Day 12—Port Colborne and the Welland Canal

by | Oct 10, 2026 | Photography

Our last full day on the ship was supposed to include a "luxury motor coach" trip to Niagara Falls… but it didn’t. Try as we might to avoid it, Kathleen caught the traditional vacation cold and was up all night coughing the night before we were supposed to visit Niagara Falls. So we decided to stay in the small town where the ship was docked at the southern tip of the Welland Canal, Port Colborne. Deciding not to go to Niagara Falls was not a hard choice. We had been there twice together, on both the Canadian (better) and American (not as good) sides.

So we got up late and went to a late breakfast after everyone else had boarded their “luxury motor coaches” and headed off to the Falls. It was almost like we had the ship to ourselves. After breakfast, Kathleen decided to sleep some more, and I grabbed my camera and went for a walk to photograph the lovely little town of Port Colborne. I took some pictures (of course I did), added captions, and they are below.

There are also photos of our transit through the Welland Canal, which takes us from Lake Huron to Lake Ontario (please see quote at the bottom of this page). A fun trip.

We are in Toronto this morning (Saturday). We got off the ship yesterday morning at 9:00, fully prepared to go to our hotel, drop off our bags, and then sit in their lobby until we could check in. But I had called and spoken to a very nice man at the desk the day before, and he had told me they would do their best to get us into the first room that was cleaned because they were completely sold out the night before we got there. When we arrived yesterday morning around 10:00, he said that they had had one no-show the night before and the room was ours. I could have kissed him. Kathleen needed to go back to bed (after having coughed all night), and I started to think I might be coming down with it as well. Not only did he have room for us, but it was a complete four-room suite. And he didn’t charge us for the upgrade. WHAT A GUY!

Last night, we went to dinner at the home of our good friends Tim & Perry. We met them on a cruise way back in 2010 Down Under, and we have stayed friends ever since. We were at their wedding almost 10 years ago, and we've taken other cruises with them, including meeting them in California. We just don’t get to see them enough. They are the kind of friends you can go five years without seeing, and when you get together, it’s like you saw each other yesterday. Perry made lasagna, and Tim (the baker in the family) made a wonderful pear & ginger cake. And we got to touch base with Mark, who lives with them as well. We had the best time!

We head to the airport around 1:15, and our flight leaves at 4:55, non-stop to Seattle, so we will be home with Keeley the Wonder Dog tonight. We can’t thank Michelle (Kathleen’s daughter) enough for taking care of her for these two weeks.

I have one more post to sum up the trip coming your way, hopefully tomorrow but probably on Tuesday. It will cover food, one place I hadn’t been on the ship until the last day and more. Stick with me.

"I don't give a rat's ass what that orange pumpkin in Washington, D.C., calls it; it is still (and always will be) Lake Ontario. All this Lake America crap can kiss my ass."—Anonymous

Day 8–Mackinac Island, Michigan

by | Oct 6, 2026 | Photography

After sailing through the night, we woke up on beautiful Mackinac Island, Michigan. This is a very different island. No motorized vehicles are allowed anywhere on the island. Everything is horses, horse-drawn vehicles, bikes, and walking. We heard they have an ambulance and a fire truck for emergencies.

It’s a beautiful island, and the people were awesome as well. We were just doing the Viking-included excursion (Viking gives you one free excursion in every port), which was a horse-drawn carriage ride around the main parts of the island. We got to see downtown, the stables, the Grand Hotel (an incredible place with the world’s longest covered porch), and lots of other little sites.

Once we returned from our tour (which lasted about an hour), we were on our own in town. Kathleen did some shopping, and I went off to walk and take pictures, which you can see below. I will let the photos and captions tell you the rest of the story.

This one I took from the ship early in the morning. Justl liked the sky.

You have to get to Mackinac Island once or twice, and, of course, coming up to the Mackinac Bridge is just awesome to me. —Tom Izzo

Day 7–Our Last Day in Milwaukee

by | Oct 6, 2026 | Photography

We boarded Octantis on Friday, but this cruise also included an overnight in Milwaukee on the first night. So when we got up the next morning, we were scheduled to take an overview tour of the city we had spent the last two nights in. That worked for us because a "luxury motor coach" overview tour takes you to the outskirts of town and into residential areas we never got to see. That was the case with this tour, but there was a twist. It turns out that Viking hires the same group of local tour guides as the food tour we took last week, so when Kathleen and I got on the bus, who should we find in the tour guide seat but our old buddy Paul. We knew right then that even if we saw the same stuff, we were in for an entertaining tour. We weren’t wrong.

