milwaukee, Burke Brise Soleil (art museum)

burke brise soleil, wings open

burke brise soleil, wings closed

inside windhover hall

the matrix display

side on view

from downtown milwaukee

harley davidson museum

Saturday 30th May
Well up and about fairly early and down for breakfast. Packed up the car and then headed to Milwaukee which was only about 15 minutes away. Once we hit the town we drove around a bit and just checked out downtown. As usual the town centre was dead quiet. Not a person about or a shop open anywhere. It seems in America that all the cities close down on the weekend and everyone’s goes to the outer shopping centres.

We had a pamphlet for some of the attractions to visit. Thought we would start with the Milwaukee Art Museum. This building has wings attached to it called the Burke Brise Soleil. These moveable, wing-like sunscreens rest on top of the Museum’s vaulted, glass-enclosed Windhover Hall which is 90 feet tall. The “wings” open and close at selected times on selected days. As it turned out we were there at 12.00 pm and that is when it closed on a Saturday and then they open back up straight away. It was cool to watch and Bronte took a string of photos showing it going through the process, it takes 3.5 minutes to close. The Burke Brise Soleil has a wingspan comparable to that of a Boeing 747-400, its two ultrasonic wind sensors automatically close the wings if the wind speed reaches 23 mph or greater. Unlike the airplane, the Museum prefers to remain on the ground!
The Windhover hall joins to the art museum through a long corridor which is an older original building. The museum was cool; it had lots of stuff in it with a Matrix light display which you can see in the blue photo above. If you look closely at the photo you should be able to see me and Bronte. These looked like glow sticks attached to strings held from the ceiling to the floor spaced in rows all through the room. There was also another light room full of fairly lights and mirrored walls which made it look like you were in space. After about 3 hours in the museum we needed lunch.

Headed to the closest Subway and had some lunch. From there we went to the Harley Davidson Museum. Even though we don’t like motor bike we still went to see the building as it was pretty special. We had a look through the gift shop and then took some photos and decided to head off to our next point which is Green Bay Michigan.

Arrived at the motel and checked in. Went out shopping for a few things and then returned to the motel and washed the car. The car was very dirty and if you return a rental car dirty they charge you to clean it. Last year we drove the car for 9000 kms and did not wash it once. It took like 4 hours to clean it it was so dirty. Not doing that again so we are going to wash this one each week.

Went out for dinner at Ihop which was really nice. Headed into the main part of town for a cruise around and then went back to the motel and spent a bit of time on the internet and booked our next accommodation at Sault Ste Marie. This it at the top of Lake Michigan right on the border of Canada and USA. Not long till we get to Toronto and Niagra.

chicago,sears tower and millennium park

the 'el' train line

me in the sears tower, 99th floor

sears tower

grant park, buckingham fountain

buckingham fountain

view of chicago from millennium park

me in front of 'cloud gate'

reflection in 'cloud gate'

asian sculpture

crown fountain

more sculptures

oprah's studio

Friday 29th May
Well we woke up and we were still alive!! That’s a good start. Had a bit of a drive this morning to get to Chicago city but the road was like a 5 lane freeway all the way. Once we got out onto the freeway we could see the Sears Tower in the distance which was about 40 kms away. As we got closer it got busier and busier, I guess it was peak hour with people going to work.

Once we got into the heart of the city the Tom Tom went crazy. There were roads above and below each other and when we were driving along under ground and between buildings the Tom Tom did not know where we were. It kept telling us to turn and there were no corners and it just became crap. So we just drove as close as possible to the tower and found a car park and went in. It was a car park where they park your car for you. It was going to cost $26 for the day but at least the car was safe.

Made our way out and walked to the Sears Tower which was about 5 blocks away. Paid our money and went up the elevator to the 99th floor. The tower is 1450 feet tall and 1725 feet to the top of the antenna. We spent around and hour at the top of the tower. It was a nice clear day and you could see up to 50 miles away. It was good as you could see where we had just driven from and you could see all around the city.

