Snapshots from Milwaukee

Under a little better conditions than upper thirty degree blustery weather, the Riverwalk downtown Milwaukee is a great way to take a good long walk to see three separate neighborhoods watching, as you go along, old tugs like the pic above, boaters and kayakers in the summer, bridges rising, community artwork and riverside restaurants and cafes.

Heading toward the Rock Bottom Brewery at the central downtown portion of the Riverwalk, the architecture is bound by history itself to be the oldest and most grand in the state of Wisconsin.

A few blocks down from Rock Bottom is the Third Ward's Public Market, an indoor farmer's market

style center that includes some small bars, sandwich eateries, an oyster shack and upstairs, near the

seating, a cooking class kitchen where local chefs demonstrate.  We hadn't brought all of our winter coats, thinking that spring might spring, so weren't sure if we were ready to stroll twenty more minutes through the architectural wind tunnels, but we took the risk and walked to Discovery World on the lake adjacent to the Summer Fest grounds down on East Michigan Street.  Some science and aquariums centers are a bust, but we got lucky, and this one was well worth the visit.

In the science and technology portion of the innovation center, there are hundreds of hands-on devices, tools, engines, studios, labs, "nail beds," and kilowatt wheels for the more adventurous.

The zoo was not available to us on this trip – just too cold – but we found little caged animals all over the city just waiting to get out...