milwaukee

I took a little solo side trip on my way home from Sweden.

I think everyone should do this: take a vacation to recover from vacation. It is absolutely amazing.

Nic, Mom, Roger and I all flew from Stockholm to New York, and from there, they all went home while I headed to Milwaukee.

The 2.5 days was amazing - a hotel room all to myself after 12 days of being in close quarters with family, eating wherever I so chose, and doing whatever I wanted. Bliss.

Plus, Milwaukee is a really cool city that I've never visited before, so exploring it was a blast.

For my own reference, I thought I'd write down a few of the things I did (really - where I ate!) so I can remember the next time my path takes me through the city.

Cafe Manna - Brookfield
A 100% vegetarian restaurant with a heart for the environment. I stopped here for a lunch that wouldn't weigh me down and fell in love. I ordered the "Exotic Salad" with a side of grilled tofu. I wish I had a few more days here to explore the menu + atmosphere more.



Honeypie Cafe - Bayview neighborhood
I stopped in here with one thing in mind - a vegan red velvet cupcake, and was greeted by an awesome cafe + bar + bakery that would be a favorite if I lived there. The bar really threw me for a loop (clearly I didn't look at the website closely), but was just enamored when I walked in right before 5PM and instantly wanted to join the people at the bar for happy hour. Again, another cafe to hit up next time...




Anodyne Coffee Roasting Company - Bayview neighborhood
A recommendation from the staff at Honeypie, I stopped here for a quick pick-me-up to go with my cupcake. A cool vibe and a killer chai. Perhaps I should have gotten coffee though since it is a coffee roasting company.

Historic Third Ward
I headed to the Historic Third Ward for a bit of shopping. Actually, I wasn't going to actually shop, but when presented with a bunch of neat boutiques, what is a girl to do? I spent some time wandering through the Milwaukee Public Market, picking up a bunch of spices from The Spice House. And then did a bit of (unnecessary) shopping at Anthropology, and window shopping at countless other stores.

Palomino Bar and Restaurant - Bayview neighborhood
My favorite stop on the entire trip. A corner house turned bar/restaurant nestled into a neighborhood in the cool Bayview area. Totally not what I was expecting, but I grabbed a table outside and had an incredible dinner and beer. The menu boasts half vegan comfort food and half non-vegan comfort food. I ordered the vegan faux boy, sweet potato tots and a few local brews. I would love to have this right down the road from my house. As I was sitting there reading, all I could think of was hanging out here with a group of close friends on a Friday night.

After dinner, I walked down to the lake and enjoyed the sunset.



Riverwest Co-op
The hotel I was staying at charged $5 for a basic continental breakfast, so I decided to ditch out early and hopefully discover another Milwaukee gem. After getting a bit lost, I finally found the Riverwest Co-op. Again, not what I was expecting as this co-op was nestled into a neighborhood with not much else going on around it, but not too sketchy to scare me away. I ordered a vegan breakfast muffin from their small cafe, and a few snacks for the 2 plane trips ahead of me, before heading down to the lake.

Milwaukee Art Museum
Mom told me that I had to stop here, if not only to watch the roof of the museum open up. Intrigued, I checked it out the morning before I left and was very surprised to explore a museum with such an extensive collection. Posters of Paris was the feature exhibition with was absolutely incredible - and I just happened to visit on the one day of the month when there was free admission. Score.







Lulu - Cafe & Cocktails - Bayview neighborhood
Needing something quick before going to the airport, I headed back into the Bayview neighborhood for lunch at Cafe Lulu. This corner cafe caught my eye the day before, and had a menu that promised to please. And it did. I ordered a hummus pita piled high with tabouleh and dug into the pile of homemade potato chips.

And then before long, my vacation from vacation was over and I was back in Cedar Rapids in the arms of my long lost (2 days) husband. We hit up our favorite vegan restaurant in Iowa City, the Trumpet Blossom Cafe before finally heading home.



An Iowa sunset.

As much as I loved Milwaukee, coming home to Iowa was the best. And although my time in Milwaukee was incredible, not everything went as hoped. But good things could will come from the trip and whenever that happens, I will be incredibly thankful for the 2.5 days that I spent there.

PS - Do you see that if you ever leave me in charge of planning vacation, you will totally get a vegan food tour. Nothing wrong with that, now is there??!


And finally - if for some reason we ever moved to Milwaukee, I would totally choose the Bayview neighborhood to reside in. Please be sure to check it out if you are ever there!