Once down we made our way to Grant Park and the Buckingham Fountain. On the way we stopped at Subway where the guy was really helpful and told us where to go and what to do in the city. Once lunch was had we walked to the fountain. It was massive and is actually 85 metres in diameter and has 134 jets.

From the fountain we made our way to the Millennium Park which is a city park built on the old rail yards. It is 24.5 acres in size and you really could spend most of the day there if you wanted. From the changing displays to the Crown Fountain, the Cloud Gate, the Pritzker Pavilion and the gardens and flowers it was just beautiful. It was only finished in 2001 and is a big part of the city now as it attracts tourists and locals.

From there we walked back into the city and to the Chicago River where we found a cruise boat that does 90 minute cruises for $23. So we paid our money and set off on the cruise. The cruise included going through the lock and out into Lake Michigan to see the cityscape from the harbor and then back into the river and through the city where the tour guide pointed out all the significant buildings etc. The tour was good and the 90 minutes went really quickly.

Once back on land Bronte wanted to walk to the Oprah Studios which was located a few kms away, so we walked and found the studio. Oprah is not filming at the moment so the studio was not open to go in. The Oprah shop was there but it shut at 5.30pm and we got there at 5.35pm. From there we walked back to pick up our car and then drove to Milwaukee where we had booked our next lot of accommodation which was about 3 hours away.

Got to the motel and it was really nice. Once booked in we headed out for dinner. Went to a place called Applebee’s for dinner which is like a restaurant/bar which does grilled meals and the like. The food was really nice and the waitress was really cool and she loved our Aussie accents. Over here apparently we have accents, and I thought it was the Americans with the accent. Well back to the motel as we are heading into Downtown Milwaukee tomorrow.

chrysler museum

walter p chrysler museum

chrysler le baron

turbine chrysler

Thursday 28th May
Today we headed out from the motel to the Walter P Chrysler Museum. It was a bit of a drive and we wanted to get there and have lunch afterwards. The museum was easy to find. We had a good chat to the guys who volunteer at the museum about Chrysler in Australia and they were quite interested about what we had in Australia and what Chrysler's we sold. The museum had lots of old Chrysler's including the first one made. There was a good selection of cars leading through the years with a bit of history about the company along the way. There were a few brand new cars that were the first ones of the line of new models from the 80’s and 90’s. One car in particular which was interesting was a turbine powered car. They built 200 of them and over a 2 year period they gave them to people to drive as a test car. At the end of the 2 years they crushed 190 of the 200 made. We have seen 2 of them and Chrysler own 3. I wonder where the other 7 are.

After a couple of hours we headed to KFC for lunch. I had KFC and Bronte had A & W, lunch was good and then we headed for Chicago which was about 450 kms away. The road was really good, four lane freeway all the way and the speed limit was about 70 mph most of the way.

Arrived at out motel on the outskirts of Chicago and checked in. This motel was probably the worst one so far. I guess you can’t complain when you only pay $35USD. At least it was a place to sleep! Headed to Walmart again to get some stuff for dinner. Walmart did not have any hot chooks left so we went to another supermarket and got one and took it back to the motel to eat. The motel was also in a bit of a dodgy place, it just looked like you were in a seedy side of town. Oh well inside the room and locked the door started eating dinner and we both heard a loud bang!!! Sounded like a gun shot, but we were not going out to look. Watched some TV and went to bed.

