I’m not sure why before this August we never spent a day playing in Milwaukee – we’ve flown in and out of there numerous times on visits to Matt’s family in Janesville, about 75 minutes away. After I met the lovely and dynamic Jeannine Sherman of Visit Milwaukee at a conference earlier this summer and heard her passionate advocacy for her home city as a great tourist destination I realized that we were really missing out. That’s why I’m so happy that when we visited Wisconsin in August she invited us (along with Matt’s sister Becky, her husband Tim, and their kids) to come early to Milwaukee on the day our plane left to see just some of what the city had to offer.

We started out at the Milwaukee Art Museum on the shore of Lake Michigan. This museum is rightly famous for the Quadracci Pavilion building, a masterpiece of postmodern architecture, which includes a movable sunscreen with enormous “wings” that open and close daily. (Unfortunately on the day we were there the iconic wings were undergoing maintenance, so we didn’t get to see them open. But the museum itself is an amazing space that is worth a visit just for the architecture).

The summer of 2011 was dedicated to China at the museum, and we spent a large amount of our time in the “Treasures from the Forbidden City” special exhibit, which is now closed. Judging by how excellent it was however, I’d recommend its replacement, “Impressionism: Works of Art on Paper” which is sure to include many subjects of interest to children.

The museum has impressive contemporary art holdings, which the boys enjoyed exploring – and interacting with, in the spare, open galleries.

The Folk and Self-Taught Art area fascinated them as well. Teddy wanted to take this bunny home with us.

Also fun was the Kohl’s Art Generation Gallery, which invites visitors to turn into architects by sketching and building their own houses.

We spent over two hours looking around and could easily have spent more; as art museums go, I’d say this one is definitely interested in accommodating younger visitors. All kids under 12 are free, and there are ongoing educational programs for families.

After looking at art all morning, we had worked up a great appetite and headed over to the Milwaukee Public Market. This was an easy 15-minute walk from the Art Museum that gave us a sense of the city landscape (although if you prefer to drive, there is ample parking in a lot right next door – and the first hour is free if you get a validation from one of the vendors). Like the Reading Terminal Market in Philadelphia, the Public Market includes food of all ethnicities – from sushi to falafel to pizza – making it a perfect spot for lunch or dinner with a larger group. Everyone can pick their own favorites and then head upstairs to grab a table. I highly recommend the panini from Rupena’s – I went for the muffaletta with a side of local Sprecher’s cream soda. Absolutely delicious.

Teddy would also advise you get some homemade custard from Kehr’s Candies for dessert.

After lunch we were all ready for some outdoor time, so we headed back toward the lake, this time going a bit north of the Art Museum to Juneau Park Paddleboats for a ride in the lagoon there. Open from May through October, this is a fun and relaxing way to get some lovely views of the city and maybe see a little urban nature (there are ducks, snapping turtles, and fish in the water). Rent paddleboats by the half hour and if you are so inclined, take a fishing rod with you.

We also loved the friendly staff, who are willing to answer lots of questions about Milwaukee.

At that point we had three hours before our flight, and two tired kids who really weren’t interested in more sightseeing. What to do? I’ll tell you what – in Milwaukee you head for the airport. I’ve written before about the virtues of smaller airports, and Milwaukee has one of the most family friendly. Not only is there an interesting little museum of flight, a large used bookstore (I know! At the airport!), and outposts of a fantastic local bakery and coffee shop, on our recent visit the lovely main public space also had a ping pong table that we made good use of.

I can’t remember the last time I booked a flight into O’Hare in Chicago – between the crowds and the cancelled flights and the insane traffic, it’s just so much more pleasant to fly in and out of Milwaukee. And now that I know how much fun the city is, I’d suggest to anyone who is planning to fly in and then drive to other destinations in the Midwest (like Chicago) that they make a pit stop to see what the city has to offer.

