Midwest Wedding Explosion

As my summer vacation enters its third month, I bid beautiful California adieu for my next adventure.

The premise - Sam and I have four mutual friends getting married this summer. The two weddings occur within a week and 375 miles of each other in Detroit and Milwaukee. The resulting week of road tripping defines a "midwest wedding explosion."

The itinerary -


After a debaucherous evening of revelry with Hung and Adam, Sam and I red-eye to Detroit.

Detroit, at the height of its influence, in 1880

A) Detroit. The Dong-Coffee wedding. We have two days to see all there is in Motown without getting shot. Given that all I know about the Motor City is its airport, 8 Mile, and its sputtering public transportation system that GM basically sat on, visiting the country's 11th largest city will surely improve my knowledge of the area and be an adventure in car-choked urban planning. Then I never have to go back, ever.

Chicago: more than just a United hub

B) Just a brief Amtrak ride away is Chicago. I've been, but only long enough to make a more complete list of things to see. Sam has not, so I will inflict my urban planning babble upon him mercilessly. At least he knows to be prepared.

Milwaukee: Romance Capital of the Future

C) Wedding number 2 is in Milwaukee, but we arrive three days early. During this time, Sam and I intend to tour the Miller Brewing Company, sober ourselves, and rent a car to blaze through two days of roadside Americana.

The schedule:

D) The Honey Museum of Ashippun, WI

E) Dead Pals of Sam Sanfillippo (a.k.a. the "dead squirrel museum") of Madison, WI


F) The Mustard Museum of Mount Hebron, WI. Founded by a disgruntled Red Sox fan, driven to mustard collecting madness by the 1986 World Series, the Mustard Museum unveiled it's mustard vending machine and 5,000th variety of mustard on National Mustard Day - August 2.


G) House on the Rock, Spring Green, WI. I'm honestly not sure what this one is all about, but Sam's endorsement is all I need.


H) Last but not least, the Spam Museum at Austin, MN. Miller and Spam - our tasty, white trash namesakes that neither of us consumes with any regularity.

We shuffle back to Milwaukee for the Andrews-Zakszewski wedding and to see the sights of the country's 22nd largest city. Then it's back to Oakland.

In proper Levinger style, we'll be packing as little as possible (and to make room for mustard, honey, and Spam souvenirs). Internet access may be spotty in this part of the less civilized US, but if anyone has any tips, send them anyway.

And it's off.