12-ish indoorsy destinations to make winter fun again

Putting our collective knowledge together, we decided on these places based on our various interests and curiosities.

Cavan’s done a lot of traveling, eating and drinking around Michigan, Ohio and Milwaukee and can confidently recommend pairings in the best restaurants and the best bars for a nightcap, or two. Plus, he never misses a chance to hit up a museum.

Dan, wanting an excuse to see the regional museums that he’d never been to before, visited a couple specifically for this story: the Speed Museum in Louisville, Kentucky and the Fort Wayne Museum of Art. Museums are a great place not only for the art displayed in them, but because they reflect the values, the history and the products — of the cities where they are placed.

And Caitlin wanted a chance to brag about her home state WI.

So, why not come with us for a little armchair traveling adventure?

We'll start in the City of Big Shoulders.  

Chicago, Illinois

Here’s some hit lists

To Do: Art Institute, Field Museum, John Hancock Tower, Adler Planetarium, Shedd Aquarium, Second City, Steppenwolf Theatre, Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, The Green Mill, The Vic, The Riv, Metro, Lincoln Hall, Schuba’s, etc.

To Drink: Lost Lake, Three Dots and a Dash, Beauty Bar, Violet Hour, Hopleaf, Delilah’s, The Whistler, Old Town Ale House, Lone Wolf, Green Door Tavern, The Green Mill (seriously, go to the Green Mill), etc.

To Eat: Alinea, Girl & The Goat, Fat Rice, Bellemore, Pequod’s, Smoque BBQ, Bad Hunter, Lula Café, Longman & Eagle, The Purple Pig, Roister, Calumet Fisheries, Oriole, Au Cheval, The Publican, etc.

— Cavan McGinsie

Cincinnati, Ohio

Break your fast at Cheapside. Start with the unique espresso chinotto. Pair it with the smoked salmon sandwich, or keep it classic with the breakfast sandwich.

Now you’ve got decisions to make. You could head to Over-the-Rhine for some boutique shopping up and down Vine. But, if you only have one day, it’s probably better to head to one of the city’s wonderful museums.

Got kiddos? Head to the Union Terminal for the Duke Energy Children’s Museum. It has plenty that your kids will love — especially The Woods area — and is a fun way to spend the day.

(Editor’s note: They’re currently revamping the museum and it won’t be open until spring 2018).

Another great spot is the Newport Aquarium, easily one of the best aquariums you’ll ever visit.

The real gem though is the most beautiful building I’ve seen in the Midwest. The Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption is a marvel of architecture. Looking up at the massive vaulted ceiling you will lose your breath — especially when taking in the largest stained glass window in the world. This only takes an hour-or-so, so have another activity planned.

If you chose not to shop in Over-The-Rhine; it’s time to head there for dinner at Taft’s Ale House. You’re here for the beer — not so secretly the best in Cincy — the food is pretty damn good, too. If you’re looking for a higher-end meal head downtown to Sotto for an Italian meal you won’t soon forget. (Don’t miss out on the chicken liver mousse — it’s heaven.)

— Cavan McGinsie 

Cleveland, Ohio

Cleveland’s breakfast is hit-or-miss, but if you’re in town on a Saturday or Sunday, don’t miss brunch at Soho Chicken & Whiskey. Shrimp and grits, chicken and waffles, hush pups and gravy, they have all the couples that make us smile.

Next, you’re heading to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame to spend hours checking out memorabilia and learning about all of the amazing musicians that have crafted the music we love.

More of a book nerd? Head to Zubal Books and get lost in their collection of more than 150,000 used and rare books. It’s easy to spend an entire day hunting for new reads in this space.

For lunch, hit up the West Side Market — one of the best in the country — for a bite at one of the vendors. Get a gyro from Steve’s Gyros, falafel from Maha’s, stuffed chicken wings from Kim Se, or whatever your heart desires; you can’t go wrong.

You could also head to Happy Dog for one of the most unique hot dogs you’ll ever have. Choose an all beef or vegan dog and then build your own. Want Fruit Loops? No problemo.

Cleveland’s Playhouse Square is the second largest theatre district in the country outside of NYC. Do yourself a favor and see a show. Before showtime head to  East Fourth Street. It’s lined with many of the best restaurants and bars in the city including Michael Symon’s highly lauded Lola. Other highlights include The Butcher and the Brewer and Greenhouse Tavern, both of which are fantastic.