What would I like to do on a return visit? In addition to returning to the Art Museum (a definite must since we only scratched the surface there), I’d like to go next door to Discovery World an eclectic center for science and technology full of interactive exhibits including Les Paul’s House of Sound – which not only houses many of Paul’s guitars and sound equipment but a sound studio where visitors can “play” a virtual jam session with the famous musician and Wisconsin native. Or maybe we’d head over to Veterans Park where we could buy a kite from the Gift of Wings store, and watch it soar over the water before renting bikes to ride the Lakewalk (and if we’re back in the summer, there’s pretty much always a festival to check out somewhere along the lakefront). Moving away from the lakefront area there’s the Milwaukee Public Museum, a human and natural history museum complete with life-sized models dinosaurs. For some nature fun, there’s the Milwaukee County Zoo, the Boerner Botanical Gardens and the Wehr Nature Center. And of course, we’re always up for a Brewer game…

Many thanks to Visit Milwaukee, the Milwaukee Art Museum, the Public Market, and Juneau Paddleboats for hosting us and covering our admission and lunch expenses in Milwaukee. You can always count on me to share my honest opinions and let you know when I’ve gotten something for free.

In any event, while I wait for the storm it seems like the perfect time to sit down and start telling you my summer stories – and I know that’s what you really want to hear anyway, isn’t it? Today I’m dreaming of a fun August day we spent in Madison, Wisconsin as part of the Austin-Lehman Active Family Challenge.

Austin-Lehman Adventures has been named one of the best adventure tour operators in the world by authorities like Travel and Leisure Magazine and National Geographic Adventure Magazine (you may also remember that they gave me some love last spring by choosing my site as a top ten travel blog). They love to encourage families to get out and take active vacations wherever they may be. So when they said they’d send me a $50 gift card to get out and about with Matt and the boys while on our trip to Wisconsin, I took them up on their generous offer.

The four of us were joined by Matt’s sister Becky and her husband Tim as well as our friends Sabrina and Dom who live in Madison. We started our day at the Budget Bicycle Center, where $20 a person got us bikes, helmets, and locks for the entire day (note that we borrowed a bike for Teddy from one of Becky and Tim’s neighbors but the bike shop does rent bike trailers and tandem bikes for families with younger kids). The staff at the store is friendly and helpful and they also gave us a free map of Madison that had all the bike routes clearly marked.

With 43 miles of bike trails and 87 miles of bike lanes Madison offers a pretty amazing mix of city riding and bucolic trails that’s perfect with kids. Within minutes of leaving the bike store, which is on a busy urban street, we were meandering our way along Lake Wingra through the University of Wisconsin Arboretum, the road dappled with sunlight.

Hard to believe we’re in the middle of the city, isn’t it? The neighborhoods around the Arboretum are really nice too, and don’t have a lot of traffic – perfect for a family bike outing (if you want, you can stop by the nearby Henry Vilas Zoo, which is free). From the Arboretum we made our way over to Monroe Street, where there are a variety of lunch options. At Sabrina’s excellent suggestion, we tried Bluephies, which had one of the most creative menus I’ve ever seen. I’ll save a full review for another post, but thought I’d share a photo of one of the desserts that filled the case at the front of the restaurant.

After lunch we were into some full-on city riding, and since at this point there was no bike lane, we stuck to the sidewalk without any trouble. After passing the University of Wisconsin football stadium, we rode over to the brand new Union South building (another great option at this point would have been to take the Southwest path over to the Capitol City path for a ride around Lake Monona).

We had hoped to take advantage of the union’s bowling alley or climbing wall, but during the summer neither is open until late afternoon. So instead, we crossed the street to the University of Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery building, an amazing new space for scientific research. Like any university science building it houses labs and classrooms, but it is also designed to encourage the public to interact with researchers in a huge open space called Town Center that contains three restaurants, a gorgeous atrium, and a number of interactive exhibits.

We spent a lot of time exploring the fountains, discovering that our movements caused music and lights to play using the Fibonacci sequence (this is a mathematical pattern where each number is the sum of the last two numbers – don’t say I never taught you anything).

