Ol' Milwaukee Journal

I took this photo of Lake Michigan from inside Milwaukee's art museum. The museum, opened in 2001, was designed by famed architect Santiago Calatrava.

Plug "milwaukee art museum" into google images and see how different this building looks in various lights and at various angles. The photos of the "wings" opening make the museum itself look like a large white bird taking off.

See, Milwaukee has a lot more to offer than just beer and bratwurst. But the beer and bratwurst ain't bad either.

Check out my Milwaukee vacation journal.

Milwaukee's Cold World Charm

Milwaukee, Wisconsin was my starter city.

Milwaukee is as cold as they say it is, but I survived more than a decade of Wisconsin winters. Wind chills can hit 70 below in the long winter there. But prevailing wisdom, a survivor's wisdom, is that people can't perceive the difference in temperatures below a certain threshold. Ten below and 20 below both feel the same. Comforted?

A heated garage is the key to surviving a Milwaukee winter (besides deluding yourself that you can't feel it). I scored a heated garage in my final year in Milwaukee. It was life-changing.

I only had to brush snow off my car when it snowed while I was at work. And then the snow was still soft and cottony. I never had to scrape ice that winter, but I still left for New York before the next winter hit.

I think back fondly on my time in Milwaukee and I still visit as often as I can. In the summer.