A couple state parks have been mentioned, but really the whole state park/trail system is extensive and amazing if you enjoy the outdoors: https://dnr.wi.gov/topic/parks/findapark.html If your friends do, a 2020 annual park pass would make a nice gift.
Beer, you ask? Not just Miller: Welcome to Milwaukee’s Brewery Boom: 22 New Breweries to Try
No.
I’m not a “beach” person. I’ve known people who consider “the beach” a holy place, to which they must make many pilgrimages each year. To LIVE at the beach would be Nirvana.
Ugh. I hate the sand, the salt residue, the rude people, the sunburn, all of it.
BUT, the smell of the fresh salt air is intoxicating, and you can encounter that fragrance at quite a distance from actual ocean. Lake Michigan ain’t got that.
I have chronic sinus problems, and when I get within “smelling distance” of the ocean, my head magically clears, and I delight is open, free breathing without decongestants, neo-synepherine, or any other chemical assistance.
Lake Michigan can’t do that, either.
~VOW
You can most certainly get within smelling distance of the lake. Smelling distance often extends out a mile or so from the shore. However, it’s not salt air that you’ll smell.
Either way, Milwaukee really isn’t a beach place. Yes, we have beaches, but other than Bradford Beach, you’ll really never see it unless you’re specifically going to the beach. In most of Milwaukee, or at least the north half of it, you need to walk down about 200 feet to get to it, you don’t see it from the road. And even with how packed the lakefront is in summer, it’s still not really a beach community.
We moved in July…OMG.hot and humid. But I would take that over the snow and cold.
Are they moving to the City of Milwaukee proper or just the Milwaukee area? There is a difference.
For instance, I wouldn’t live in West Allis east of 108th Street. And I wouldn’t live in about 80% of Milwaukee itself. And I’ve been here since ‘82 transplanted from West Bend. Fox Point and River Hills are ok.
There are events at State Fair Park every weekend of the year. Combined with the zillion other things there is always something to do here.
The state beer tax is tied to be the lowest in the nation. So staying in on a cold day and blowing ones brain cells out doesn’t cost a fortune.
Tell them to make sure they have a garage and a remote starter on their cars. We don’t have a spring or an autumn. Just pre-winter, winter, winter lite, then a short summer.
Did anyone mention that you can actually get a correctly made Old Fashioned Cocktail here?
The Land of Milk and Cheese is just a marketing spiel from the dairy industry. Wisconsin is more properly The Land of Brats and Beer. And there is plenty of good beer, not just the mega brewer stuff.
This. Go to Kopps, not Culver’s (which is Madison based).
Culver’s HQ is in Prairie du Sac (First restaurant was in nearby Sauk City)
Brian
Last time through we found MACS Macaroni & Cheese Shop. I think there are several locations. Pretty good for casual/fast.
The moving van was late because of record cold–windchill of -65 degrees F. The driver made a previous stop in Green Bay, and his batteries froze.
When we FINALLY got our household goods, all the canned foods were frozen, the cans actually rocked. The pickle jars were frozen. They didn’t break, but the juice squeezed past the lid, and there was sticky pickle juice over everything.
There was a layer of frost over the TV screen (stone age picture tube) and we had to wait at least 24 hours before plugging it in.
Wisconsin is one of the reasons I hate snow.
~VOW
Larry’s Market in Brown Deer is an excellent small grocery store specializing in exotic products like prime cuts of meat, spices, quiches and pot pies made locally, artisanal and foreign cheeses, and just general high quality cooking and tasting oils, sauces, and pre-made meals. It caters to and for the wealthy folks in nearby River Hills.
Visit Renaissance Books in their Airport location; a fascinating collection of used/collectible books. I still miss their 5 story shop downtown on the river.
George Webb’s is an iconic restaurant chain throughout the area, serving breakfasts, burgers, chicken flavored noodle soup, and more to a varied clientele. Check out the customers who show up there after the bars close. Admire the two clocks side by side on the wall. You’ll never get a straight answer there as to why every single GW restaurant has two clocks side by side in it. Whenever the Brewers win 12 games in a row, GW gives everyone who shows up a free hamburger. They made that promise back when the Milwaukee Braves were the team, and have had to fulfill it twice now, in 1987 and 2018.