We also loved the Mesozoic Garden, which contains only plants that were alive during the Jurassic Era.

The boys spent a lot of time experiment with a 3-D tanagram tool, unaware that they were standing right next to an actual scientist conducting research!

All this thinking and experimenting was a lot of work and in spite of our big lunch, we were now all ready for a snack. The kids loved riding through campus to Bascom Hall, home of the university’s creamery, where milk from the school’s dairy herd is made into cheese, butter, and my family’s favorite treat: Ice cream.

Tommy ordered Lemon Chip and Teddy had Blue Moon, an appropriately colored berry flavor. His verdict? “It tastes just like Froot Loops!”

Sabrina and Dom had to head back to the bike store at that point so they could get home and let their dog out. The rest of us rode over to Lake Mendota where we followed a small piece of the bike path that lines the lake’s edge over to the Memorial Union before heading back into city traffic. I’ll admit to being a nervous mother during this last piece of the ride, which took us along a bike lane that was at times lined on either side with traffic. But Teddy handled it like a pro.

Our ride in Madison was the perfect combination of indoor and outdoor fun and at a (fairly flat) five miles was easy enough even for a young rider. It also would have been simple to extend our ride by going around Lake Mendota – a route that offers a combination of path and neighborhood riding.

Many thanks to Austin-Lehman for offsetting the cost of our bike rentals and ice cream – and for their enthusiasm for getting families out into the world. Another dream for me would be to go on one of their all-inclusive trips. They offer designated family adventures where children as young as seven are welcome (on their Costa Rica Family Adventure, they allow children as young as five). These trips accommodate up to 18 guests and have three guides, making them intimate, authentic affairs. With 82 different itineraries across 29 countries and activities including cycling, hiking, rafting, and cultural exploration, they truly offer something for every family.

The advent of children leaving me each morning for the entire day will afford me much more time to write about our adventures here – I’ve got about a month’s worth to share, from our trip to Boston to more about our visit to Stowe Mountain Lodge. Stay tuned.

And come back Monday for a chance to win a $50 Amazon gift card!

For Photo Friday at Delicious Baby.

One thing the first part of our road trip has been full of is family, and the boys reveled in all the attention from uncles, aunts, grandparents, and cousins. As the youngest members of our immediate extended family, they are the stars of the show, and all that love makes the long hours in the car worth it.

Here the boys are at the zoo in Madison with their Uncle Tim. It’s hard to tell who’s having the most fun, isn’t it? For Photo Friday at Delicious Baby – hope you’ll visit and tour the other pictures as well.

We’re midway through our Slowcation and after a lovely, long, slow visit in Wisconsin that was capped off with 50^th-anniversary festivities for Matt’s parents (congratulations Dave and Joyce!) we’re hitting the road again (and trying to stay at 60 miles an hour – you’d be surprised how challenging that is, especially in the Midwest). Our agenda includes a drive to Kansas City, where we’ll stay with friends for a few days before heading to Saint Louis to do the same. Then it will be home via Bardstown, Kentucky where we will celebrate the 4^th of July with what is reputedly the best fried chicken in the country as well as a musical about Stephen Foster, that most American of composers.

Here are the vital numbers from the first ten days of our road trip – I hope they are both illuminating and entertaining:

Miles traveled in our car: 988

Tanks of gas: 4

Nights in a hotel: 1

Hugs and kisses from aunts: dozens

Loads of laundry: 4

Orders of French fries: 5, including 1 order of cheese fries

Times swimming: 6

Baseball games: 1

Brats: 0 (I know! Can you believe it?)

Beers on the University of Wisconsin Union Terrace: 2

New t-shirts: 5 (they were as follows: two UW shirts, two Brewers shirts, one Henry Vilas zoo shirt)

Boxes of crayons melted in the car: 1

Steaks: 1 (but it was enormous)

Episodes of Dora and Sponge Bob, games on the Wii, card games, dart games, and games of Life: countless

New car stereos: 1

New camera chargers (Yep, I sure did forget mine!): 1

Bottles of children’s Benadryl: 1

I’m not sure what my Internet access will be like for the next week. If I can, I’ll live blog, but if not, I’ll catch you all up once I’m home. Either way, I’ve got some posts scheduled to publish including a great guest post about how to find accomodations in Europe when traveling with your kids. So I hope you’ll stop by!

