Flight Report: Milwaukee to Seattle

After visiting Milwaukee and Chicago for the weekend, it's time to head back to Seattle. This time we flew back on a direct flight with AirTran, which wasn't the most interesting flight in the world. The airline is alright... except for one thing.

Their reward program sucks.

The sooner they ditch the A+ Rewards program for Southwest's Rapid Rewards, the better. Right now, Airtran gives one point per flight and requires 8 to redeem for a round trip ticket. That might not sound so bad ("Buy four, get one free!"), but the main issue is that each point expires one year after issue. That means you need to fly five round trips per year on AirTran in order to get any value (four round trips, paid and one free). Need to hold on to those credits for an extra year? No problem, if you don't mind spending $29 per credit. The only redeeming grace is that you can also earn and spend your credits on Southwest, which recently bought AirTran for nearly a billion and a half dollars.

Of Macaroni Pizza and Vintage Cocktails: Four Spots in Milwaukee to Try

In my flight report to Milwaukee, I mentioned that some of the stereotypes about the city are true. How else do explain a macaroni and cheese pizza pictured here? The only way this could have come about was plenty of beer and cheese, just like the classic Wisconsin dish of.. well.. beer cheese soup.

This pizza was served up at Ian's Pizza, which is a chain that started in Madison, Wisconsin. Coming from a college town and moving to the drinking town of Milwaukee, this seems like a perfect fit. This is pure, unadulterated drunk food with more than a hint of uninhibited college student experimentation. Macaroni isn't the only noodle that they put on pizzas: Chicken Penne Alfredo pizza and Lasagna Marinara are both on the menu.

Overall, the pizza is actually pretty good. Macaroni and Cheese turns out to go with pizza crust really well and all of the slices looked good. The other one pictured here was a barbeque chicken pizza with pineapple, which happens to be pretty similar to my all time favorite pizza flavor: Curry chicken with pineapple (from Sweden).

A beer helps to really appreciate Ian's and fortunately, the beer scene in Milwaukee has moved beyond Miller Time (although the Miller brewery is still there and going strong). Among the microbreweries that are popping up, I met with some friends at the Horny Hideaway, which is part of the Horny Goat Brewing Company. The location is great for a summer night and there are even volley ball nets with sand, if you feel like that. The open air restaurant and bar is pretty fun, but the beers aren't exactly the best in the world. They trade more on their "friendly" mascot and tongue in cheek names, over their actual flavor.

But so what? On a warm night, with a breeze and a plate full of loaded 'tots, the beers work just fine and it's a huge step up from the macrobrews that Milwaukee is known for. On top of that, this is one of several microbreweries that have popped up. Sprecher, Lakefront, and Big Bay are all in the area now, as well as some specialty Belgium bars.

Finally, one last stop at the brand new Glorioso's. The market has been in business for almost 60 years and has been a member of the Italian community here just as long. We dropped by for lunch and some Italian cookies, which are actually from a bakery just down the street. Sadly, while Seattle once had a thriving Italian community in the Rainier Valley (known as the "Garlic Gulch"), they just don't bake 'em like this there. Our Borracchini Bakery, which does make excellent cakes, doesn't make their cookies like this. The Sciortino bakery beats them hands down. 

At the market here, they also offer up a sandwiches and Italian dishes at their deli counter. In our case, we went with the Italian Beef (right) and the Felice Special (left).

Finally, after a long day, one great thing that you can still find in Milwaukee are classic, dimly lit cocktail bars. In particular, two bars stand out in my mind: Byrant's Cocktail Lounge and At Random. At Random is a small white nondescript house with cocktails that are best served either on fire or with ice cream. The atmosphere looks like it hasn't changed significantly since the early 1970s. There was even a black velvet clown painting on the wall when I was there, but the drinks are top notch.

Byrant's in contrast goes for the opposite end. It's not chic and trendy in there, but things are far more polished. It looks like what chic and trendy looked like 40 years ago. Inside, they serve up tropical drinks based on what flavors you tell them you like or dislike. There is no set menu to browse, although their website does have a couple standards you can order by name. Overall, it's a great place to end the night or hang out.

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.

Heading back to Seattle (and then to Milwaukee)

My time here in Stockholm is almost up for this time around, and soon I'll be headed back to Seattle with Continental (lots o' miles, yes!), and then in Milwaukee the day afterward on AirTran for Christmas (no miles, boo!). It's going to be a white Christmas, although it'll also be that here in Stockholm.

I've got crazy routing again to reach the midrange elite status for 2011 on United, with a detour down to Houston both ways. With it, I will come in with just over 50,000 miles, which will renew my 1P status for one more year.

Also, I will be continuing my experiments with inflight meals with another Kosher meal on the way there and then a hindu meal on the return flights. My soggy sandwich as part of my last hindu experience left me wondering if that is a standard item for Continental or whether that was a ARN catering peculiarity, but I'll find out this time around. More pictures will, of course, follow.