A Quick Overnight (Wind Gap)

Britt and I were looking for a short-distance overnight trip since the last few have been really strenuous. I referenced backpacker.com, as I often do, for hikes that would fit the bill. I am very familiar with the Appalachian Trail (AT), and in most cases I am not a huge fan. The portions of the trail in Pennsylvania are usually filled with mind-numbing rocks that keep you staring at your feet instead of the scenery. However, I found a hike on the AT that sounded great, and I figured the short distance would make the poor footing more tolerable. It was an out-and-back hike about 9 miles long. The destination was Smith Shelter (three sided cabin, as found about every 15-20 miles on the AT), starting from Wind Gap. It currently has some of the least traffic of all the shelters in PA.
We got to the trailhead after work, around dinnertime. No problems…I love trails that include GPS coordinates! The first section of the trail was switchbacks up to the ridge, as expected. Once on the ridge, the hiking was mostly flat and easy for about an hour. The sun went down and we put the headlamps on. We were planning on hiking in the dark a little while, so no problem. We hiked another 20 minutes or so, and were very close to the shelter when we came to a beautiful meadow on top of the ridge. I have never seen such a thing located on a mountaintop before. We had brought our tent with us, in case the shelter was occupied. We decided to set up camp here instead, since it was so ideal. Our tent was never on ground as soft as the pressed grass found here. It was excellent. I made a fire as Britt cooked up some Asian dish which was delicious. The night was clear and a breeze kicked up as we finished eating. We didn’t put the fly on the tent so we could stare at the stars and feel the breeze as we dozed off. We were very thankful for the weather. The forecast was a high in the low 80s, and overnight it was actually cold. We woke up late, unusual for us when hiking. We took our time packing up since again we had a great view and more perfect weather. We agreed that we are going to set aside this hike for our kids in the future. Hopefully they enjoy it. This type of trail is perfect for helping decide if backpacking is something they would enjoy. Our hike back to the car was relaxing, and we had no need to push ourselves. Anyone looking for an easy overnighter-check this one out.

Milwaukee and Chicago

We flew out of BWI airport, a first for me. It was much cleaner, more organized, and generally nicer thaPhiladelphia’s airport. We were flying to Milwaukee for a good friend’s wedding, and we decided to spend a couple extra days to see the sights. We had an early morning flight, so we avoided the traffic. Everything went smoothly getting to Milwaukee. We picked up our rental car and drove to the hotel all before breakfast. Our place was right on Milwaukee Avenue, which runs through the center of the city. We were too early to check in to our room, but I asked around for a good local place to eat breakfast. The lady at the desk suggested the George Webb restaurant. She gave us directions; just a few blocks from the hotel. We enjoyed the walk through the beautiful city more than the breakfast, to be honest. It was a popular place (it was packed) with a famed history, but it was typical greasy diner/ truck stop food. Not our type of thing, but no worries. We strolled through town some more, and checked out a cool mall right down the street, and checked into our room a little later.

Milwaukee is an interesting city. The skyline doesn’t have many towering buildings, but they’re not trying to be something they aren’t. The city is known as a historical brewing town, and they seem to embrace that. The city is right on Lake Michigan, which was interesting. We drove Lake Shore Drive, a route that runs the coast next to the city. I was surprised to see a lot of beaches (and people on them). One of the few modern looking buildings is the art museum along the lake. I’m not sure what the thought behind its design was, but it seems to have been inspired by the thousands of sailboats on the water. We continued driving to the place where much of the city’s history comes from- the Miller Brewing Company. It’s about 20 minutes outside of town, and easy to spot. The place is huge, and advertisements for their products are everywhere. The company continues to operate out of the same buildings they began in almost a hundred years ago. We took a tour of the whole process, and they showed much more than I expected to see. The tour included an optional part that only one other person chose to take with us. There was a good reason for that. This optional part featured the same brewing kettles (actually huge tanks) still in operation after all the years, but the room was kept at 106 degrees, and it was on the top floor of a building only assessable by stairs. Too bad for the people opting out, this was my favorite part. Also cool was the original caves used for aging the barrels of beer, and the huge distribution warehouse. The tour ended at the “Beer Garden”. We could choose several samples (12 oz. glasses) of any beer they currently produced…awesome. We headed back to town, and eventually Britt went to dinner with other bridesmaids and I explored the city some more. After seeing a huge line wrapping around a theatre down the street, I asked a local what was going on. Turns out the Black Crowes were playing. Not much else notable from day one…

Day two, we wanted to check out Chicago. It was only about an hour and 20 minutes from Milwaukee. We enjoyed our time in the land of famous gangsters, deep dish pizza and the first African American President. We checked out the Navy pier, which seemed to be especially crowded and we didn’t know what the occasion was. We realized that there was an air show taking place over the lake, and people had gathered in the area to watch. We strolled the huge pier and had lunch at a great seafood place called Riva, all while the jets occasionally flew overhead. We saw the huge Auditorium/ ballroom building dating from the original construction of the pier, and also checked out an art gallery displaying stained glass windows. It was super interesting. We learned that Chicago was the foremost producer of stained glass for churches and other buildings years ago. After we had our fill of the pier, we left for some other “must-see” places. We checked out a stretch of road down the city center deemed “The Magnificent Mile”, and also one of the largest public fountains in the world-the Buckingham Fountain. This fountain is located in grant park, front-and-center of the city. Interesting fact: it was designed after the Latona Fountain at Versailles. It does have unique designs though. The fountain itself represents Lake Michigan, while each sea horse symbolizes a state bordering the lake. We enjoyed checking out the rest of Grant park then it was time to leave the city. We drove about an hour and joined our friends at the rehersal dinner for the wedding.

Day three was the big day for Marcela and Seth. Congrats! I dropped Britt off early since she was a bridesmaid and they had some special photo-ops. I found a Panera Bread nearby for lunch, and then met up with them at the wedding location. The place was awesome. It was a youth camp and conference center located right on Lake Geneva. They got married on a scenic outcrop of land with sailboats floating by in the distance. Well done. We were exhausted but we had to check into a new hotel that night. Our previous hotel was sold out when I had made reservations, but there was a DoubleTree hotel just a few blocks away. We got set up for the night and woke up late.

Our last day was spent in Milwaukee, and we ate breakfast in the hotel restaurant. As usual, it was expensive but delicious. We didn’t have anything planned for the day, so we just started walking from the hotel. We explored the city library, which had some impressive architecture. We also checked out some local cathedrals and ran across a large crowd outside of an auditorium downtown. Many of the surrounding roads were closed and we asked a traffic officer why, and he informed us that the president was giving a speech there. That explained the protesters and camera crews. We took the "River Walk" back to the hotel. This is a pathway through the city which runs along the river and is filled with interesting cafes and stores. We stopped for lunch at Potbelly Sandwich Works -higly recommended- and checked out the bookstore across the street. We were running out of time, and went back to the hotel to pick up the car. For our last outing of the trip we checked out the oldest distillery in Wisconsin. It is only been in operation since 2004, but no other distilleries in the state have been opened since prohibition ended. This place was cool, but tiny. It operated out of a single room warehouse, and only had 4 full time employees. A friendly guy gave us a quick tour, and quite an education on the process of making liquor. Our time in Milwaukee and Chicago had come to an end. We drove back to the airport, dropped off the rental car, and soon we were back in PA, and eventually, home.