— Cavan McGinsie

Detroit, Michigan

Some super-classic movies have come out of Detroit relatively recently. There’s 8 Mile, the Eminem biopic. Then the horror movie It Follows, where lustful twentysomethings contract homicidal ghosts the same way you contract gonorrhea. The de-industrialized, de-populated Detroit cityscape is almost a character in both of these movies. Such cityscapes have also attracted a whole new brand of urban pioneer, attracted by the prospect of affordable living and ample opportunities for urban placemaking.

But the next time I go to Detroit, it won’t be to check out the placemaking. I’ll head straight for the Detroit Institute of the Arts Museum (DIA). I plan to revisit the Grand Marble Court, to gaze up at what are probably the busiest murals in the world, the Detroit Industry murals by Diego Rivera. And this business is appropriate considering that Rivera detailed assembly line manufacturing processes — as well as the overlords in charge of procuring their labor — at the Ford River Rouge Plant.

I love the Aztec symbology inserted into these murals. Painted between 1932 and 1933, they also depict chemical production for both medicine and poison gas. The work is both full of admiration of the seeming miracle of industrial processes and cognizant of the drudgery of assembly line labor.

The DIA collection, the 6th largest in the United States, is both encyclopedic and extensive. “The Window” by Henri Matisse and Vincent Van Gogh’s self portrait are but two examples of the work to be found here.

I’m planning another visit soon. But as I hinted before I’m not about to burn it all down and become an urban pioneer.

Instead, I’ll spend a long day at the DIA. Afterwards I’ll probably make a beeline for the Rivertown location of PizzaPapalis with their thick-as-cake pies, as deep, thick and greasy as Rivera’s symbolism.

— Dan Grossman

Fort Wayne, Indiana

As author Michael Martone insinuated with his short story collection, Fort Wayne is Seventh on Hitler’s List, the city where he was born has had something of an inferiority complex. So the fact that Fort Wayne was important enough for the German to consider worthy of bombing in WWII meant something to its residents.

To me, Fort Wayne was terra incognita. I knew Herron School of Art & Design professor Danielle Riede was curating a regional show at a nonprofit arts organization called Artlink. I knew there was an art museum, and that its downtown was undergoing something of a revival. I had blown through Fort Wayne maybe fifteen years back and eaten a hot dog at Fort Wayne’s Famous Coney Island. That was about my sum total knowledge and experience with Fort Wayne.

So I came to Fort Wayne on a day in subzero early January wanting to take another look.

My first stop was Artlink. Gallery Director Maddie Miller, was in the middle of hanging the aforementioned regional exhibition curated by Danielle Riede. (Fort Wayne’s location, near the border of Ohio and Michigan, means that there were artists from these two states in this exhibition. But there were also artists from Illinois and Kentucky.)

The exhibition is entitled Human Condition or Human Connection.

“This exhibition is intended to draw connections between works and themes that might not otherwise be paired together,” Riede says. “As I reviewed the entries for the exhibition, I was struck by the diverse practices and backgrounds of those submitting their work.  In a time when our cultural divides are deepening, I feel that art can mend and heal.”

Artlink’s executive director, Matt McClure, told me that he was carving something of a new path for his organization, in terms of making it a mentoring center for commercial arts such as media and film/TV production, a program simply called 212.

McClure led me into a mostly empty classroom. Artlink, he said, was in a period of transition.

“In about a week it’s going to be transformed into our arts incubator room,” he said. “This is going to have a long table in between and maybe computers, digital arts stuff, big whiteboard wall, and we’ll have five residents coming in starting Feb 12 in this space to be working on different projects ranging from augmented reality art to TV pitches for animated shows.  And then there will be six additional residents from around the country who will be participating as well.  This space will be the permanent home for that program.”

McClure came on board at Artlink as Executive Director in Sept., 2016. One of the first things he did was to tour various incubator programs around the country. Most of them, he saw were focused on fine arts and studio arts.  

“But very few were focused on the commercial art end of things or creative IP, intellectual property,” he said. “And so what I ended up doing was going to visit different programs, learning from them what worked in those communities and then applied it to this community and then took that idea and really built a decentralized mentoring component to it.  And so the core of this program is about mentoring. It’s about taking an industry professional from the professional arts and then pairing them with the young artist or emerging artist and doing it so it’s not dependent on your geographic location or your economic mobility.”

But maybe I didn’t see how serious he was until he had me don a virtual reality headset. I suddenly found myself in a starscape straight out of Interstellar using a virtual brush to create a painting — I’ll admit it pretty much looked like interstellar garbage. But it was interstellar garbage that I could walk through.

