Road Trip Recap: Milwaukee to Rochester and Back (~1,300 Miles)

Just wrapped up our mid-October loop across the Great Lakes and Upstate New York. Overall, it was a great trip—peak fall foliage, solid food, and a couple of important stops checked off.

Detroit & Windsor

Left Milwaukee around 9 AM and headed straight for Detroit.

Detroit Institute of Arts: Fantastic. The Diego Rivera murals were the highlight—we had someone there explain the detailed symbolism behind the frescoes, which made a huge difference. We definitely need to go back.
Outside the Detroit Institute of Arts
Ceiling in the main Diego hall

One of the Diego Murals

Ofrendas!

Georgia O'Keefe exhibit on Architecture, not a naughty flower to see.
Ottava Via: Rustic, authentic Italian food without feeling overly high-end or stuffy.

Niagara Falls

Crossed over into Canada for Niagara.

We stayed at the Tower Hotel. You pay for the location, but the prices are steep.

A room with a view.

The Promenade: Walking the promenade along the Horseshoe Falls was spectacular.

Rochester & The Finger Lakes

Spent a few days in Rochester staying with Amy and Joe.

Finger Lakes Drive: We took a drive through the Finger Lakes and hit some local breweries. The colors were at peak, and the whole area is just beautiful—felt somewhere right between Door County and Minocqua, WI, but with rolling hills and vineyards.

Canton & Cleveland

On the way back west, we hit two major museum stops.

Pro Football Hall of Fame (Canton): It was OK. I felt it was a little cheap considering it’s pro football and all the money the league has behind it. Still, it was nice to see and a destination I needed to cross off the list.

Rock & Roll Hall of Fame (Cleveland): Absolutely spectacular. They had some construction going on, and there was hardly anything covering the '80s New Wave era, but the rest of it was amazing. We ended up spending almost six hours there (10:30 AM to 4:15 PM).

The Drive Home

After finishing up at the Rock Hall, we decided not to bother stopping overnight in South Bend. We powered straight through the remaining drive and pulled back into the driveway around 10:30 PM.

Now it's time to put our feet up for the next five weeks before heading out for the Christmas Markets!

Crypts, Colosseum and the Forums!

We are getting to the end of the trip and feeling pretty good still, not too much vacation fatigue and also readying ourselves for getting back to the Astor.

The Capuchin Crypts

The Capuchin Friars were a reform movement, they were the Franciscans but were more strict.

They came to Rome in the 1500s, built a small church on Via Veneto. and decorated their Crypts with the bones of about 3,700 friars.

The Colosseum!!

We finally made it to the Colosseum. Well we came several times, but we were finally hare to talke the tour and see the underground where the gladiators would be shuttled from their practice arena to the big show. Enjoy... We did...

The elevator used to bring the animals in to eat the criminals in a public display. (Hmmm...)

Luckily we made it out and will live another day.

The Roman Forums!!

The House of Livia frescos from 60 BC.

The Barberini Museum

St. Mary Major Basilica

St. Frances's Tomb

Piazza Expositioni

Wine Tasting Event in Pigneto

Peru is all around us!!

The Carlos Biloti Museum in Borghese

We went to the Carlos Biloti Museum that used to be the Old Orangery. It had some nice modern art pieces from these guys, that is all.

St. Peters Basilica

We made our way to St. Peter's Basilica and after shooing away a skipper, we enjoyed the grandeur of the Basilica.

Michelangelo's Pietá

Bernini did the Baldacchino and the coat of arms on the pedestals. There are eight shields and eight faces. I have the first and last, the first one is a woman, calm. Each one gets progressively more distressed until the last one. That one's a baby. Look close. Oh and the bees!! Barberini bees are everywhere. That's the family crest.