Colectivo is a small local coffee roaster that also operates a number of quirky coffeehouses around the area. I love the one they have on the lakefront, utilizing an old civic building, the river flushing station which was built in 1888 to clean up the Milwaukee river. They know how to make a decent espresso at all of the Colectivo coffeehouses.
Usinger’s sausage on Old World 3rd street is a great place to sample the best of the wurst. Wisconsin Cheese Mart, where I purchased a chunk of 28 year old cheddar, is just up the block. Mader’s, a classic german restaurant, has been serving food since 1902, and is across the street from the Cheese Mart.
Gilles has been making great frozen custard for over 80 years, and together with Kopp’s and Leon’s completes the Holy Trinity of MKE custard joints.
The Safe House is a quirky spy-themed restaurant whose entrance foyer looks like a seedy import/export business lobby, and they will only admit you into the restaurant if you know the password.
I am not a Milwaukee native, but I have lived there in the city itself. My grandfather, mother, and one daughter were all born in Milwaukee.
I’m from Madison, but have lived in Seattle for years. Think Seattle or Vancouver are expensive? Madison is catching up. The house I grew up in, which sold for ~$140k about 30 years ago, is now worth close to a million. (!)
Regarding the Kopp’s / Culver’s debate: Try Michael’s frozen custard, Monroe Street, near Wingra park. It is sooooo good, it totally blows Culver’s away.
ETA: Some of the best ice cream you will ever find is at the Chocolate Shoppe, from Madison. They sell their ice cream to various outlets, apparently, and appear in the West Lafayette, IN area as “Silver Dipper.” I never tire of reminding people where that ice cream came from. 
Yeah, I’d move back in a heartbeat if I could afford it. 
Wife is from Waukesha, and…she wouldn’t move back there. So we may move to Milwaukee or some place near there, eventually.
To add to Joey’s list:
Oshkosh, home of the EAA fly-in every summer (Huge airshow. Famous.).
Adding Cedarburg. It’s lovely, and still has a small town feel. If you need to commute into Milwaukee daily, not the best though.
Better hurry! Michael has already closed some of his outlets because the US government’s current policies won’t let his spouse return from Mexico to join him.
In a personal communication, Michael said the chances of them overcoming the visa problem and getting together in the USA were slim, and if they exhaust all possibilities, both of them may move to Canada and take the business with them.
Anyone want to start an ice cream stand on Monroe Street?
Just to cleanse our palates of sad news, a reminder that there’s SO much tasty custard* in Wisconsin. And no one mentioned Babcock ice cream made from UW cows, sold at the Memorial Union (a small cone is huge, a double is too much to finish, even sharing it with the spouse).
*because regular ice cream doesn’t have an obscene amount of butterfat in it…
We should tell everyone moving here to join a health club, or a curling club. Or take up another winter sport. Between the brats, the burgers ‘n’ ribs, cheese and sausages, the Friday fish frys, the custard and the beer, it’d be easy to put on a couple of pounds.
Nah, there’s the Syttende Mai run, the Birkebeiner and, for the truly insane, the Paddle and Portage to keep you in shape.
Or you could just walk up Bascom a lot.
OMG that’s terrible.
(BTW Monroe st is in Madison…could there also be a Monroe st. in Green Bay??)
Yes, the one Michael closed in September was in Green Bay.
Thanks for all the ideas and thoughts and warnings. Now I want to move there with them. She’s originally from Iowa, but he’s from Vancouver, been in a temperate zone all his life, and I think winter will be…interesting…for him. Her job is in Milwaukee proper somewhere near HD HQ and the HD museum. And the DNC convention is in Milwaukee in 2020…that’ll be fun…
We’d welcome you with open arms!
(but we can’t hug you…those arms are full of your complimentary charcuterie board and your obligatory pitcher of Spotted Cow).