henry ford factory at detroit

President Reagan's car

model t ford

ford rouge factory

serial number 1 mustang

ford f150's made at rouge

Wednesday 27th May
We drove to Dearborn Michigan today, Dearborn is virtually a suburb of Detroit and is where the Ford Motor Company is based and where the model T was firstly made. When we arrived we went to a shopping centre so we could get some lunch. Then it was off to the Henry Ford Museum. There are two parts to the museum, the museum floor and the Rouge Factory tour. We decided to do the factory tour first so it was on to a bus to take us about 6 miles to the factory. The factory makes the Ford F150 pick up trucks, the tours is semi self guided, you make your way around on a suspended walkway and stop at info points for more information on what is going on below, it ended up taking us two hours to complete the factory tour. Then it back onto the bus so we can see the museum floor. The Henry Ford Museum is just not about cars, Henry Ford was a bit of a collector of all bits and pieces and also he was the revolutionist of the modern industrial manufacturing. So the museum has all sorts of machines, e.g. Cars (all makes), trains, Planes, Trams and stationary engines, furniture of the period and everything in between.
The Museum was quiet huge and we had to rush through the last part of it but I think we saw all of it. My favourites were the Presidential Limousines from the first horse drawn carriage to Ronald Reagan’s limo. The JFK limo was very interesting as after he was assassinated they added a roof to it and spent about 200k doing it up.
After we finished at The Henry Ford Museum we made our way to our Hotel which was right by the airport. It was good watching the planes land. We went to Walmart and bought a whole chicken for dinner, at $4.99 USD it was exceptionally well priced, don’t know why we pay so much for food and produce in Australia. Tomorrow we are heading to the Chrysler Museum which is about 70 kms the other side of Detroit as we head to Chicago.

cedar point

cedar point entrance

wooden coaster, mean streak

top thrill dragster, 400 feet tall

Mantis, ride while standing

the twister

Tuesday 26th May
After a bit of a slow start today we had about a 2 hour drive towards Sandusky. Located close to Sandusky is Cedar Point. Cedar Point has the largest roller coaster park in the world located there. After getting lunch we headed to Cedar Point. Paid our $43 to enter and hit the roller coasters. I think there are 15 different roller coasters some of which are over 400 feet high, go as fast as 120 mph, some made of wood and some you even stand up in!!

Well we went on all of them bar one. Oh my god the Dragster was awesome. It goes 0 to 120 mph in 3.8 seconds and takes you 400 feet straight up and then instantly straight down. It was incredible!! The Magnum XL200 was cool and is celebrating its 20th year. Millennium Force takes you 300 feet high and drops you straight down right at the start. The Twister made me feel sick and was not a good experience. Mantis was a roller coaster that you stand up in, and wow that is a weird feeling. There are also 3 or 4 massive wooden roller coasters that are awesome considering they were built in the 60s.

Anyway after the park we headed to the motel and had dinner and then went to bed. We had been at the park til 8.00pm and were a bit tired and really needed to sit down on something that did not move around. Tomorrow we are heading for Detroit which is about 2 hours away.

cleveland

bronte at lake erie in cleveland

view of cleveland city across lake

Monday 25th May
Up this morning and set off for Cleveland which was only about a 3 or 4 hour drive. Arrived at Cleveland and drove through the city and along the foreshore of Lake Erie which is one of the smaller great lakes. We found a park area which had a walkway down to the lakes edge which we walked. Took a couple of photos of the city from across the lake. Walked along the walkway and back to the car. Made our way to the motel and when we arrived they had not yet got the booking through. We decided to go shopping so we went to Big K Mart. Spent a while there and then went to Baskin Robbins and had an ice cream.

Back to the motel and they still did not have our booking so I had to phone Expedia and get them to email the motel. Once that was sorted out we checked in. The manager of the motel was excited that we were Australian and he wanted to buy some of our Aussie dollars as he collects money. We sold him one of each coin and a five and ten dollar note.

Went to Long John Silvers for dinner and then to the movies to see Night at The Museum 2. The movie was really good. Back to the motel so we could go to bed and get a good sleep so we could go to Sandusky Ohio tomorrow.

pittsburgh

pittsburgh by night

duquesne incline

view of pittsburgh at duquesne incline

andy warhol museum

at the duquesne incline

Sunday 24th May

Up early today and the first stop was the Duquesne Incline. We put the address in to the GPS and it took us to the top of the incline. The plan was to drive to the bottom and catch the incline to the top and back. Since we were already at the top we just had a look around and took some photos. We really didn’t need to pay the $8 to ride the incline.

After that we went to the Andy Warhol Museum. It was really good, 6 floors of paintings and stories of the life of Warhol. Bronte wanted to buy some stuff in the Warhol shop so we now own two Warhol prints that we need to frame when we get home. Had lunch in downtown Pittsburgh and then went for a drive around the town for a look. The weather had come in bad and it started to pour with rain. So we decided to check out the rest of Pittsburgh by car. Continued to drive around and we ended up back at Walmart where we bought some stuff for dinner and then went back to the room to eat it. Got back to the motel and had a bit of a rest. Went to the exercise room and ran for about half an hour on the tread mill for some exercise. After dinner we went for a drive to the Duquesne incline for another look at the city this time by night lights. Took some really cool photos of the city and had a bit of a walk around at the lookout.

Heading to Cleveland Ohio tomorrow as we make our way north east across America heading towards Canada.

pittsburgh

Saturday 23rd May
About a four hour drive to Pittsburgh today. Not really anything that exciting along the way. All freeway and nothing of note. Arrived at the motel and then headed to Walmart for a look. While at Walmart found a Lone Star restaurant and had dinner there. The food was really nice, a nice big steak and vegies!! Will head into Downtown Pittsburgh tomorrow.

the mall and air and space museum

behind the Lincoln Memorial

Bronte at Washington Monument

Lincoln Memorial

The White House

U.S. Capitol looking along the mall

Heat sensing camera at National Air and Space Museum

Friday 22nd May
Drove into central Washington and parked the car near the mall area. The mall is a space which runs from the Capitol Building all the way to the Lincoln Memorial with different buildings, museums and land marks along the way. It would probably span about 2 to 3 km in length. We basically walked the full length and looked at all the memorials and monuments along the way. Had lunch in the city and then walked back to the National Air and Space Museum. It was really good and had lots of planes and NASA stuff on display. Spent around three hours there and then went back to the car. Made our way back to the motel and then headed to IHOP for dinner. The meal was really nice, but way too much food. Heading to Pittsburgh Pennsylvania tomorrow.

our car

Pontiac Vibe

registration number (4EWA69) I'm not joking!!!

Thursday 21st May
Straight to the bus station today as we had booked the 8.30am bus for Washington . On the bus for a five hour trip, whoo hoo!!. Was not the most exciting trip but the time seemed to go quickly.

Arrived at Washington at around 1.30p.m. and then walked to Budget rental cars at the train station. Picked up our car and then went for a drive around Washington to find some lunch. Made our way out of the city and tried a few places in the Tom Tom for accommodation. Managed to find a good motel at Clinton Marylands.

Bronte is not happy with the hire car. We booked a Ford Mustang 'or similar' as it stated on the website. When we picked up the car we could have had a Camry or a Pontiac Vibe. We chose the Vibe and it's not a bad car really. I don't know how it is similar to the Mustang though as it's a 2.4 litre and not much different in size to a Corolla. Anyhow we are off to Washington city tomorrow for a look.

central park and general sight seeing

the chrysler building

inside the guggenheim museum

outside the guggenheim museum

the jackie'o lake in central park

the infamous dakota entrance

Wednesday 20th May
Had a bit of a sleep in today and then headed to the bus station to book some ticket for the morning to head off to Washington D.C. From the bus station we went to the western side of Central Park to the Dakota which is where John Lennon was killed. From there we got some lunch and then went for a walk in Central Park. We made our way across the park and then north to Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir. Walked a little around the reservoir and then across to the Guggenheim Museum which is on the east side of the park. The Museum is almost famous for the design of the building rather than the actual contents of the museum. We then caught a subway to 42nd St to see the Chrysler Building, this building is not as much of a tourist spot as you can not go up it. Its more about the look of the building with the metal stepped top and the gargoyles on the side. From there we walked around the streets near Central Station and just watched the day to day traffic and pedestrians go by. Made our way back to the motel.