Why don't you purify yourself in the waters of Lake Minnetonka?

Good question Prince. And so it was on to the Land of 10,000 Lakes, Minnesota, State No. 44 on this journey. I should mention that I spent a good bit of time in Madison this afternoon, mostly walking State Street and taking pictures of the Capitol. I also had to make a stop at Camp Randall (again with the football) before heading west.

I put my driving shoes on today and made great time from Madison to Minneapolis without really speeding to speak of (I rarely if ever speed much on the highway). Wisconsin is the first state since Tennessee to have any real scenic land to drive across, and the rolling plains dotted with dairy farms were very cool. One interesting landmark on the way was a place called Wisconsin Dells, which can best be described as Myrtle Beach on steroids. It was the ultimate in touristy kitsch, as evidenced by the vast number of amusement parks and other such silliness. Case in point, this Trojan Horse at the entrance to the Mt. Olympus park.

Upon arriving in Minneapolis, I parked near the Mississippi River at a place called Saint Anthony Falls. This is almost the extreme north end of the river and once featured the only waterfall on the Upper Mississippi. The falls have since been covered by a concrete apron and dams installed. Here's the view from just down river on the St. Anthony Falls Heritage Trail.

I finished the walk around the trail, had a quick dinner of fish and chips at Tuggs before heading to my home base for the night at Casey's friend Anne's house. Special thanks to Anne for the fine (and free) accommodations.

Tomorrow we start to get serious. Mall of America, lunch, then on to North Dakota.

Oh, and I know it's been the weekend and all, but don't you love me? No comments? I'm not blogging for my health here.

On Wisconsin!

Saturday would have to qualify as my first lazy day, as I drove only about an hour from Milwaukee to Madison. Two highlights from the day were a tour of Miller Park and seeing State Street in downtown Madison.

Miller Park was as cool as I'd expected, one of the wave of really nice new parks (this one opened on Opening Day 2001) - not as nice as PNC in Pittsburgh but definitely nicer than Citizens Bank in Philly.

The tour was solid (I just walked up at 3 and, lo and behold, the last tour started at 3). I got to sit in Bob Uecker's chair, walk through the visiting dugout and walk out onto the field, pretty much everything you'd want to do on a tour. One thing that stood out was how close the press box was to the field. Here's the view:

After that I made the short drive west to Madison, the state capital and home of the University of Wisconsin. State Street is the main drag down town and features a very cool view of the Capitol Building.

I'm planning to walk around the city and campus a little more today and get some better pictures. After that, it's off to the Twin Cities for the night. The hardcore road-tripping starts soon, these states aren't getting any smaller.

Schlemiel! Schlemazl! Hasenpfeffer Incorporated!

(Ed. note: Sorry for the late post today, I had some Internet issues at the hotel.)

So the plan for Friday was to spend the afternoon walking around Chicago, which I have been told is one of the great cities in the country. Well, the weather decided not to cooperate, as a heavy cloud cover and the wind made for very unpleasant walking around conditions.

After a quick lunch in Wrigleyville, I called my first audible of the trip, closing out Chicago early and heading north to Milwaukee (I made a promise to myself that I wouldn't make an Alice Cooper joke, and I'm sticking to my guns).

Naturally I'm going with a "when in Rome" approach for this trip, so I figured what better to do in Milwaukee than tour a brewery. The lateness of my arrival in town left me with but one option, the Lakefront Brewery. While I'm sure the big breweries are great, the Lakefront tour was awesome. It's a small place (they claim to brew as much beer in a year as Miller spills in a shift) but has two awesome features - three fermenting tanks painted to look like the Three Stooges and this...

That, friends, is the original chalet that housed Bernie Brewer at old County Stadium. Needless to say, I am now a lifelong fan of the Lakefront Brewery.

I met some locals (Tim, Ryan and Jennie if memory serves) on the tour, and they let me tag along with them for the rest of the night. We went to their friend Thor's (!) house before hanging out in downtown Milwaukee. It really tells you something about a city when you can meet strangers and go meet their friend Thor.

But now I must continue on, traveling to Madison (perhaps back through Chicago, we'll see how it goes) for the night before getting to the Twin Cities on Sunday. Thanks to anyone who is reading this and for all well-wishes being sent my way.

And special thanks to my new friends for a night in Milwaukee, your hospitality will be remembered fondly.