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I love Milwaukee; it is such an underrated city nationally and full of a lot of fine schmeckers to boot. Nothing beats Milwaukee and the lakefront in the summertime. I went to German Fest (pictures soon) this past weekend, which is the largest German festival in the country. Not that it is a big surprise given Milwaukee’s deep German heritage and expertise in brewing and sausage making. Did you know the Usinger’s company is over 125 years old and that Sprecher brews a beer called German Fest? It is all true. You cannot make this stuff up. I play up my Irish heritage a lot because obviously I have the name for it, but I am actually half German so it is fun to explore that side, too. Obviously the food and beer are two important parts of German Fest and they did not disappoint. I found myself alternating between Sprecher and Miller Lite and managed to put down three plates of food and a brat. My first meal was some pork schnitzel with sauerkraut and potato salad. For my next meal I had some kartoffel (potato pancakes) with applesauce and sausages, and for my last meal I had a giant pork shank with potato dumplings. We listened to the band Chikeria later in the evening until we left and they were a lot of fun. They played a lot of covers, but it was fun just the same. I will be heading back to the Brew City in less than three weeks for Irish Fest, which is also the largest Irish festival in the country and the world. Two years ago the President of Ireland attended for the festival’s 25th anniversary. Take that St. Paul Irish Fair. As I was thinking about my weekend on the drive back up here I realized that Minneapolis and St. Paul have no character. Ouch. I am sorry, but to me it is true. What things do you identify Minneapolis with? I have lived here for two years and I still do not know. A giant shopping mall? Maybe Milwaukee will always be thought of as a blue-collar town, but so what? I would rather identify Milwaukee with beer, sausage, and motorcycles than nothing. Milwaukee is a hell of a fun town. Pass me a cold one. Prost!

Our friend Laura has been out in Idaho for about a year so we decided it was time to visit. She tore her ACL right before we got out there so we did not do any mountain biking, but hopefully she is on the mend by the time ski season rolls around. The trip was awesome. We got to do some cool mountain hiking, camping, and whitewater rafting on the famous Payette River. The pictures speak for themselves so check them out.

In other news, we are moving! August will be our last month at 110 Grant and it makes me kind of sad because I love living here, but we will be saving a lot of money so it will be worth it. I got a raise recently, too, so I will have a lot of extra money for that new bike and kayak that I want.

This past weekend we headed up to Bayfield because I have not been up to Lake Superior for a while and Cindy has never been up there. It was our six-year anniversary, too.

Thursday

We made it to the Bayfield Inn by around 5 PM. The Bayfield Inn is probably one of the better places to stay in Bayfield because it is fairly new and is located right on the water in downtown Bayfield. We walked around town a little bit, but since we weren’t quite into the weekend yet things were pretty quiet. We had dinner at Maggie’s, which was hopping and is a local favorite.

Friday

On Friday morning we ate at Egg Toss, which has pretty good breakfast and is under the same management as Maggie’s. After we stuffed ourselves we headed northwest along the coast towards Cornucopia, our destination Meyers Beach. Meyers Beach is a popular area for kayakers and hikers because of the sea caves that are in the area. We hiked about two hours in and took some really cool pictures, but didn’t see any bears. I did come across some of the largest ticks I have ever soon, though; just monsters compared to the ones I usually see at the cabin. Next year I hope to be out there in my kayak. After a full afternoon of hiking we headed back into town with most of our breakfast burned off. A really good musician by the name of Griffin Vittone was playing at the Groove Haus so we hung out there for a couple of hours enjoying dinner and some music.

Saturday

First thing in the morning we boarded one of the Apostle Islands Cruise Service ships for their Grand Tour. Conditions were a little bit rough so we were unable to go all the way out to Devils Island to see some of the sea caves. After we got back to Bayfield we hung out downtown and had dinner at a fairly new place called Ethel’s. It was really good and I liked the interior a lot – it has a lot of new woodwork that makes the place really bright and fresh looking on the inside. The grand finale of our trip was a concert at Big Top Chautauqua billed as Wisconsin Singer/Songwriter Night. The show featured six different musicians and it was a great show.

Our next adventure will take place in Sun Valley in a little over a week; it should be a good one.