But I also had the feeling, as I took off the headset, that I was on the outer frontier of a technology that will have exponentially more important relevance in our lives in the coming decades.

Next stop was the Fort Wayne Museum of Art (FWMA), right across the street.

On this day president and CEO of the museum, Charles Shepard was leading a tour of the exhibition by glass artist Peter Bremers entitled Looking Beyond the Mirror, which was divided into two segments. (Shepard also curated the exhibition.) The form of each one of the 13 sculptures in the first gallery— varying widely in media and color — was a curvilinear 0 that might remind you of Harold and Maude. In this film, the young Harold, channeling his inner in-utero, tries to insert his head into a similar sculpture.

The second part of the exhibit, “Bodies,” featured glass sculptures all the exact same shape, but varying drastically in terms of complexion and color representing various states of being, the spiritual, the physical, etc.

The high, skylit ceiling was perfect for this contemplative sculptural work.

FWMA doesn’t have a permanent collection on display. They have instead rotating exhibits of contemporary work, including a retrospective of the paintings of the late abstract painter David Shapiro, whose estate had just made a generous donation to the museum. Also on display was an exhibition of jazz photography by Herman Leonard, which Shepard procured for the museum.

But hands down my favorite experience of the visit was my time in the Museum’s Print and Drawings Study Center with Sachi Yanari-Rizzo, Curator of Prints and Drawings, who unfiled for me a “Guernica”-esque Picasso print featuring an image of a minotaur. If you pre-arrange with her, she can curate an exhibition for you.

On my way out, I passed the Bremers sculpture “Physical Body,” which reminded me that I was ravenously hungry. Matt Mcclure at Artlink had suggested a Cuban place, but I had something else in mind.

I drove to the nearby Mahnin, a restaurant serving both Thai and Burmese food, where I ordered a bowl of coconut noodle soup with chicken.

(It turns out that Fort Wayne has a large Burmese population, and that Indiana has the largest Burmese population in the country.)

It was the best soup I’d had in a long time. And I’ve got to say — and this goes for both food and art — Fort Wayne shouldn’t be seventh on anyone’s list.

—Dan Grossman

Louisville, Kentucky

I drove down to the Speed Museum in Louisville, Kentucky on Dec. 28, the day before CityLab staff writer Kriston Capps wrote a withering review of Newfields (formerly known as the Indianapolis Museum of Art). It’s a review that questions the appropriateness of expensive, glittery events like Winterlights. Some Indy residents are still arguing about it.

I think it’s a healthy argument for our city to have.

It just so happens that Charles Venable, the current director of Newfields, was director of the Speed Art Museum from 2005 to 2012. Venable left to take the helm at the IMA just as the museum closed for expansion and renovation. It reopened in March, 2016 with much fanfare.

This was my first visit at the Speed. As I walked for my first time into the lobby, seeing how the museum’s new additions snug up tight against the skin of the old museum, I felt my jaw drop a little. With the new addition’s rectangular exhibition spaces sitting askew, one on top of another — over the glass-enclosed ground level — it’s something of an architectural marvel.

I was impressed, but I was also hungry. So I ate a delicious egg salad-on-croissant sandwich at the Speed’s casual style restaurant The Wiltshire. I washed it all down with coffee before joining up with a group of 16 mostly Louisville residents gathered before Jean Alliman, a Speed docent.

She had us turn around to contemplate a tree-shaped, ceiling-hanging work entitled “Kentucky Sunlight (Lincoln’s Birthday)” by Spencer Finch, which was commissioned for the museum. The steel branches of this work had LED lighting in parallel.

She asked the group what we thought we were looking at. Some of us saw a tree hanging down from the ceiling. Some saw roots.

“In order to do this piece, Spencer Finch sent a light meter to Hodgenville, KY where Lincoln was born and it was set up on the morning of 2015, on the morning that we celebrate Lincoln’s birthday… The light meter measured the light when the sun came up on that morning… The measurements were sent back to his studio in Washington DC,” she said.

The colored filters sheathed over LED lamps give an impression of the light captured on that day.  

She then led us through a hour-long tour of the museum; we crossed the art bridge from the new addition into the old building and we blew right through the highlights from the collection room. There you could find an Alice Neal painting next to a Chagall next to a marble neoclassical marble bust by Hiram Powers. The room doesn’t seem to have any order about it, until you realize that this vestibule space acts as sort of an index for the museum that you could easily spend days going through — at turtle speed.

