Flight Report: Seattle to Milwaukee

Two weekends ago, I found myself in Milwaukee for the weekend. I was there to visit my girlfriend's family, with a bonus side trip to Chicago for the night. If you've never been to Milwaukee (and unless you have family or business there, the odds are pretty low), the city itself is actually a lot better than the stereotypes you might imagine. It's not all about Miller time, the Brewers, and Fonzie.

Actually, I take that back. It is all about the Brewers, there is a bronze Fonzie statue that is one of the top rated tourist attractions, and one of the highlights of Milwaukee, for better or worse, is the bar scene. Life there is different compared with the West Coast and my native Seattle. If the dream of the '90s is alive in Portland (thank you Portlandia), then the dreams of Americana is alive in Milwaukee.

My first flight was fairly uneventful. It was a night flight, so no pictures to share, but we were upgraded to first on Delta to Minneapolis. Once on the ground there, we were welcomes by not one, but two mechanical delays involving our MD-90. The first one actually went out of service and we were given a new plane, but that one had issues as well. Personally, I don't like the McDonald-Douglas planes, at least not since I was a kid flying on the MD-80s. In those early years, I would look forward to boarding the plane via the rear stairs.

Once on board, we were finally ready to go. The first time, they actually boarded us and then had us deplane once they figured out that the plane wasn't going anywhere. Sitting there gave me plenty of time to consider the skymall catalog and wonder about the people who buy this stuff.

Carlashes?! This is a real thing that people make money on?! It's completely ridiculous, as is the Mall of America, pictured below. That's one of the largest malls in the United States, complete with indoor amusement park.

Finally on the ground in Milwaukee, a full three hours after we were supposed to be there. Because we were so late, we needed to grab a bite to eat which made Gillies our first stop for some frozen custard. Finally the trip is starting to turn around!

Next time, we'll take a look around Milwaukee's "finest" dining, some fantastic places in Chicago, and then head on back to Seattle.