some time not log ago i had a chance to travel with my brother shai, we didn't have much time and as always we looked for a new destination. Minnesota was mentioned as it is one of the missing states, but time did not allow and we ended up choosing another exciting destination.
after a short 6.5 hours drive, i picked my brother at the airport in Chicago and we started heading north, and hour later we stopped way passed dinner time at a small steak house and enjoyed a rib eye with some potatoes and kept driving north.
just under around an hour less we arrived at our destination, Milwaukee. we found a good conference hotel down town and decided to part. the hotel had a 25$ parking and a 32$ valet parking, no way i am paying that much for parking, i will show them and parked a block away for free. i saw a do not park here type of sign and parked more down the street where it is safe.
we entered a hotel for freaks. people were dressed like ferries , ponies and the like. blue ribbons every where, wings and the like. we asked around and there as a "my little pony convention" never seen the show myself, but people were dressed as characters of the show. we decided to call it a night and explore the city in the morning.
some hours later, i found a nice place for breakfast and a hiking tour of the city and we were ready to explore. we left the hotel, took our luggage outside and saw dozens of bikers. what seemed as a gang of hoodlums at first, turned out to veterans. this was veteran's day and the city was holding its annual parade. we watched these bikers slow pass by and then something annoyed me in the background, no cars...
i looked again and confirmed it, the space where my cars stood was vacant. we rushed over and saw the do not park here sign i saw yesterday and saw more of those signs. the entire area was cleared for the parade. the signs didn't even specify a towing number. it was November and arctic winds were blowing. lucky some parade official knew the towing company and we now took a cab some 15 minutes away.
the towing office was full of lucky people, we took a number and waited, we needed ID which i had and insurance , lucky for the phone app and aprox six times the parking fee and an hour later we were back in control and headed downtown.
we made it to the breakfast place and the parking next to it was free, so the sign says we parked an i had some nice eggs Benedict and hot chocolate. we also checked on the parking and while it is true it is free, there is a 2 hour limit... a known city trap! so we moved the car to a full day pay and avoided further risks.
we finally began walking on this extremely cold day, it was the start of the |coldest November since ...19xx. we found a walking tour of the main sites and started walking. we passed the parade on the way and enjoyed some music from the man marching bands and teen groups in various uniforms. we walked around a city park overlooking the lake and joined the crowds in the parade.
we stopped by the art museum. which had one special exhibit from some museum in Europe, i don't recall which one, not all art is my type, this was not and soon we kept walking. there was a discovery museum which was so full of kids you couldn't even move so we skipped that and walked the lake shore for a freezing hour. we stopped at a local market and tried some local healthy food and decided that there is no more for this city worth exploring and we drove south again.
since this is Wisconsin, we stopped at a cheese castle, a shop resembling a castle that turned out be be just a regular market so we left without getting cheese and drove back to Chicago.
2 guys out on the town, where to go?, what to do?, so many choices. after checking in to our hotel, we went to the mall...
this was a premium outlet mall, all the expensive brands have stores that at major discounts, still to expensive for my taste, but i did get a bunch of clothes for Mattan and a wallet, after using my pockets only for a couple of years.
we dined at a surprisingly good bar restaurant inside the mall and crashed. Shay was tired post a hectic election in san Jose after finally making it to the right one and i was tired from over working so a day of nothing is is good.
next morning we stopped at a trendy breakfast place then went to the an out door freezing flee market. we barely had cash, which was good, not much to get, but i did get a hat for my freezing ears. after an hour or so in the market we decided to go to sears tower, which has a different name now and parked, again paying, no more tows please.
the wind in the windy city was brutal, it moved us literally a meter forward at some point.
the line to the tower on a cold empty day was an hour and a half, so we skipped it. we passed by a dip dish pizza place , signed up, and left, since it takes 45 min to make a pizza, we walked around and stumbled on a movie set, several square blocks were closed and a bunch of staffers were taking measurements to the curious crowds. they all said that these are preliminary and shooting will be later, i don't know which movie, they told us something which is probably wrong. since its Chicago, perhaps the 3rd divergent movie? who knows, 40 cold minutes later we met for a warm dip dish pizza at the most famous place, so the menu says, it was ok for me, not something worth coming back to. well it was now time to go. i dropped him off at his hotel for a few more days of his convention and i began the 6 hours drive back home.
as you may remember, i am finishing my ancient biology degree and for one of the assignments i had to find some nature tour in the area of conservation. I found one. bird counting. rangers all over the great lake count water fowl and the species to determined movement patterns to identify what areas to preserve. i got to see some duck species i never even heard about before , some gulls and spent 2 hours by the lake.
Mattanchuck had a bad 10 days not long ago. on a Thursday he slipped in the pool and bled from his chin, a nice little cut. 2 days later we brought in boxes of floor lamination for Mattan's new room. we leaned some on the walls while we brought the rest in and Mattanchuck moved one of them and it fell on him, the box weighs more then he does and it is much taller and basically hit him all over , in the face as well. so we spent an evening at the ER. he was fine other than a nasty bruise on his chick and next to the eye and experienced an almost CT. you need to be still for a CT, so for babies they bind them, poor thing didn't like that and was fighting the restraint they couldn't do it in the end. a week later, i was with him and i think he swallowed a marble, well i have no proof, but he had marbles nearby and he was making strange sounds, so i rushed him to the ER again. you come there, rush in and then wait... very troubling, Mattan was acting fine by then, and started playing around the toys of the kids er and i was a nervous wrack. Inna came by to help and we held the poor guy down for an X-Ray which revealed nothing. for a few days later were were doing number 2 examinations for lost marbles and found none.
yesterday he fell down some stairs twice! once blooding his chin again and the other hitting his head. he is fine and is starting to climb up and down the stairs without holding the rails. while he is pushing his limits, he pushes our anxiety.
well those were the recent events..
see you next year
