Nov 23 to 30

Monday
Cloudy and hazy today in Milwaukee. We drove into downtown Milwaukee to visit The Domes at Mitchell Park. They are also referred to as the Mitchell Park Horticultural Conservatory. The three domes include a Tropical area, a Desert area and a Show area with changing exhibits. The Show area was set up for Christmas. We took about two hours to wander through the Domes and view the many types of plants. We saw the largest Jade plants we had ever seen and they were all in flower. I managed to keep a jade plant growing at home for over 30 years and it never flowered. It finally died from a rotted stem probably from over watering. After that we found our way over to Marquette University where we had a look at the historic 15th Century French Chapel which was moved first to Long Island and then to Milwaukee and reconstructed. The Chapel is dedicated to St. Joan of Arc. This is a very worthwhile item to see. We then visited the Haggerty Museum of Art on the Campus. We took a quick walk in downtown Milwaukee to see briefly the Milwaukee Public Library. I also took a picture of the statue to George Washington which stands in the middle of the road near the library. They also have a large Civil War monument in the same area. Worked for a couple of hours on the census references for my Canadian Kipp family genealogy. Walked 10.4 km.

Tuesday
Cloudy today with rain in the afternoon. We spent the day shopping around Milwaukee. The shopping centers are not really that exciting. However, we did find one really good shopping center called Bayshore located a I-43 and Silver Springs Dr. in Glendale. Worked for a couple of hours on the census references for my Canadian Kipp family genealogy. Walked 7.4 km.

Wednesday
Cloudy with some rain today. We decided to visit the Milwaukee Public Museum. In the lobby we found the Hebior Mammoth which was uncovered in Wisconsin. We had time to visit the first floor exhibits: Streets of Milwaukee, European Village and the Butterfly Garden, with a quick glance at the Rain Forest exhibit. We also had tickets for the Daniel M Soref Planetarium and Humphrey IMAX, where we saw the film "Ice World" and also a brief talk on the night sky around Milwaukee. We bought a few things in the Museum store. So in one afternoon we barley scratched the surface of this museum because we did not finish the first floor and there are two more floors beyond that. This is a good museum to visit. We saved a few minutes of light outside to walk a couple of blocks to see the front of the Milwaukee Public Library which takes up a full block. Worked for a couple of hours on the census references for my Canadian Kipp family genealogy. Walked 6.2 km.

Thursday
Thanksgiving day in the US. The day was cloudy with a few patches of sun and wind. We went for a walk in Lake Park alongside Lake Michigan. The rest of the day we stayed in and had our thanksgiving dinner and watched a couple of videos. Worked for several of hours on the census references for my Canadian Kipp family genealogy. Walked 6.4 km.

Friday
The day was clear with sun. We headed off across Wisconsin to visit Madison, their capitol. There was hardly anyone there because of the Thanksgiving day holiday. However, we did see Lakes Monona and Mendota. The Capitol building was open, so after a lunch at Subway just across the street, we had a guided tour of the Capitol building. We then did a quick driving tour of the University of Wisconsin at Madison. This is one huge university campus. Very nice. Back in Milwaukee after dark, we went shopping at the Pick and Save before retiring for the night. Walked 8 km.

Saturday
The day was very nice with lots of sun and it was quite warm in the sun. We helped our daughter take some books into her office at the University in the morning. After lunch we went to visit the North Point Lighthouse, which is an old Milwaukee lighthouse that has been restored. This was followed by a long walk in Lake Park and down to the beach on Lake Michigan where we dipped our digits in the water. Cold! We then headed back to the apartment for a brief stop. Our daughter and I then went to visit the Man at Work Collection at the Grohmann Museum on North Broadway. This museum is part of the Milwaukee School of Engineering. The displays in this museum are excellent with paintings and sculptures dealing with the working man. The displays dealt with: Iron and Steel, Agriculture and Construction, and Physicians, Quacks and Alchemists. For supper we drove out to the Cheescake Factory at the Bayshore Shopping plaza off of Silver Spring Road. Great meal as usual but too much. Walked 10.4 km.

Sunday
The day started off cloudy with rain. Headed home to Ottawa from Milwaukee, starting out about 8 am. We had foggy and rainy weather all of the way to London, Ontario where we stopped overnight since the whole trip takes about two days. We managed to get through Chicago again. Walked 3.5 km

Monday
We had a short snow shower first thing in the morning in London and then the rest of the drive home to Ottawa was great. We had a combination of sun and cloud all the way. The traffic was quite reasonable for a change, even in Toronto. We arrived home about 4 pm before dark. Walked 5.4 km.