We woke up to fog in the area and had a little rain overnight around 2:30. The weather forecast said they will be expecting a high of 77 and humid today. They also said it should “feel like Florida”. They have no idea, but 77 degrees temps are a treat . We got up at 6:30 which is really 7:30 at home, so it may take us a few days to adjust to the time change. We had a leisurely morning. I had plans to meet an old time friend of 40+ years, Debbie, for brunch at the Original Pancake House at 11:00.
I was expecting to meet Debbie but she brought along our friend, Judy. What a nice surprise! We all taught together at St. Mary Help of Christians School starting in 1975 and have been friends ever since. I haven’t see Judy in forever, but I usually hook up with Debbie when I’m in town. We ate and talked and laughed…a lot…about our teaching days, parents, kids, and getting older. It was so good to see them!
Bob stayed at the campground and cleaned out the storage compartments under the bus. Apparently, we brought some ants with us from Florida that he wanted to get rid of and he wanted to do some organizing in the compartments. He also needed to do some business for the Co-op. After returning to the campground around 1:30, Bob and I hopped in the Jeep and took a ride to 55th and Lloyd St. to check out our first house. It looked pretty much the same, other than it had new windows and been resided, with basically the same color.
From there, we drove downtown to the Usinger Sausage store at its original location on 3rd St. You can’t visit Milwaukee without picking up some fresh brats, knackwurst, summer sausage, and ring bologna, the old German standards that I grew up on.
Luckily, we found parking nearby across the street near one of my favorite German restaurants–Maders.
We also couldn’t leave without picking up some cheese to go with our summer sausage and some squeeky cheese curds at the Wisconsin Cheese Mart around the corner. We are Cheeseheads after all!
I walked the 1/2 block to the Menomonee River to check out the river cruise boat.
From where we parked, I saw Turner Hall where we had our wedding reception in the tavern/ballroom 39 years ago.
Across the street from there, we could see the Fiserv Forum where the Milwaukee Bucks are going to play in tomorrow’s 3rd playoff game! The city is abuzz with excitement about the Bucks being in the playoffs.
Leaving downtown, we drove past the Milwaukee Journal newspaper building where my grandfather, dad, and two uncles worked for many years.
We also passed the American Family Field, (formerly known as Miller Park, the Brewers baseball stadium) on our way back to the campground.
Our last stop was to pick up some groceries at the WalMart Market near the campground. While I put the groceries away, Bob gave Auggie a nice walk around the RV park. We left again around 4:00 to visit Anne, James, and the grandkids and to see their new home.
We got a tour of their beautiful home and got to meet Louis, their 6-month old Mastador (part Mastiff, part Labrador) before going out to get some dinner near Goerke’s Corners in Brookfield. Louis is a beautiful, sweet, BIG boy and is still only a puppy! He and Bob were giving each other the “eye”.
The original place we wanted to go to for Mexican, the BelAir Cantina, was very busy so we walked around the corner to Wahlburgers. We’ve never eaten at a Wahlburgers before and it wasn’t very busy, so we decided to eat there. The burgers and other menu choices were very good.
We left after enjoying a nice dinner and on our walk back to the parking lot, we took this family picture with the Wahlbergs and this cool picture of Izzy.
We returned to the campground after dinner and took Auggie for his evening walk around the RV park.
It was a beautiful evening with cooler temps after the sun went down. We had a wonderful, busy day full of nostalgia and time spent with friends and family. It was the best!