Milwaukee is definitely one of our very favorite places to visit, and it’s a whole lot easier to get to than Portland! Riding our bikes to MKE was our first trip together, only a few weeks after we started dating, and it’s become a really special place for us.

We’ve had a fairly busy summer so far, which means we haven’t had as much ‘us’ time as we’d like. Brian suggested that we ride our bikes to Milwaukeee to spend the weekend by ourselves, and we got started planning. We’ve used both Airbnb and Couchsurfing in the past, and although both have their perks, we went with the cheaper option this time and found a host to let us sleep on their couch for a night.

The ride up was one of the absolute easiest and quickest rides we have ever taken together! We took Metra to Kenosha, grabbed a quick diner breakfast, and then set out on the path. It seemed like we were there before we knew it! The weather was perfect, there was hardly any wind, we only got turned around once, and we didn’t even stop for snacks or to fill up our waterbottles. So great.

We are always STARVING by the time we roll in, so we stopped for a delicious lunch at one of our faves, Bavettes Boucherie. We fell in love with this butcher shop/cafe on our first visit, and it is a must-visit whenever we’re in Milwaukee. We still talk about that amazing kale+sausage+white bean soup….

After lunch, we rode up to Whole Foods and picked up a 6-pack and some Aloe for Brian’s burned back. Side note: that WF has an INSANE body section with the best selection ever of shampoos, body soaps, cosmetics, etc. Brian was tearing me away, but I could have stayed for hours.

We rode over to the hill to hang out, which I think is my very favorite thing to do in Milwaukee together. We’ve had some pretty great conversations there, and it’s a great place to relax and just hang out. We love spending time outside, and the hill is an ideal spot with a great view and no people walking by all the time.

Lakefront Brewery is nearby at the bottom of the hill, so we stopped in and filled up on enough beer and cheese to last me the next month. The Wisconsin stereotype is so true.

We woke up early the next morning to dark grey skies and some thunder, so we packed up and jumped on our bikes to head to a coffee shop to wait out the rain. (our other option was to get stuck at our couchsurfing place, and that was not ideal). We lucked out and ended up at a Collectivo (Milwaukee’s version of Intelligentsia) that had a covered outside patio. We sat outside and waited out a pretty intense storm that took down a giant tree right across the street from where we were sitting. So loud, and really crazy to watch!

It turned out to be a beautifully sunny day after the storm passed, but the wind was still really strong, and neither of us felt like battling a headwind for 50 miles, so we bought Amtrak tickets back to Chicago. Super convenient now that they are allowing bikes! The ride was almost unbelievably wonderful. Loading our bikes was super easy, the ride was smooth and fast, and totally worth it.