Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA

The Basilica of St. Josaphat.  Interesting history lesson here.  

Inside of the main floor of The Basilica of St. Josaphat.  Designed as a smaller version of St. Peter's in Rome. 

Main lobby of the Pfister hotel.  Houses an artist in residence and quite the collection of artwork.  On the 23rd level is the lounge and restaurant with fantastic city views.  (As long as it isn't foggy).  

The Milwaukee Art Museum.  Unfortunately their main exhibit is under renovation but the building is a piece of work in itself.  

I'm going to be honest...I don't really get art most of the time.  I can appreciate people's trade, sometimes it is thought provoking, and obviously being married to an artsy type guy gives me some perspective.  But mostly, I go into art museums and think about the scene in Ferris Bueller's Day Off.  You know the one, right?  

Beer sampling.  Scott found a the Schofferhofer Grapefruit Weizen to be his favorite.  

Dinner at The Anvil Pub and Grille in Cedarburg.  This restaurant is in a restored 19th century blacksmith shop.  

Because everyone needs a picture with a gingerbread man.  I made this extra large for you, Marie.  

We got to see Jill and Josh and their two munchkins Isaac and Jasmine who turn 1 on January 6th.  I can't believe I forgot to get a picture of them!  We enjoyed pizza and catching up.  We have our 20 year class reunion coming up in less than 2 years.  WHAT?!

We walked around downtown all day.  It was bright and cold.  Never leave home without a hat and scarf.  

The very cool Public Market - plenty of cheese and sausage...a Wisconsin staple.  

More cheese, more beer.  This raspberry beer was delicious and used in making the cheese.  

Lovely happy hour platter from the tap room at the Wisconsin Cheese Mart.  We stumbled upon this place after buying summer sausage at Usinger's.  

This is Matthew.  He makes giant batches of made from scratch mac and cheese at the Wisconsin Cheese Mart.  I was temped to order some but I wasn't that hungry and knew it would be too much.  Lo and behold as we were having our small cheese plate he delivered us a sample.  And yes.  It was really really good.  

The selfie we sent to Jacob and Nathan.

The Cedarburg Coffee Roastery is home of really good coffee and the best desserts ever.  And this is coming from a girl that chooses salt over sugar.  This graham cracker crust orange cake with an orange zest frosting was divine.  We ended up here again after dinner for the best monster cookie you could ever dream of.  We asked if the baker ever shared her recipes and one of the employees told us she'd been offered a lot of money for her recipes but won't give them up.  

Before heading home we took a tour down Lake Drive.  Unfortunately the rain and fog prevented us from checking out much of Lake Michigan but the homes (much like homes along Lake Superior) were fantastic.  

The Pabst mansion.  We had some time before heading back to the airport so took a quick tour.  It is in the process of being beautifully restored and I realize the amount of work that goes into that,  but places like this give me the heebie jeebies.  Sorry, Mr. Pabst but your home is much too dark and gloomy for me.  

One of my favorite pics from the weekend.  Above the clouds at 35,000.  It was a lovely few days but I was excited to be 20 minutes from touching down in Minneapolis and heading home to see my boys.  

It seems we have started a late fall post anniversary getaway tradition and this year we couldn't have asked for a more lovely trip to Milwaukee.  Well, unless you could make it 70 and sunny but that is just not possible in these parts this time of year.

We spent two days downtown checking out the shops, galleries, and art museum.  While staying at the Pfister hotel we visited the spa and enjoyed a 90 minute facial which included a hot coconut oil scalp massage.  For awhile I was transported to someplace tropical.

We enjoyed cheese, Spotted Cow on tap, and good visits with good friends.

Grandma and Grandpa Jacobson, we so appreciate you coming down and spending time with the boys so we could get away!

We've got the Sinclair Thanksgiving this week and only a couple of weeks before Jacob starts his winter break.  We're heading north to Bemidji and south to Iowa to spend time with each family during the holiday season.  Jacob is already brainstorming ideas for his 7th birthday party (ice cream sundae bar and games).  Thanks for checking in and stay tuned for the holiday photos to come!