Question: Renato Schmidt asks:  I'd like to take a car trip within a 100-mile radius of Milwaukee. What are your suggestions?

Answer: Tom Schreiner, travel planner at the AAA office in Madison, Wisc., says:  Milwaukee is known as the City of Festivals, and depending on the time of your visit, you will find the Summerfest, Polish Fest, Fiesta Italiana, German Fest, and Irish Fest to name just a few, all located on Wisconsin’s lakefront.  This year the Great Circus Parade which attracts hundreds of thousands of viewers comes back in July through the streets of downtown Milwaukee.

Among its many museums, the city also has a beautiful park system, biking trails, and botanical gardens. Along the lakefront, don’t miss the Milwaukee Art Museum with its Calatrava Wing, an architectural masterpiece, and next door the Discovery World at Pier Wisconsin which has a Great Lakes Aquarium and the S/V Denis Sullivan Schooner.  You can tour the schooner or take a two-hour cruise.  Both are AAA GEM attractions.  Allow plenty of time to visit the Milwaukee Public Museum, another GEM attraction, where you can enjoy shows at the Daniel M. Soref Planetarium and the Humphrey IMAX theater.  Not to miss are the exotic botanical gardens at the Mitchell Park Domes where AAA members get a discount on admission.  So be sure to show your membership card.

You can also try your luck at the Potowatami Casino, enjoy a guided walking tour at the Miller Brewery, and spend time at the Milwaukee County Zoo, another GEM attraction.  If you are a motorcycle enthusiast, visit the brand new Harley-Davidson Museum which just opened last year.

Once you’ve toured Milwaukee, there are several drives within a 100-mile radius.  Head north on I-43 to Cedarburg.  Be sure to walk around the historic district lined with historic buildings, antique shops, and galleries.  Occasionally you will see an artist at work.  You can also stop at one of the wineries nearby.

Golfing buffs could stop at the American Club, a Five Diamond resort in Kohler.  This historic resort is associated with Whistling Straits and Black Wolf Run, both PGA Championship Golf Courses.  A side trip north to Manitowoc is worth the stop at the Wisconsin Maritime Museum, a GEM attraction, to learn about marine history of the Great Lakes region.

Return back to the Sheboygan/Kohler area and head west on SR-23 to Greenbush and step back in time with exhibits depicting life in the 1800s at the Wade House & Wesley Jung Carriage Museum.  Take an automobile tour along scenic Kettle Moraine Drive through the Kettle Moraine State Forest (Northern Unit) or enjoy a hike along the National Ice Age Trail.  See Campbellsport in the Michigan & Wisconsin TourBook guide.
 
Another suggested side-trip located on the other side of Lake Winnebago is Oshkosh.  Visit the EAA Airventure Museum that’s full of aircraft exhibits and hands-on exhibits for children, another GEM attraction. The world famous EAA Fly-in takes place July 27th – August 2nd in 2009.

Returning to Milwaukee, complete the circle by stopping at the Horicon Marsh state and national wildlife refuge in Horicon and at the Holy Hill National Shrine in Hubertus.

You can also take a shorter drive west and south of Milwaukee.  Take the SR-83 exit off I-94 to Genesee Depot and visit Ten Chimneys, the historic estate of Broadway legends Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontaine.  Continue on through the scenic Kettle Moraine Southern Unit to Eagle and stop at Old World Wisconsin, a GEM attraction.  Here you will find pioneer exhibits among many preserved, historic buildings.  You’ll surely enjoy the guides in their periodic costumes.  Before your return to Milwaukee, you can relax at Lake Geneva, a resort community with plenty of championship golf courses and extremely popular boat rides on Geneva Lake. See the exquisite summer houses the Chicago elite have built starting in the late 19th century.