The tour took us into those residential areas and included two one-hour stops. One of the stops far exceeded my expectations, and the other was a snooze fest. They should skip it entirely, except for a drive-by. First up was the good stop—the Harley-Davidson Museum. I had no idea that Harley was based in Milwaukee, but that’s where they started, and their museum is a masterpiece showcasing everything about the coolest bikes in the world.

When we first arrived, our “luxury motor coach” dropped us off right in front of a large group of riders getting ready for a sunny Saturday run. Their bikes were gorgeous, especially one particular bike. The owner of that bike saw me shooting him and asked if I could take a couple of photos to send him. I gave him my card and hope to hear from him because I really like the photos I took of him. It was really fun connecting with him. When the group was finally all together, they roared out of the parking lot one at a time, each showing off his bike. The rider I had connected with roared past me, keeping his eye on my lens the entire time.

One thing I may not have mentioned in my previous post about our food tour was that our guide, Paul, was also a photographer. As we went into the museum, he walked over and said, “Look for the wall of gas tanks. It makes an awesome photo.” He was right. It did. And so did more of the exhibits than I expected. See the pics below.

Our second stop on the “luxury motor coach” tour was the Pabst Mansion, built by the founder of the Pabst Brewery, the maker of Pabst Blue Ribbon beer…or, as we like to call it, yellow-colored water. This is the stop I mentioned should have just been a drive-by. Inside the home (which, as you can see, is beautiful outside), the house was cluttered and typical of a rich guy’s home from the 1890s. It also had a mildew-and-rot smell. I went in but couldn’t find a single thing worth wasting a pixel on. So, as you will see below, I took all my photos in and around the Harley-Davidson museum. The rest of the tour was excellent, and much of that was due to Paul’s narration. 

After we returned from our “luxury motor coach” tour, it was time for lunch. Then Octantis sailed out of Milwaukee, and we waved goodbye to a city we liked a whole lot more than we ever thought we would. We (just the October Bunch) went up to deck six, where we could take some great pics…see below. I got a couple of the Art Museum with the wings open. A beautiful building.

I love Milwaukee! I'm going to be in Milwaukee 20 years! I'll be here so long, they'll be sick of me!—Giannis Antetokounmpo

Day Seven–Bonus Early Morning Pics for You

by | Oct 4, 2026 | Photography

On day seven, we boarded Viking Octantis, but before we did that, I took an early morning walk because we had heard the Milwaukee Art Museum is a magnificent work of architecture. Those people were right. I didn’t want to include this with our introduction to the ship.

The biggest surprise of this trip (so far) is what a great city Milwaukee is. It is a given that we are seeing it on a beautiful fall day and not during a winter blizzard. But it’s one of the few cities we have been to in the USA where Kathleen said, “I could live here…except for the winters.” The people have been awesome; the city is a very wonderful mix of homes and downtown. And it’s all so close together. I know I am not making total sense here, so just know that Milwaukee is a great town. We enjoyed. I like it because it is photogenic.

At any rate,  here are the photos I took that morning. Enjoy! Don't forget: if you click the first shot, you can scroll through using your arrow keys or by swiping. And PLEASE... don't look at my photography on a phone. Please...

 

“It was sunsets that taught me that beauty sometimes only lasts for a couple of moments, and it was sunrises that showed me that all it takes is patience to experience it all over again.” — A.J. Lawless 

Day 6—Our full day in Milwaukee

by | Oct 3, 2026 | Food Experiences, Photography

We had a full day planned for Thursday in Milwaukee. We were doing a food tour from 11:00 am to 2:00 pm with Milwaukee Food Tours, and we were scheduled to take an afternoon historical boat cruise on the Milwaukee River with Edelweiss Cruises. I say scheduled because they called that morning and canceled. I asked for the reason for the cancellation, and they said we were the only ones signed up for that day’s tour. Sorry, but if you have people signed up, you go. That’s a contract with those people. Sadly, the only other river tour company operated only on weekends, and we would be on our ship by then. If you plan a trip with Edelweiss, don't go on a weekday.

But that’s the way it goes. We woke up to another day of rain in the forecast, but we didn't let it deter us. We Lyfted over to the Milwaukee Public Market (above) to meet our guide, Paul. First, let me say that Paul is an awesome guide. He's not only good at talking about Milwaukee, but you can tell he loves his hometown. It really shows. He is also a photographer and teaches photography, so he and I had a lot in common.

We had booked the Streetcar Food Tour, which we learned means you try an appie (cheese curds—a Wisconsin delicacy) at one place, move to Apertivo restaurant for your lunch entrée, and then go somewhere else for dessert. Along the way, you board Milwaukee’s free streetcar, known as The Hop, and Paul gives you a tour of Milwaukee along the entire route. Great idea, right? It does work great right up until you get on the streetcar (which runs on rails), when someone parks their car over those rails, so you sit in one spot for about half an hour while they try to get a tow truck to tow the truck.