The picture at the top of this post was taken on the University of Wisconsin Union Terrace, one of the more relaxing spots in the world. If you’re interested in reading about some of the other things we did in Wisconsin, please see these posts:

Wild turkeys and tame tigers: A (mostly free) day out in Madison

Pioneer history at the Milton House

Take me out to the ballgame!!!

Today, please welcome my guest blogger: My son Tommy. He wanted to write about our visit to Miller Park. Unfortunately the Brewers lost to the Twins 6-4, but as you’ll be able to tell from this post, we had a great time!

Yesterday, we went to Miller Park!!! And got high seats in back of home plate!!! We saw the ”Prince” hit a out of the park HOME RUN!!!

When the Brew Crew gets a HOME RUN Bernie Brewer zips down the slide (I got to see him 3 times!!!!!!!!!!)

My mom got CHEESE FRIES!!! (And she liked them!!!!!!!!!!) I got the WORLD’S BIGGEST COKE.

And I played catch at …THE END!!!

Tommy has requested the chance to write a blog post of his own about going to the Brewers game, and so I will defer to his wishes and permit him to do so over the next couple of days. All I’ll say here is that Tommy informed us as we got out of the car that he was “in disguise.” When asked to explain, he said that by wearing a Brewers hat and a Wisconsin Badgers t-shirt no one would know that his true loyalties lie with the Phillies.

I think maybe he has a future as a spy. What do you think?

For Photo Friday at Delicious Baby – hope you’ll visit and tour the other pictures as well.

One of the things I wanted to make sure we did on our visit to southern Wisconsin, where Matt grew up and where the boys can locate much of the family history, was to go to some of the local museums. I liked the idea that Tommy would be able to connect his family history with the larger national narratives that he has learned about in school. I’m happy to report that we had a very successful visit to the Milton House, which actually turned out to be a small gem of a museum that the locals have every reason to be proud of.

The Milton House is the oldest grout, or cement, building in America, and it was made entirely with local materials. Hexagonal in shape, it was constructed as an inn in 1844 by John Goodrich, who was also the founder of the eponymous town where it stands. Goodrich was a generous man who gave a portion of the land he had purchased to serve as a town green, a large and lovely park across the street. He also donated land for a post office, a cemetery, a public school, and a church; for Goodrich was a devout seventh-day Baptist. This means the Milton House was a “temperance inn” where alcohol and tobacco were not allowed. It also meant that Goodrich was an abolitionist. In fact, the Milton House was part of the Underground Railroad and Sojourner Truth was a personal friend of the family and once stayed in the inn as a guest. Attached to the inn is a long rectangular block that housed shops and apartments, what is referred to in the museum’s materials as one of the earliest “malls” in America.

Our tour of the museum was led by a young man named Austin who is only a sophomore in high school. Although he couldn’t answer all of our questions, he did a great job and clearly had a strong sense of both piety for and pride in the museum. The approach he took on the tour was great for a kid Tommy’s age because in almost every room he would pick up an object and ask us to guess what it was. Often we were unable to and so he would have to explain that it was a hair curler or a chicken catcher (which not only caught the chickens but broke their necks cleanly) or some other everyday object that people from the 19^th century would have recognized instantly. And in many of the rooms, we could walk right up to the furniture and other artifacts, which meant that even Teddy got a good view.