But Alliman needed no index. She guided us through the museum, showing us all of her favorite works on a timeline ranging from the Tang Dynasty to an Obama portrait by Chuck Close.

And she offered us what seemed like sound advice for appreciating art.

“When we look at art we each see different things and it is important to me to learn what you see and for all of us to learn what each other sees,” she said. “It is a discussion about art not a lecture.”

— Dan Grossman

Madison, Wisconsin

Start your Madison adventure on State Street. By day it’s a seven-block collection of ethnic restaurants, crammed-full bookstores and enough coffee houses to fuel the most caffeine-addicted traveler. Then come back by night, select one of the many fliers stapled to every surface and go see a show. Order cheese curds. They’ll be great. Pair them with a Spotted Cow.

The State Capitol is worth a self-guided tour at minimum. Get a sweet Instagram picture of the dome. Lay down on the floor to take it, it’s fine. Make sure to check their calendar, hopefully you’re visiting at the right time for a farmer’s market or folk festival. In warm weather, the viewing deck is open and provides the best type of scenic views — a free one. If you’ve got wee ones, the Children’s Museum needs a visit. Don’t compare it to Indianapolis, both are great, just enjoy it for what it is. Madison’s Children Museum is more nature-focused and young child friendly than many others.

Fun fact, Madison is also the birthplace of Fake News. No, not that fake news. It’s where The Onion was born. They’ve gone digital and moved to Chicago, but the spirit of being able to take a joke and mock everyday occurrences with wit remains in the town. Sit down at a bar and talk to any Wisconsin native. You’ll make an instant friend. Just don’t mock the accent or diss the UW-Wisconsin Badgers or the Green Bay Packers. On your way home head a bit more East than necessary and stop in New Glarus, WI for a tour of New Glarus Brewing Company.

— Caitlin Bartnik

Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Ah, Milwaukee, my home away from home. The best way to start your trek to Milwaukee is by stopping at the Mars Cheese Castle. Sure, it’s chincy and goofy, but you end up with cheese and there’s nothing wrong with that.

Then you’re pulling into your first stop for a bloody mary at Sobelman’s (go to the original location). You could go for a small one, which comes with a beer and a slider and bacon and veggies all for $13. But, you really should go for the one with the entire fried chicken on top. Why? Because you’re an American. That’s why.

Now, you could spend your whole day drinking and eating, but you’d be missing out on the secret treasures of this lakeside city — the museums. From the gorgeous and massive Milwaukee Art Museum to the Pabst Mansion there is so much to see. I suggest spending $18 and getting the pass that includes three museums including the stunning Villa Terrace.

Not a museum-fiend? Head to Brady Street or the Third Ward for some shopping. While you’re in Third Ward — if you’re not stuffed from eating a whole damned chicken — go to the Milwaukee Public Market. Grab a beer or some wine and walk around and get bites from different places, or just go for it and get a lobster roll from the St. Paul Fish Co.

If you’re on Brady Street, swing in Rochambo Coffee & Tea House for the best Irish Coffee you’ll ever have. Seriously. And also don’t miss out on a bite from Glorioso’s Italian Market — this is true Italian beef.

While Milwaukee is laden with big breweries, the one you want to visit is Lakefront Brewery. You get four 6-ounce tastes, a tour, a pint glass and a Lakefront beer at one of the best bars around town. You could go to any of them, but what you should do is close down Wolski’s at 2 a.m. by playing bar dice with the bartender.

Before Wolski’s...Either get a swanky dinner on Lake Michigan at Harbor House. Or, get a more modern, trendy meal from Odd Duck or Amilinda. All three places are fantastic for different reasons and the truth is you’re just eating dinner so you can head out and drink beer, lots and lots of beer.

— Cavan McGinsie

St. Louis, Missouri

The last time I was in St. Louis, I went up to the top of the 630 ft. tall Gateway Arch. Next time I go, I’ll probably do the same. If you are interested in architecture at all, then you can’t neglect this marvel designed by Finnish-American architect Eero Saarinen — anyone familiar with the iconic architecture of Columbus, Indiana will recognize the name — and completed in 1965. In my mind the arch is much more important historically than St. Louis native T.S. Eliot’s overrated poem "The Wasteland."

The Gateway Arch symbolizes the gateway to the west, according to Saaranen himself.  

