Milwaukee

I rolled into Milwaukee around 9:00 with a mission in mind. Find Lake Michigan. The easiest goal you can imagine, since half the city borders the lake. I like to set my goals low so that I’m never disappointed.

 

So, lake found, I took a picture of boats and some of the condos going up like wildfire on lakefront:

 

Then headed out in search of something pretty to take photos of. I ended up in the ‘Third Ward,’ which provided plenty of churches to shoot:

 

I checked out the Public Market, and was surprised that it was almost entirely food establishments. One was a coffee roaster who had just burned a batch. The whole place smelled like dead beans:

 

And I found the Fonz:

 

I got in touch with my uncle and met him at his house in northern Milwaukee. My cousin Scott met me at the door, who I haven’t seen in a LONG time. I think about 16 years. We played catch up, and then my Uncle Greg took me to see my grandparents old house, and their graves. It was good to see the family again:

 

Then we went back to the house, met up with my other cousin Chris, and we all went out to dinner. Some great pizza at a place called Balestrari’s (or something like that), and then Chris took me downtown to the bars. I got a great tour of the city with some of the history behind it from my cousin, had a few whiskeys, and we had some great conversation about where we were in life. And then I had a few more whiskeys. And then things headed downhill fast.

 

I learned to play dice for drinks, and apparently did alright. I don’t remember this. I played a game of pool, but the only part of that I remember of it was that I fell off the table while lining up a shot. From there, I woke up on the floor in the living room with a can of lemon-lime soda at hand, a knot on my head, and also a bucket with unmetionable contents. At least the dog was there to snuggle with me.

 

Breakfast was a contest in concentrating on anything but my upset stomach. And the rest of the morning was spent on the couch with a computer at hand, doing laundry, and getting ready to go. My uncle gave me a CD of pictures Chris took of me once we arrived at home. They are understandably horrendous, and mostly include the aforementioned bucket.

 

Soon it was time to hit the road, so we hugged and said goodbye. It was great to see these three again, and maybe next time I will survive to a second night.

 

Of course, we weren’t all in the house when picture time rolled around, so here are Uncle Greg, myself, and Scott:

 

And here is Chris, not ready for picture time: