North to Milwaukee

Day 5

We woke up Friday to a beautiful sunny day. Perfect for our plans.

On the way to the bike trail in Caledonia WI we made our first stop in Racine at the The Inclusive Bean coffee shop. It was a little difficult to find due to construction but we finally figured out the traffic pattern. I’m assuming that by now the construction has improved.

The Inclusive Bean is a non-profit that employs those with disabilities to help them learn work and social skills. We were met with smiling faces eager to help. We ordered the house medium roast. Good coffee! This shop was worth putting up with construction.

We left Racine and headed north a short distance to the MRK Trail. We had a little bit of trouble locating the trail-head but finally landed in Cliffside Park. A quick look at the map and we were on our way.

The MRK Trail is a partially converted railroad trail.

We pedaled 5 miles south and there were a couple of times we had to cross a busy road but everyone was behaving so we made it safely back to the park. We packed up and headed north towards Milwaukee.

Instead of taking the interstate, we drove along Lake Michigan through towns like Oak Creek, St. Francis, Cudahy and South Milwaukee. There were a number of parks and trails that we saw on the 20 mile trips, most right along the lake. Definitely a place to consider on any future trip. Who knew there was a South Milwaukee?

Our next goal was to paddle the Milwaukee River. Not the whole river, it’s over a hundred miles long and has numerous rapids and dams starting in Fond du Lac County WI and ending at Lake Michigan. We located a place to set in at the Kiwanis Landing in downtown Milwaukee, just a hundred feet below the last dam. We headed south.

We’ve paddled in all kinds of water and locations, but I don’t think we’ve ever paddled through a major city. It’s called Urban Paddling and I must say it was very interesting and fun. Not the beautiful tree-lined view we’re used to, instead there are tall buildings and bridges that could be raised in various fashions and large and small boats. We saw restaurants with bar boats, small cruise ships, crew boats training for their next race, and of course kayakers like us.

We ended up all the way to the south where the river empties into the Lake Michigan. After two hours and a six mile round-trip paddle, we loaded up the boats.

We cleaned up and had a wonderful supper at Cafe Hollander. We always seem to eat there at least one time on each visit to Milwaukee. It’s just a short walk from where we stay. They have the best cheese curds-which is saying something in Wisconsin.