Hi Friends.
Travis and I spent week 21 hanging out in Marquette, Michigan. The first time we went there earlier in our trip, we were simply captivated by how beautiful it was and couldn’t wait to get back there to see it again. There’s so much to love about Marquette and the Upper Peninsula in general. First, if you love the outdoors like Travis and I do, there’s so much to do and see. Between beaches, biking trails, hiking trails, and water sports – there’s so many things you can explore. Marquette also has a really cute downtown area full of independent stores, breweries and restaurants. It’s a smaller city, but I can’t see ever running out of fun things to do there.
We stayed at a city park campground, where we stayed last time. We don’t do it too often, as we look for free or cheap places to stay most of the time. But, it was nice getting to stay in one place for a while and not have to worry about moving the van. We spent a few days here just unwinding – getting work done during the day, while relaxing by the fire or hanging out at night. We also met up with some friends that we met the last time we were in the city. They met us at a brewery in town and again for breakfast another day, showing us a cool secluded spot on the beach.
One of the reasons we decided to come back to Marquette was also due to an enduro mountain bike race happening over the weekend. Travis thought it would be the perfect way to celebrated the end of his 20’s. He never participated in an enduro before, but was definitely looking forward to it. While he did a few mountain bike rides over the course of the week, along with the race, I had a chance to do a few things by myself. I went to a beach by a lighthouse and practiced sketching for a while, and even took Pepper Jack on a 5 mile hike on my own. It sounds silly to say I was proud of myself for doing things alone, but as someone who always preferred to have someone with her, it felt nice to get out there and do something outside instead of just staying in the van.
After Marquette, we decided to spend week 22 first in Milwaukee & Chicago. On the way down to Milwaukee, we briefly hung out in Green Bay, Wisconsin. It seemed like a nice city, but something to us just seemed off. It was way too quiet. We couldn’t help but wonder where the people were. It only took us a few moments until we realized the Packers were playing a home game. We drove by the football stadium and sure enough – this is where everyone was. Between businesses and people’s lawns – every possible spot to park was taken for several blocks in every direction. We never saw anything quite like that before.
Travis turned 30 when we were in Milwaukee. There were a few things he definitely wanted to do to celebrate. When it comes to birthdays, we don’t buy gifts for each other. Instead, we decide to spend gift money on doing an experience and/or going out to a place of the birthday person’s choosing. Travis wanted to spend his birthday helping out a local high school’s gaming club. This gaming club was somewhere he has donated things to in the past, so he was excited to pick up some new items for the kids, and to meet the teacher in charge of the club. After we did that, we walked around a lakefront park for a while, before starting in on our brewery hopping experience. We were planning on going to 4 or 5 breweries, getting a small nosh and a beer flight at each place. In actuality, we made it to 2 before we were full. If you haven’t been to Lakefront Brewing Company before, I highly recommend it. Get the cheese curds & do the tour if possible. While we weren’t able to do the tour this time, I’ve done it in the past and it’s by far the best brewery tour I’ve ever done. Milwaukee was a really cool town in general and we really loved exploring it.
We spent a day or two at Lake Geneva, the birth place of Dungeons & Dragons. Travis has been playing D&D for a while, and he recently got me into it within the last couple of years. We play regularly with friends online. It was really cool to get to see where it all happened, and even go through a museum that had all of the iterations of the game, including other games and merchandise from TSR. Our tour was also from one of the first employees, who was friends with the Gygax’s and other people that were instrumental to the founding on the game.
The next few days we spent in the Chicagoland area. While we didn’t spend a ton of time in the city of Chicago (though a full vacation will be planned here at some point), we did get to meet up with friends that we haven’t seen in a while. We got together with old college friends, as well as past and current co-workers. It was so great getting to see everyone. One of my favorite things that I’ve been talking about for years is how much I love the food in Chicago and how badly I want Travis to try some classics. So we went to Portillo’s to get a Chicago Dog, cheese fries, and the chocolate shake. Later that night, we had some Lou Malnati’s deep dish pizza with one of his former co-worker and his wife.
When we left Chicago, we headed straight for St. Louis where we will spend our first wedding anniversary, before we start making our way back east.
Thanks for reading.
Leece
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