This year for my birthday, Josh and I had no idea what to do..... For some reason, I told my boss I was going to take my birthday off, which meant a three day weekend, but no plans!
We looked through our travel list of places in the Mid-West that we'd like to see and decided to go to the Grotto of the Redemption three hours away.
Josh and I rented a car and packed too much crap. (We don't seem to know how to pack for just a weekend!) By the time we actually left the house, we wouldn't have made it to the Grotto before it closed.
So we came up with plan B...just drive and hopefully end up somewhere interesting.
We drove north-east from Iowa city and ended up in Dubuque, IA. It's a little town on the Mississippi River made up of turn-of-the-century brick buildings. Using my favorite travel iPhone app Roadside America, we found an adorable cable car called Fenelon Place Elevator Company. It was a rickety old thing that ran up a sharp hill to a bluff over-looking downtown and the river. When we first saw the elevator we were a bit nervous because of how steep it was. We thought it might be like a dollar coaster ride.... all shaky and barely put together, but it moved soooo slowly there was nothing to be scared of.
The view from the top is a lot of fun looking out over the old brick buildings of downtown.
While waiting for the car to come back up (its very slow) the cashier told us to check out a pizza place at the bottom of the hill called Shot Tower.
When we reached the bottom we walked around a little bit and headed to the Shot Tower.
It is a sports bar/restaurant with tons of sports memorabilia on the walls. Half the wait staff seemed to be hanging out at the bar. I ordered a deep dish pizza, and Josh ordered a chicken sandwich. I was impressed with my pizza. It came with all the toppings buried under a bunch of gooey cheese.
Once we finished our food we packed up our leftovers and tried to plan our next stop and look up hotels in the area. We found a place that at first I thought looked really interesting but after further reading I realized it wasn't interesting, just sleazy. It was a hotel with different themed rooms. I know what you're thinking: themed rooms how can I not love it, right?! But there is a difference between a cool themed room and a cheesy 80's style themed rooms with pink flamingos on the walls and giant jacuzzi tubs and vibrating beds.
I went to the bathroom before we left the restaurant and was a little thrown off to see a full bench in the bathroom. Yes, as a woman I have gone to the bathroom with my friends and normally we just stand there or look in the mirror while the other person is going to the bathroom, but this is the first time I have ever seen an establishment understand females so much to say to themselves "they are gonna come in here in groups anyways, might as well give them all a place to sit" and for that I thank you. LOLOLOL.
Since none of hotels seemed worth staying at we moseyed on up the freeway.
Continuing on our route we came across Madison, WI, a cute little college town. The streets all spread out from the capitol building like spokes on a bicycle tire. We parked the car and decided to explore. It was too bad we already ate, there were so many restaurants that look so good. As we were walking we saw something that I thought was pretty cool, it was a automated bicycle rental stand. Totally helpful..
As we walked down the street, we noticed a bunch of people dancing around, but we didn't hear any music... On closer inspection, we noticed that all the people dancing had headphones on, and the dj didn't have any speakers set up. It was the most polite block party I have ever seen.
Josh and I found a starbucks and sat down to decide whether we were gonna camp for the night or get a hotel... Some things we had to consider: 1) We may have packed our sleeping bags and tent, but we did not pack blankets for a cold summer night with fog (or pillows); 2) We found out there wasn't a camp site available for miles around... So instead we found a cheap hotel.
The next day we headed to Milwaukee. The Roadside America app showed us a bunch of places to check out and visit like the Tiny Hobbit House, the Bronze "Fonz," and the Harley Davidson Museum.
We decided to check out the Tiny Hobbit House before getting to Milwaukee. We drove into Brookfield, WI. and found the house which was not a house at all, it was just a door. It was a bit of a letdown but still cool to check out.
Down the street of the Hobbit House was a neighborhood being built called "The Shire." We noticed some really nice homes that had open houses going on, so we of course decided to go in and check out these McMansions. The homes were GORGEOUS!!! Some were three stories, five bedrooms, massive windows, movie theater rooms, oak paneled offices, basement poker and bar room, massive bath tubs, multiple washer and dryers, and on and on. They went for somewhere between $300,000 - $500,000. I wanted to move in right then and there LOL.
Back to Milwaukee...We got to downtown Milwaukee, and before we even got a hotel room, I had to get some cheese...and where am I going to go? The Wisconsin Cheese Mart, of course.