We started our tour in a room that had been set up as the general store, which was exciting for Tommy since his great, great, great grandfather once ran this shop. Like all the rooms in the museum, it had been well-stocked with interesting objects from the 1800s, including a large pickle barrel and boxes that once held patent medicines. We then saw the entire downstairs of the inn, including the men’s and women’s waiting rooms and the small dining area, where we were all a little grossed out to learn that the reason guests wanted to be first at the table was because the dishes weren’t washed until everyone had eaten. (The toothpicks were used communally as well.) Upstairs we saw a small guest room and had the tightening of the bed strings and the straw inside the mattress shown to us, as well as the chamber pot, which the boys were shocked to learn would have been emptied right out the window. The rest of the rooms here are set up to house different collections of artifacts – a seamstress shop, an artist’s studio, a room full of Civil War weaponry and gear, another containing toys and items from a school room. Here there were pictures of a number of local one-room schoolhouses, including the one that Matt’s mother attended as a young girl, which really tickled the boys.

The most memorable part of the tour was in the basement. Since the inn was on the Underground Railroad, there is a tunnel between it and the cabin that was the Goodrich family’s original home and actually served as the original inn as well. We were all able to walk upright through it, although Austin pointed out that when the escaping slaves used it, the ceiling was only about three feet high and the floor was mud instead of cement. But the tunnel was still dank and dark and gave a very good sense of what it would have been like to hide in there. We emerged in the tiny cabin, where Austin showed us how a trap door covered by a rug would have hidden the tunnel from view. Tommy was very impressed by this and when we bought him a book about slavery and the abolitionist movement in the small gift shop, he immediately started reading it.

I was really impressed with the Milton House. It’s a small museum owned by a local historical society, but they’ve worked hard to make sure that visitors leave with a sense of the importance of the place. Our tour lasted over an hour and the kids were fascinated throughout. And although Milton is a small town, it’s easy enough to get to. The museum is about a five-minute drive from I-90 and could easily be fit into a road trip to Madison, Minneapolis, or Chicago. During the summer it’s open every day; after Labor Day appointments are necessary to get a tour.

This is one of those museums that really makes an impression. That night as we were driving to dinner Tommy asked, with evident concern in his voice, if there are still places in the world where slavery exists. I wish we could have told him a resounding no.

Normally when we go to Madison, Wisconsin, we head right downtown where hang out on State Street, the Union Terrace, or at the Children’s Museum. But on this visit, the boys had requested a nature walk (Tommy) and a zoo visit (Teddy). Surprisingly enough, we were able to accommodate both of them and have a great time in the bargain.

We started our day at the University of Wisconsin Arboretum. Along for the hike were Matt’s sister Becky, brother Mark, and nephew Barry. We arrived at the Visitor’s Center shortly after it opened at 9:30 and were given excellent suggestions and a map by the friendly volunteer working behind the counter. The arboretum has more than20 miles of trails (many of which are open for cross country skiing in the winter) and we had our choice of a variety of different ecosystems to explore. We decided to head where there was shade, as it was already a hot day, and walked into the Gallistel Woods, a large oak forest that has been underplanted with sugar maple, basswood, and beech. It was buggy but pleasant under the canopy of trees. While Teddy hunted for worms and bugs, Tommy regaled his uncle with the plot lines of every Scooby Doo cartoon he’s ever seen. On the return trip, we also walked out onto a boardwalk through a wetland where we hunted frogs and admired the wild iris. We also saw several wild turkeys wandering around (although “wild” seems a misnomer, since they let us walk right up to them). Although at one point we hike up slight slope, which was actually an 800-year-old Native American burial mound, the trail was generally flat and easy for both of the boys.

I know we’ll be returning to this beautiful place as there are many other things to see at the arboretum, including a native plant garden, which is really a series of eleven gardens representing different plant communities of southern Wisconsin; a children’s garden; a demonstration garden; and varous forests, wetlands, and savannas. Many of the trails are open for cross country skiing in the winter. You can also go on a guided tour.

After a yummy lunch at a nearby restaurant called Pasqual’s (more about that in a separate post later) where Becky’s husband and stepdaughter joined us, we headed to the Henry Vilas Zoo.

