to register your car online. On even days you have to park on the side of the street with even numbered houses, and on uneven days park on the other side. This means re-parking your car each day. There are no signs to indicate these parking regulations on the streets – you just have to know to do it, or learn like others have…by getting ticketed! We asked about the lack of signs. Our host laughed. ‘We don’t do signs in Milwaukee.’ It’s true. Even signs for Summerfest don’t exist anywhere in the city. You just have to walk towards the music, ask for directions, or be all modern and use the GPS on your phone.
Summerfest is host to many artists, as big and popular as Selena Gomez and Blink 182, to emerging artists such as Diane Coffee – who was amazing on stage. For the bigger names you’ll have to pay extra, but you get a good show with a general admission ticket. A 3-day general admission ticket cost $45 and well worth the pennies for the many artists that we see, and all the amazing people watching that we can do. We began our Summerfest by watching Led Zeppelin 2 – these guys had the crowd going, on their feet, swaying, stomping, head bobbing. I saw wrestling, which I never found to be entertaining on TV, but here, in real life, watching the theatricality of it and being amidst a cheering and laughing crowd, I enjoyed it.
When checking the weather, do not be too quick to believe in ‘scattered showers.’ While listening to Led Zeppelin 2, dark storm clouds hid the setting sun. Lightning and thunder soon added to concert’s lighting effects. All became dark and moody, and people began to fret. The rain started. It did not set in gently, but started pouring, hard heavy droplets. J assured me that this would pass. “This is Wisconsin in the summer. It’ll pass.” It did not. It got stronger. Led Zeppelin 2 finished the set, and we proceeded to the stage where Passion Pit would play. Being wet and cold, we buckled when we heard the shouts of vendors: “Two ponchos for $5,” to stop us from getting more wet and block the biting wind that had joined the storm.
Covered in plastic which clung to our wet clothes and bodies, we got to the stage early to find that all the places under the roofed area were already taken so we took our spots in the rain, amongst a throng of youngsters who did not opt for ponchos and waited for Passion Pit. It seemed like a long wait during which we wondered whether we were getting a little old for this kind of adventure. But then Passion Pit came out, the crowd livened up, people started to dance and the rain, the ponchos, the youngsters, the pitter-patter of the rain on the ponchos made for an exciting and lively concert. People exchanged glances and laughs as the rain continued to splatter down on us. There was a feeling of comradery and Michael Angelakos continued to rev the audience by telling us how amazing we were to continue to dance in the rain. It was perfect, and we felt energized and young, dancing and singing along to the songs.
At Summerfest, we also saw Nelly. Yup. Summerfest and Nelly. He attracted a huge crowd and was amazing on stage.
The best part of Summerfest was seeing Alabama Shakes. We had to pay extra and thus opted for the lawn seats. It was superb. Brittany Howard was raw, energetic, passionate and energy seeped out of her and into the crowd. We went to sleep with Alabama Shakes’ songs replaying in our heads and made promises to see her again whenever she was in town.
Other than Summerfest, Milwaukee is a nice town to visit in the summer and meander around the coastline and to its pubs and restaurants. The Public Market does not look like much from the outside, but take the time to go inside – it bustles with life, smells like cheese, and has excellent food, coffee and Minnesota themed trinkets. Milwaukee is home of Miller beer, but that brew is easily avoided with a selection of other local breweries making their own crafty beers. We really enjoyed Bloody Marys at Wicked Hop – the Bloody Mary comes topped with cheese curds, a bit of sausage, pickles, olives, and a shrimp. It’s a meal in a cup plus alcohol. I don’t usually like Bloody Marys, but this one was delicious. If it’s a Friday, this pub does a Friday Fish Fry menu. If you’re a lover of grilled cheese, you can order a foot-long grilled cheese sandwich. Be prepared not to finish this beast.
For breweries, dives and other pubs head over to Walker’s Point, just across the river from Old Town and find Shaker’s. This used to be an Al Capone’s hangout – the front used to be a storefront, a speakeasy was hidden in the back, and the second floor housed a brothel. As you step into the pub, imagine you’re Owen Wilson’s character in Midnight in Paris stepping into a 1920s bar. The piano, the sofas, the chandeliers, the plants, the wooden craft panels are all there to create that 1920s atmosphere. The bartender told us this building is the 5th most haunted place in USA, and you can sign up for ghost tour! Oh, and they serve deliciously dangerous cocktails made with Absinthe (they’ll serve each customer no more than three of these.) You can still buy and smoke cigars in this pub.
For weekend brunch I’d recommend Wolf Peach – get there early or be prepared to wait a short while. Their breakfasts are creamy and savoury, and their dishes have fun names like, ‘I’m having what she’s having’ (egg’s benedict with hollandaise sauce served on fresh English muffins, with 2 latkes.)