A Great Place on a Great Lake

That was a slogan my hometown had a few years ago. I was back for an annual visit from Thursday, June 4 to Monday June 8, 2008. I got in a kayak on two of the days, but all were enjoyable. And I plan to report on each day. Wheter or not you read is up to you. You can always just scroll and stop at interesting pictures.


Brother Pete picked me up at Billy Mitchell, and took me to the St. Francis Brew Pub. A spanking new building. Having no brew pubs in Orlando, it was a welcome "Welcome Home".





After a couple brews and warm pretzels--with awesome dipping mustard--- we drove to see Pete's sailboat at South Shore Yacht Club. Well, not quite to the SSYC. We parked off S. Superior street, and scrambled down the bluff to an asphalt bike path on the edge of Lake Michigan. We had a nice stroll north, maybe a mile. Being a Shorewoodian, it was nice to get the Bay View perspective.

Pete left his boat keys in the car, so we just sat on the boat. This bird is happy we did not cast off.

I leave Central Florida but can't shake the Mouse.

When I was a kid, I never saw Canadian geese. It was not until the early 1980's that they began hanging out in Milwaukee. I saw them then on the Milwaukee River when I worked at The Anchorage, a restaurant, not a mooring spot. You will see The Anchorage later in this Milwaukee area tour. Much later, from Monday the 8th, and we are at the 4th of June now.

Milwaukee through the masts.

I framed my brother.

Inside the South Shore Bath House. Built in the 1930's with New Deal money and labor. Today, we call it "Federal Stimulus"

We returned to the Pete's pickup via a gently sloping asphalt path, not the dirt trail we scrambled down. Superior Street scenics.

No visit to Bay View is complete without stopping at the Pryor Street Well. I copied this from the City of Milwaukee Water Works website:
"originally was an artesian well but now a pump brings water from the well to the tap. The underground water table supplying artesian pressure was drawn down during the 1980s, forcing the need for a pump.

The Milwaukee Water Works maintains the site of the well but does not treat the water. The Milwaukee Health Department periodically tests the well water. The well water is higher in iron and sulfates than city water, but has similar fluoride content. The Water Works recommends Milwaukee's high quality tap water, which is Lake Michigan water treated with ozone disinfection and biological filtration.

The Pryor Avenue Well dates back to 1883. The Milwaukee Historic Preservation Commission designated it a historic structure in 1987. The Pryor Avenue well is the only public open well operating in Milwaukee."

Pete filled his water bottle, and off we headed to familiar stomping grounds, the East Side. Bay View being, "The Other East Side"

Wisconsin's Flagship, the SV Denis Sullivan, was in port.



She was built just a few years ago, the first schooner built in Milwaukee in over 100 years. Pete, who has done some volunteer hours on her, tried to sweet talk out way on the vessel. No luck.

A few more Milwaukee landmarks. Cudahy Tower. The low good looking building. None of the other glass towers were around when Miltown was my home.

Calatrava addition to the Milwaukee Art Museum.

Wisconsin Gas Company. Before weather.com, the changing color of the flame gave the forecast.

"Gold means cold, blue, no changes due, red, warm weather ahead, agitation means precipitation"

We finished our Lakefront tour at the new and improved North Point eatery. Now run by the Bartalotta empire, the old building has fresh paint and good burgers, dogs, ect with all the trimmings. Tasty with a malt.

And a view from a Holstein painted picnic table.

Good boys that we are, we got a burger to go for our darling mother and delivered it to her home where I spent the night.