National Championship Races: Milwaukee, Wisconsin

August 8th we headed to the airport to catch a flight to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. USA Triathlon was holding the national championship races. The olympic distance race was on Saturday and the sprint race was on Sunday. Trent was signed up to compete in both, it was going to be a big weekend. We've learned from previous races that Trent performs best if we arrive a couple of days early (at least for races that we have to fly to). Traveling seems to be hard on his body. Sitting on a cramped airplane for a few hours takes a toll on his legs, not to mention usually makes us both tired. This flight was going to be different because it was Jonah's first time on an airplane. Our flight was at 6:55 am, we were sure to be exhausted when we landed.

I really wasn't sure what to think about our destination. Jonah and I had been at the beach the week before with Trent's family (minus Trent who was training for the national championship races). We had our fill of hot weather and I was really looking forward to the cooler temperatures. As long as the weather was going to be pleasant I didn't care where we were going.  I had not clue as to what the city of Milwaukee was actually like. I figured we would just find out when we got there.

This is what I thought it would look like:

What Milwaukee actually looks like:

The city is beautiful! Downtown is set right on Lake Michigan and there is a canal that goes through downtown. We stayed a little north of downtown in Glendale. We visited a couple of parks with Jonah and I can't tell you how green the grass was! As Trent said, "it was so green and soft you just wanted to hug it!" It didn't hurt that the temperature was in the 70's and the sun was shining. On Friday my mom (Did I mention she went with us? We are so grateful that she did, it's always nice having help with Jonah at races) and I took Jonah to the Children's Museum. The museum was incredible! They had a play area specifically for toddlers along with an interactive city with a grocery store, bank, city bus, vet, motorcycle shop, construction site, factory etc. Jonah loved it!

If you don't know, Milwaukee is known for it's beer and the food there is pretty amazing. We enjoyed dining in the Historic Third Ward and the German pubs. After Trent's race on Sunday we also discovered Milwaukee's best custard at Leon's. It was by far the best I've ever had... thick, rich, creamy... delicious!

Historic Third Ward

German Restaurants

Leon's Frozen Custard

The culinary experience was by far amazing. We enjoyed trying different beers and new foods. Overall we enjoyed Milwaukee! It was a great escape from the heat here in Texas.  As far as Trent's races went... I'll update on that later!

*I apologize, none of these pictures are mine. I didn't have my camera and my pictures from my phone are not a great quality. Thank you, Google images :)