Later this month, I will be spending a couple of days each in Madison and Milwaukee. Any recommendations on things to do or see in that general area? The Milwaukee Riverwalk and visiting Lake Michigan (which I’ve never been to before) are definitely on the list, but otherwise the itinerary is fairly open. We will have a car and no children will be along, so we’re open to a wide range of potential activities.
Well if you like beer:
You will have to try some 30 year old cheddar from a small cheesemaking factory.
I was just going to say, if you like beer, all the bars are open. I don’t have any idea of the status of places like The Milwaukee Art Museum or the Public Museum (which is really good).
If you’re going to be here into early September, I’d highly recommend going to Summerfest, especially if any bands you like are playing side stages (Headliners, or acts playing at the American Family Amphitheater require tickets, it’s like going to a regular concert, all the other acts are playing on stages scattered around the grounds so you can just walk from one to the other).
Of course, now that I see “900,000 fans”, I’m rethinking it. Summerfest is always super crowded, and with covid…anyway, just putting it out there (but they are requiring vax cards or negative tests, IIRC)
I was planning a family vacation to Wisconsin a few years ago, and asked a similar question. Unfortunately the trip never happened, for various reasons. But I got a lot of great replies at the time, so let me look up the thread…
…Christ, that was SIX years ago?
My reply in that thread was pretty thorough. I’ll only add the Madison Farmer’s market, which is so massive it takes up the entire Capitol square.
No clue what the COVID rules are, but Marquette University has a Tolkien collection – original manuscripts and notes (my favorite was a moon phase chart written on the back of a Oxford lunch menu)
Ice Cream at Babcok Hall (Madison). There is also the Memorial Union Terrace which is a popular gathering spot.
Brian
If you have the time and interest, I recommend Taliesin, Frank Lloyd Wright’s home. It’s a short drive west of Madison.
I’ve done that. It was actually surprisingly better than I had expected it to be. It’s possible, though, that it’s more interesting to those in the WI/IL area as there’s a lot of FLW (and FLW-style) architecture in the area.
And, as long as you’re there, might as well hop over to House On The Rock. It’s like a big dusty acid trip.
30’s tough to get. 12-20 is much easier. If that’s your interest, head to Cedar Valley cheese, where I go for my routine elder cheddar needs along with a lot of other varieties plus many other products Wisconsonian. It’s about 40 minutes north of MKE on I-43 then Highway 57.
After that you can head east and stop at Harrington Beach State Park and visit Lake Michigan’s sandy shores plus the remains of an old quarry that’s a neat nature walk now.
Then head to Port Washington and visit Chocolate Chisel where amazing chocolates and ice creams are made on site!
Good way of putting it. HOTR is strange as hell alright.
Can’t beat Wisconsin Dells for the tourist trap of all tourists traps. As expensive as a world war but more fun.
Too bad the OP has already missed the state fair in Milwaukee. Quite probably the best state fair in the U.S…
Take in a Milwaukee Brewers game. They’re going to win the World Series in October so you’ll be observing part of sports history in the making.
Have a Sprecher Special Amber and take a brewery tour if they’re running it.
Go to Cudahy and try to count all the taverns. I mean it, you’ll shit when you realize how many there are.
Go up to West Bend, my home town, and take a dip at Regnar Park. I spent half my childhood there in the 60’s and 70’s. Check out the old courthouse tower where we kept the princess locked up.
I know I’ve told this story before, but back when I was in college (Parkside, in Kenosha), I had to drive back to Cudahy to take care of something and brought a friend with me. Driving down Packard Ave, about halfway down the length of Ladish, she suddenly noticed how many bars there are. It’s not just one on every corner. It’s one on every corner plus a few more between them.
It the weather is nice and it fits your interests Old World Wisconsin is between Milwaukee and Madison. Kind of like walking around the set of Little House on the Prairie.
Don’t miss getting some frozen custard at Kopp’s (3 Milwaukee area locations.)
House on the Rock is pretty interesting and better to go into it without knowing anything about it. Give yourself 2-3 hours to go through it.
The Pinecone Travel plaza is just off the highway in Johnson Creek about halfway between Milwaukee/Madison and has a great bakery. “Cream Puffs as big as your head” is how my niece used to put it.
Milwaukee County Zoo is also really great. One of the best I’ve been to.
Now you make me wish it was my trip.
House on the Rock is…different. I won’t give spoilers, but in my experience, people either think it’s awesome, or a strange waste of time, with not much in between those two reactions. 
(I’m in the latter group.)
I thought it was creepy, claustrophobia-inducing, smelled bad, and ultra-weird but not in an artistic way, in a just plain weird, no irony way. I was glad to leave.
I thought similar. Some bits of it caused me to feel a pitiable and incomprehensible demoralization. I would have been willing to chew my leg off to get me out of there quicker. But there’s no quicker way out . . .
That was part of my issue with it, too. If, after a half hour, you decide, “this isn’t for me,” there’s not a good way to get out without going through the whole danged thing (which is far more than just “look at this funky house”).
My evangelical Wisconsin friend, hearing my description (and the person I went with had an even stronger negative reaction), asked if I thought it might be “possessed”. Being someone who does believe in Evil with a capital E, I said, maybe. Something distorted, anyway, something nightmarish. I think they filmed a piece of that failure of a Neal Gaiman film there, American Gods. For the nightmare.
The Harley-Davidson Museum in Milwaukee. Never been there, but I understand that if you like that sort of thing, it’s the sort of thing you’ll like