This is a wonderful zoo to visit with young children because, as you can tell from the photos, the enclosures are set up to give visitors a great view of the animals. Although it was quite hot and humid, the shade from the many trees made it as pleasant as was possible. We saw lions, tigers, and a polar bear (who was wisely avoiding the sun and peeked out at us from inside his cool cave). The boys also fed some goats and gawked at an ostrich who was chewing on her fence like she was trying to make a break for it.

The zoo’s newest feature is the Children’s Zoo, which contains a huge play structure, train, and the Conservation Carousel (which of course my boys had to ride).

This zoo is clean and nicely landscaped and best of all, admission is completely free. If you don’t feel like paying 75 cents for goat feed, a dollar to ride the carousel, or 51 cents for a souvenir penny, you can get out of there without spending a nickel. And it’s in the middle of a lovely park, right on the shores of Lake Wingra (the arboretum is on the opposing shore, which is why these two outings make for a great day trip).

Since there was no fee for the arboretum, we could have gone on this entire outing for the cost of the gas it took us to get there.

Full disclosure on this post: Matt planned this entire successful outing. I wouldn’t want him to think that I wasn’t giving him credit!

I’ve never talked much on this blog about money or budgets, but with the economy being in the state it’s in, and with everyone talking and writing about staying home this summer, I’m feeling the need to do so. Not because it’s trendy but because I realize that anything I can do to show families the value of travel – and how to do it less expensively – will help keep more of them traveling, which is of course one of the goals of this blog.

Which also means it’s true confession time: Part of why I don’t talk about budgets is that I don’t usually have one.

Now mind you, this isn’t because I’m fabulously rich. I certainly SHOULD have a budget. And before we leave home I’m usually more frugal – I can find a discount plane fare or a good hotel rate. It’s just that once we’re actually on the road I don’t do so well. My brain tends to do this funny thing when I travel, what I like to call going into vacation mode. You know how they say that if no one sees you eat that big dish of ice cream right before bed the calories don’t count? Well I’m kind of like that about travel budgeting: I’m on vacation, so any money I spend is from a Monopoly game. It’s vacation money! Not real money!

This does not mean we stay in luxury hotels or throw money away on 4-star meals that the kids don’t eat. But I’m not one to pass up a chance to spend big bucks on local honey at a farmer’s market or a cool t-shirt at the science museum, to say nothing of a wonderful lunch for all four of us at some great bakery. And then there’s the daily helping of artisanal ice cream and a nice bottle of wine for Matt and I to enjoy once we’ve piled the kids into bed….And before you know it, any semblance of a budget is out the window.

But I am resolved that our road trip at the beginning of this summer will be different. I’m actually going to keep track of what we spend. I might even think about setting a daily budget and trying to stick to it. We’re also going to save money by staying with family and friends and I’m going to see what I can do to keep all expenses at a minimum. I will of course share any insights or tips I come up with here.

And most importantly of all: Matt and I have decided that our entire road trip, which as you can see below will be fairly extensive and will cover several thousand miles, will be conducted at speeds of under 60 miles per hour. That’s right – we’re going to save money (and the environment in our own modest way) by slowing down. Maybe I’ll even get real math-y and try to figure out just how many gallons of gas (and how much money) we’ll save overall by doing this.

I’ll have more details next week about just where we’ll be going on this trip (which will be taking place at the end of June) and what sights I hope for us to see, but our path will roughly be this:

1. Drive across PA, OH, IN, and IL to reach southern WI
2. A nice long visit with family in Wisconsin
3. Drive from Wisconsin to Kansas City to see friends
4. Kansas City to Saint Louis (hopefully to see more friends)
5. Travel home from Saint Louis – somehow. I haven’t decided if we want to take the more northerly or southerly route. It will depend on what we decide we want to see.

All of this seen going at a maximum of 60 mph and blogged about exhaustively of course! If any of you have suggestions for things we shouldn’t miss that lie roughly in the geographic region we’ll be covering, I’d love to hear them.

Photo used courtesy of visual.dichotomy.