They finally gave up and let us off. We were supposed to have toured the entire city in that time and come back to a spot about a block away. So we walked that block and had dessert at a Belgian restaurant. Something decadent and chocolate. By the time we were done, two things had happened. We had reached the end of our time with Paul, and the streetcar had started running again. We decided to take it and see what we could of the town, but Paul insisted that he was going to come along and spend another 45 minutes telling us all about his town. Talk about going above and beyond—a truly great guy and guide.

After we got back from the tour, we were kind of happy the boat tour had been canceled because we were supposed to have had a good two hours between the two, but after the delay, we would have had to transition to the boat almost immediately. As it was, we went back to the hotel; Cathy, Mike, Kathleen, and I went out to a Mediterranean place for dinner and then hit the hay.

Here are some pics I took that day. Mostly food and such. Don't forget: if you click the first shot, you can scroll through using your arrow keys or by swiping. And PLEASE... don't look at my photography on a phone. Please...

"Laughter is brightest in the place where food is good." — Irish Proverb

Day five–We transition to Milwaukee

by | Oct 3, 2026 | Photography

Not much to say about this day. After four days of perfect weather, we woke up to a torrential downpour. Cats and dogs time. We had another Starbucks breakfast (I had to go back and see Pablo), packed up, and I walked a couple of blocks in the rain to Enterprise Car Rentals, grabbed a great big Jeep Wagoneer, got lost on the way back to pick up everyone, and then we were on the road. To the right is the only photo I took with my camera all day. I am sure if it hadn't been raining cats and dogs, there would have been more. All the rest are from my phone.

I want to take a minute here to acknowledge Enterprise Car Rentals. I used to skip them because I just was not happy with them. I am not sure why, but I have kind of always rented cars like I buy some stuff. They are all as good as the other company. And for some reason, Enterprise was not my favorite. But they are now. The last three times I rented, it was from them, and pickup went well each time. But this time they outdid themselves. I had picked up the car in Chicago for a one-day rental at 9:30 am. That meant I did not have to return it until 9:30 am the next day. Also, when I picked it up, it had a quarter of a tank of gas. The manager at pickup told me to return it with a quarter tank, and we would be all set. I ended up putting just under half a tank in it and hadn't used that much of it by the time we arrived in Chicago.

I had also planned to keep the car until the next morning so we could drive to dinner, but that changed when I found out it cost $50 to park at the hotel and the restaurant was about four blocks away. So I decided to return the car early. When I got there to return it, the manager of the Milwaukee branch told me that since I returned it early, she was going to refund $50 of my rental, and she saw I had extra gas (above that quarter of a tank), so she credited me for that. Unbelievable.

You can drive from Chicago to Milwaukee in about an hour and forty minutes on Interstate 94, but we left Chicago at 10:30 and couldn’t check into our hotel in Milwaukee until 3:00 pm. So I was determined to drive along the shore of Lake Michigan as much as possible, which meant asking Siri for continuous directions to the next point north. If you tried to skip a spot on the shoreline, she would take you out to the Interstate because it was “faster.” We didn’t want fast.

So we drove through some amazing neighborhoods, saw a cool lighthouse, and wound up in Racine, Wisconsin, where we met Steve and Jamie for lunch at a local joint, the Bridge Tender Tavern, where I finally got that other Chicago iconic food (which Wisconsin claims belongs to them), the Tavern-style, cracker-crust pizza. Delicious!

After lunch, we finished our drive north to Milwaukee and to our home for the last two nights before we board the ship, Saint Kate—The Arts Hotel. This is a very cool hotel that is entirely FILLED with art. There is art everywhere. They have a huge gallery in the lobby, and there are art installations all over the hotel, including in every room. Also, in every room is a ukulele and a Victrola record player. Seriously. The hotel is beautiful, and the beds are vastly superior to those in the Airbnb in Chicago. Sadly, the pillows are horrid. More and more, I have come to believe that the older you get, the more you need to sleep in your own bed, which is a problem for those who love to travel.

We had reservations for dinner at Zerlattii, which the Eater website called “the best Italian restaurant in Milwaukee.” Apparently, there are not many Italian restaurants, so this one was just “fine.” Or maybe I am now ruined for all future restaurant meals because of our dinner at Rose Mary? Could be ?.

That about covers our transition day. I have a few rainy photos for you, and that’s it. I am including a few other photos I took with my iPhone as I walked back after returning the car and of the Saint Kate lobby to show you their cool galleries. But I am writing this at 4:28 am on Saturday morning. I am aboard Viking’s Octantis, and WOW! What a ship. More about that later. Not to mention our full day in Milwaukee.

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