Tale of Two Cities in Wisconsin That Begin With "M"

Mile 1132:

 

Left the "Windy City" this morning and arrived first in Milwaukee.  It is now cold in the north.  They're calling it a "fall blast" here.  I was prepared--I brought two wardrobes along--one for the northern route, and one for the southern route.  I had to break out the northern route clothes today!

Miller Park - home of the Milwaukee Brewers

Milwaukee Art Museum Quadracci Pavilion



Milwaukee Art Museum Quadracci Pavilion - another view

Mile 1231:

 

Traveled on to Madison later in the day:

State Capitol of Wisconsin

Me at the State Capitol

Ornate dome of the Capitol

View of dome from floor below

View from gallery at the base of the dome

 

Looking toward Lake Monona from observation deck around the Capitol dome
 

Rainy Day at the Museum

Chicago - Day 2:

Today was a very stormy day, so we spent the day indoors at the Field Museum of Natural History.  Here are some pictures from today:

Field Museum of Natural History on Lake Shore Drive
(named for Marshall Field)

Sue - the Tyrannosaurus rex at the Field Museum
It is  the most complete T. rex skeleton found to date.

 

 

Main Hall of the Field Museum

Memorial at Soldier Field

Soldier Field - home of the Chicago Bears

Water feature at Soldier Field

Soldier Field from a different angle



Chicago

Mile 1030:

We arrived in Chicago yesterday evening and are staying in one of the outlying communities - Buffalo Grove.  We took the train into the city today and enjoyed walking 10 miles up and down the streets, avenues, and boulevards.  There is a lot of very interesting and beautiful architecture downtown.  Here's a few shots of downtown scenery:

Willis Tower (formerly Sears Tower) from ground
108 floors

 

 

Me at base of Willis Tower

Chicago skyline from Skydeck on 103rd floor

Another view of Chicago skyline from Skydeck on 103rd floor

Me at the Willis Tower standing on "The Ledge"- a glass floor that is 103 stories above the street!!

Garden in Millenium Park

Me at Cloud Gate at Millenium Park

Cloud Gate at Millenium Park

"Chicago Dog" for lunch- hot dog with mustard, tomatoes,
relish, chopped onions, hot peppers, dill pickle spear,
and celery salt on a poppy seed bun.

Buckingham Fountain on Lake Shore Drive

View of Lake Michigan from Lake Shore Drive

Interior of lobby in Drake Hotel - grand hotel at the top of the
"Magnificent Mile" built in 1920

Deep dish pizza from Giordano's for dinner.  This was a small one!



Going to the Pops Concert

Cincinnati - Day 2:

Worshipped this morning at New City Pres with Kristen and Phil.  Margie kept Mary back at the house.

After church, we went downtown, where we happened upon the Cincinnati Celtic Festival in Washington Park.  This was across the street from the Cincinnati Music Hall--where we heard the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra perform the music from Disney's Fantasia.  Both the building and performance was awesome.

Celtic Dancing at the Festival

Cincinnati Music Hall

Chandelier in the foyer of the Cincinnati Music Hall

Jansen waiting for the concert to start

Chandelier in the Auditorium

Balconies in the Auditorium

Jansen at Intermission!!

We toured a little more downtown then headed to Kristen and Phil's for a nice home cooked dinner and fun games.  It was great to see and visit with these dear friends!

Downtown Cincinnati - Great American Tower

 

 

 



Paul Brown Stadium - Cincinnati Bengals home

Jansen, Margie, Phil w/Mary, Kristen, me, and Dash in the front

Tale of Two Cities in Ohio That Begin With "C"

Mile 520:

We said farewell to Pittsburgh this morning en route to our next destination--Cincinnati.  We arrived in Columbus, OH at lunch time.   Jansen knew that a friend (Tim Meade) was coming to the Va Tech-Ohio State game in Columbus today.  So, he thought maybe we could lunch together.  Neither one of them (or me, for that matter) were familiar with Columbus, but technology is amazing.  Through texting, we learned that he was in Columbus and had just sat down at a place called Novak's.  That's all the info we had--just the name.  With the maps app on his smart phone, we were able to find and drive to that place in downtown Columbus in 14 minutes--no wrong turns + parking.  We had lunch with Tim and a couple of his Va Tech friends in town for the game:

Tim, Jansen, and me

We toured downtown after lunch and went to the Ohio Statehouse, built in 1861:

Ohio Statehouse in Capitol Square

Jansen relaxing at the Statehouse

Me at the Statehouse with Civil War cannon

Mile 608:

After our little Columbus tour, we headed on to Cincinnati, OH where we met Margie Burgess (friend from Waynesboro in Cincinnati helping her daughter Kristen with new baby Mary) for dinner at Skyline Chili.  I had Cincinnati Chili "3 Way" which is chili on a bed of spaghetti topped with a mountain of cheddar cheese.  Good eats!  Then we visited with Kristen, Phil, and Margie back at Kristen and Phil's house. 

...And We're Off...

Mile 0:
Well--here we go again!!!  Jansen and I left Waynesboro this morning for a great adventure in the western part of the U.S.  I am confident that we will get farther than I did 2 years ago. 

Here we go!!

Mile 333:
After driving through Rockingham county, West Virginia, Maryland, back through West Virginia, we arrived safely at our first destination - Pittsburgh, PA.  We enjoyed spending the afternoon downtown.  There are lots of bridges here--certainly a necessity in herding traffic across three rivers--Allegheny, Monongahela, and Ohio rivers.



Pittsburgh downtown skyline
 



Jansen being cool.

We visited the Cathedral of Learning at University of Pittsburgh (aka Pitt); 



 

This building reminded me of buildings I visited at Oxford last summer.  Built in 1926, it houses classrooms and offices.  Beautiful Gothic architecture--inside and out.  Architecture of the Heinz Chapel was the same, with these beautiful stained glass windows:

 

I had to be discreet in my picture taking here as a wedding rehearsal was in progress.


 
 
 
Rode the Incline up and down Mt. Washington:

Upper station

Lower Station - see the cars on the tracks?

These cars are pulled and lowered using cables at the top.  It has a 30.5 degree incline.  At the upper station, we met a couple here that were native Pittsburghians -  Carl and Sophia -- who told us that they were going to get engaged later this evening.  I guess she won't surprised when he pops the question tonight!


And had dinner at one of the local Primanti Brothers restaurant.  We both had "the Pittsburgher":
(Sorry for the blurry picture.  I had to take this picture with my cell phone and I guess I was a little too excited about getting to bite into that big burger!)