If you’re looking for something to do that combines art and food in a tasteful way, the Saint Louis Art Museum will host a little shindig in its house restaurant Panorama called Art of Spirits on Jan. 19th. After a docent guided tour of the museum, diners will sit down to a first course of ahi tuna in orange vodka sauce followed by a second course of Bavarian Weizen Chicken and homemade Gnocci Florentine… The courses go on for quite a while and you can wash it all down with spirits from St. Louis Distillery. Reservations are required and the cost is $85. But if you can’t afford this, you might just tour the free museum — my friend Ron Kern tells me the Gerhard Richter paintings are a knockout — and then go out to eat.

St. Louis abounds with all kinds of ethnic eateries, steak houses, and even a fair selection of vegetarian restaurants.

But I wouldn’t want my trip to St. Louis to end without a lunch at the Arch View Cafe, on the Mississippi waterfront, with a grand view of the arch [OK, unfortunately this destination is closed until Spring, but at least I can dream about it.]

And here’s a suggested tune for your iTunes for lunch and for your trip up the arch, David Bowie’s "Thru These Architect’s Eyes." As either a song or a poem, it’s better than anything T.S. Eliot ever wrote, although I have to admit he once wrote a nice line about the Mississippi.

““I do not know much about gods,” Eliot wrote in The Dry Savages, “but I think that the Mississippi River is a strong brown god — sullen, untamed, and intractable.”

— Dan Grossman

The Region, Indiana

First off, I hate the term “the region.” It’s Northwest Indiana. That’s what it is. Now, with that out of the way. Let’s get to the good part. The beer. If you love beer, you need to make a sojourn to this corner of our state and hit up all of the breweries dotted around.

First, you’re going to need a good central location. Merrillville works really well and it’s easy to get an inexpensive hotel room there. Second, and more importantly, you’re going to want a DD. With those two things under your belt, let’s get started.

Hit up the three breweries in Valparaiso: Figure Eight, Four Fathers and Ironwood.  You’re going to need some food beforehand, so swing in Radius for a massive bloody mary topped with a burger, that’s right, a whole burger.

Next stop, Crown Point for Crown Brewing and Off Square Brewing. Off Square also serves some kickass cuisine, so get some nosh there to balance out that tipsiness.

On your way back to the hotel for a nap, stop in for a pint of Night Goat at Devil’s Trumpet in Merrillville.

You’re awake again and ready to head back out. Three Floyds, here we come. On the way, maybe swing into New Oberfalz or Pokro in Griffith, or both. Now it’s time for dinner and you may love Three Floyds beer, but the truth is, their food may be even better.

Once you’ve got your fill and have had enough Zombie Dust, venture up to Hammond or Gary for 18th Street, I’ve had as many of their beers as I can find and none of them has disappointed. Plus, if you weren’t able to get into Three Floyds (there’s always a wait), the menu at 18th Street can’t be beat.

If you’re still feeling up to it, you have the options on your trip back to the hotel of Byway, Brewfest, or Windmill.

And that’s how you drink beer in “the region.”

— Cavan McGinsie

Upper Michigan, Michigan

It’s hard to choose just one of the quaint little towns in upper Michigan, but Manistee is so damn cute. While it is known for its outdoor activities here are a few options for those of you who aren’t into skiing, snowshoeing or ice fishing and are more into a relaxing, quiet winter getaway.

A picturesque little town, Manistee is truly a treasure. Basically one lively main street that runs through town has all of the shopping and restaurants you could want. Start your day at the Iron Works Café. This café, situated in a recently restored Iron Works Building, dishes out local, seasonal dishes including a filling, comforting root vegetable hash, and different scrambles. Add to that some coffee and you’ve got a nice start to the day.

After filling up, you can shop in the many little boutiques on the main street. If you’re lucky you will be there on a weekend when they have the MET Opera playing at the local Ramsdell Regional Center for the Arts. This theatre’s claim to fame is it is where James Earl Jones, aka Darth Vader’s voice, got his start.

For a late lunch or dinner head to the trendier Blue Fish Kitchen and Bar for some warm smoked fish dip — sounds gross, taste fantastic — a kassler rippchen (warming German dish) and a local brew from North Channel Brewing. Finish the evening, possibly in the hotel you’re staying in, at TJ’s Bar which is nestled below the Ramsdell Inn. It’s pretty much Cheers.

P.S. While Manistee is wonderful, if you happen to have an extra day, head to Ludington. Ludington is larger than Manistee and has more offerings in the way of food and drink. If you’re going to do dinner right, grab a meal at Table 14 — easily one of the best meals I had in Michigan — and then finish the evening off with some local beers from Ludington Bay Brewing Co.

— Cavan McGinsie