Every time I read a travel piece about Milwaukee, it leads with beer and brats – and it really bugs me. An article in last week's Washington Post did it again, but this time it wasn't so bad.
In "Milwaukee without the beer and brats," it opened with:
"I'd been in Milwaukee for three days, and I hadn't yet had a sip of beer or a bite of brat.
Sacrilege, I know. After all, Milwaukee is beer city. Miller, Pabst, Schlitz and Blatz all originated here. And what goes well with beer? Bratwurst, of course. Thanks to Milwaukee's German heritage, brats are a staple on local menus."
Nancy Trejos' piece instead talked about the Iron Horse Hotel, the Harley Museum, the Public Market, Discovery World, Bradford Beach and the Art Museum. It was a nice, if not slightly predictable piece. She only mentioned Chicago at the beginning and the end.
"With Chicago just a train or car ride away, I couldn't resist making the trek on another night to have dinner with an old friend. We had a lovely time, as I always do when I'm in Chicago, one of my favorite cities. But this time, I found myself eager to return to Milwaukee."
My only hope is that someday, somewhere, a travel writer will leave the brat of a Milwaukee story. But maybe that's wishful thinking.
Read the whole story here.
Andy is the president, publisher and founder of OnMilwaukee. He returned to Milwaukee in 1996 after living on the East Coast for nine years, where he wrote for The Dallas Morning News Washington Bureau and worked in the White House Office of Communications. He was also Associate Editor of The GW Hatchet, his college newspaper at The George Washington University.
Before launching OnMilwaukee.com in 1998 at age 23, he worked in public relations for two Milwaukee firms, most of the time daydreaming about starting his own publication.
Hobbies include running when he finds the time, fixing the rust on his '75 MGB, mowing the lawn at his cottage in the Northwoods, and making an annual pilgrimage to Phoenix for Brewers Spring Training.