I was stopped by a colorful cow in the window then greeted by a incredibly friendly guy at the counter who was cutting cheese. There was cheese everywhere, I was in heaven. The friendly guy behind the counter stopped what he was doing and came to help us. He had us try different cheese samples, we tried 14 year old cheddar (my favorite), some kind of wine cheese, a peppercorn jack (I think) either way it was spicy. Too spicy for me. Then the awesome employee showed Josh and I around the whole store, from one cheese to the next, and explained the differences between each sharp and moldy and creamy and peppered and aged and spice infused cheese from around the world. We bought a 5 year old cheddar and a knife, went outside and ate it...no napkins or plates or crackers!
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| my kind of cup |
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| not my photo |
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| not my photo (but looked exactly like our room) |
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| not my photo (looked exactly like our bathroom) |
Josh and I like to check out all the touristy places. The Roadside America app led us to the Bronze "Fonz"... Growing up watching Happy Days and Laverne and Shirley, the Bronze "Fonz" was fun bit of nostalgia to check out..AAAAYYYEEEEEEE!!!
We left the Fonz and went to check out the lake...unfortunately the fog started really rolling in and we didn't get to see much of the lake. It was creepy knowing the there was an inland sea in front of us, but we couldn't see farther than twenty feet.
The night came on quickly, and after walking down the river walk I was getting hungry...and wanted to check out a place that we found on the app called The Safe House, a Spy themed restaurant and speakeasy. We went on a wild goose chase looking for this thing..the map on the phone was no help at all...turns out it is down an unnamed alley. Ionly recognized it because the website has a drawing of the door.
Josh was a bit uncomfortable by the whole thing...he did't want to go in because he left his three-piece suit and fedora back in Iowa City. A guy who looked like a cook walked past us smoking a cigarette, so Josh asked, "Hey is this a restaurant called the Safe House?" The guy looked up at us and said, "I am not at liberty to say," then walked away I just started laughing. And walked in.
There was a lady in a little room dressed kinda 1920's-ish. There were a couple of older ladies waiting to go in, another couple came in behind us. We all squeezed together into the little room
The woman who worked there was asking about a password. I had a slight panic. I had no idea what the password was.
I asked the couple behind us if they knew, or if they knew it was a restaurant. The guy said he was here for the bar and the password changes everyday, and he had no idea what it was...
While we were waiting we overheard that the restaurant was closed (closed at 9, we got there at 8:56) I was starving, so we left...and just went across the river to the Rock Bottom Brewery...not as fun but it worked.
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| At Rock Bottom |
The next day we drove around the city and found the Pabst Blue Ribbon factory. While I love run down buildings these building looked sad to me...
On our way out of the city we stopped at a little diner for breakfast...
We saw this little gem, and we love diners, so we decided to stop in...who knew this was going to be the worst diner experience we have ever had..
The decor was really cute. We loved the chrome tables. There was a sign and a picture on the wall by the ceiling. Evidently President Clinton had eaten here years ago.
Our server was so rude. This is clearly where servers go to die. They oozed with bitterness.
We ordered anyways...I got eggs and sausage...all of which was disgusting, and I was not able to eat it. I completely lost my appetite (which never happens). I just wanted to leave. I cannot really explain how gross this place was.
But there was nothing in Racine really except a lot of empty buildings downtown surrounded by sprawling, older neighborhoods, so we drove down the lake to the Jelly Belly Factory.
I LOVE jelly belly jelly beans...they are the best jelly beans EVER!!! So I was super excited to take a tour in the warehouse.
They did tours every half hour of so. We waited and then we over heard a guy ask the lady at the front desk if this is where they make the jelly beans. It was not. It is just a warehouse where they hold the jelly beans. The actual factory is in California...hhmm...The guy didn't like that and didn't stay... Eh, we stayed and wanted to check it out.
We walked into the doors and but on our little paper hats they gave us. We boarded a little train, and we were told not to take photos during the ride.
During the ride we stopped at a T.V and it told us how Jelly Bellys are made and how Ronald Reagan loved them.
The ride ended, and we went into the gift shop... Really the only reason to go is for the gift shop.
I bought a ten pound bag of belly flops, and Josh got some Harry Potter's Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Bean. (Which of course I had to explain what they were. Once he got that they were not your average flavors, he bought them for his nieces and nephew).
We made this our last stop on my birthday road trip. Road Trips are fun, but I was ready to go home. There were so many things I wanted to see and places I wanted to visit that we didn't get a chance to. I guess we will just need to plan another trip. :)
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