Canton, OH - Milwaukee, WI

Length of Trip: 8 days

Miles Traveled: 770

Hours of Driving: 18

Longest Driving Day: 200 miles: Detroit, MI - Saugatuck, MI

Favorite Destination: Chicago, IL

Favorite Activity: Architectural cruise, Chicago, IL

Favorite Meal: Bender’s Tavern, Canton, OH

Favorite Lodging: The Drake, Chicago, IL

Pleasant Surprise: Segway Tour in Chicago, Chicago IL

Biggest Disappointment: Frank Lloyd Wright Home & Studio, Oak Park, IL

After an early morning departure from downtown Chicago, we made the 8 mile drive to Oak Park, IL, a suburb of Chicago, to tour the Frank Lloyd Wright Home & Studio which served as both Wright's residence with his wife and six children and his workplace from 1889 to 1909—the first 20 years of his career. After seeing the splendid Martin House in Buffalo on the last leg, I was bit disappointed in this tour. While Wright used his home as an architectural laboratory, neither the home nor his studio had the unified refined look of his later work. Nevertheless during this period he did develop his American Prairie style of architectural and with his associates designed 125 structures, including the Robie House, the Larkin Building and Unity Temple.

After a quick stop to view another boat, it was off to Milwaukee, WI and the Harley Davidson Museum. Harley was founded in Milwaukee 109 years ago. The museum opened in 2008 and contains more than 450 Harley-Davidson motorcycles and hundreds of thousands of artifacts from the company's history. My favorite exhibit was the “Engine Room” which featured several interactive displays to show how the “V-Twin” Harley motors with interesting names such as Panhead, Shovelhead and Knucklehead work and sound.

Our final hotel for the trip was the Pfister Hotel in downtown Milwaukee first opened in 1893. After martinis in the rooftop Blu bar which provided an unsurpassed view of downtown Milwaukee and Lake Michigan it was time for dinner. Milwaukee becamesynonymous with Germans and beer beginning in the 1850s. By 1856, there were more than two dozen breweries in Milwaukee, most of them German-owned and operated. Thus is was only fitting we ate at what is considered by many the finest German restaurant in the country, Karl Ratzsch’s, opened and in continuous operation since 1903.