Sonya's Blog - Day 34 - Harley Davidson Museum and The Safehouse

Sonya’s Blog - Day 34 - July 26th - Harley Davidson Museum and The Safehouse

We were slow getting going this morning, what a surprise, but we finally made it to the Harley Davidson Museum by 11. As part of our tour yesterday we could get tickets to the museum at a discounted price and it had really good reviews so we thought we would give it a shot. Now, surprisingly, I am not a biker chick and don’t know much about mortorcycles, except that they are noisy. I have been on a few in my life, I don’t think a Harley though, and it is not my favourite way to travel. You should see the number of Harley’s in Milwaukee though, I am sure it is sacrilage to own anything else considering that is where it was founded. The museum is quite large. There is a special parking lot right in front of the building for all the bikes and there were already a lot there and lots of people walking around in full biker garb. I guess that Thursday nights are “bike night” and bikes line the street all the way from the museum to the lake. The owners all mill around and talk about their adventures on their bike and any customizations they had made. I guess it is quite the event.

The museum is a history of Harley Davidson which was founded in Milwaukee in 1903 or so. They had a model of a bike from each year, detailing how they have changed and improved. The first motorbikes looked like bicycles with engines and were like that until about 1917 or 1918. World War 1 was good for Harley Davidson as the US Military needed mortorcycles and bought a third of the production once they entered the war. Both wars were beneficial to Harley Davidson. They had set up the museum very well, with an area devoted to the engine and components that make the Harely unique, a section to the gas tanks and the art work on those, a section for racing and trick riding as well as some famous movie clips that feature Harley Davidson’s. There was also a new section devoted to Willie G. Davidson (the Grrandson of the Davidson founder), his history, art and contributions to the company. it was a great museum and I was glad we went.

The First Harley Davidson Motorcycles:

Me as Evil Knieval:

Natasha and I on a sweet ride:

The kids really wanted to go to the Safehouse which was only about a 15 minute walk from the museum, so we decided to go there for lunch. You need to know the secret password to get in or they would make you do something silly. Natasha was pretty sure she knew the secret password, but when we got there she didn’t want to be wrong, so we had to do the chicken dance and then they let us in. It is a restaurant, but you are considered agents and given a secret mission while you are there. They had all sorts of nooks and crannies and interesting things. We ordered, were given our mission and told to explore. We had to find lots of interesting things, like Mata Hari’s secret mirror (in the women’s washroom), secret phone booth that gave us our alibis, a piece of the Berlin wall, the door from a top secret underground jail cell that was in Berlin, secret messages, etc. It was a lot of fun and the kids loved it. Our table was tucked in a corner and it was a jail cell. The food was good, we figured out our clues and we figured out how to get out. We had to find another secret phone, put a quarter in it, enter the code and the secret door opened and we descended. A good agent never goes out the same way he/she went in! It was lots of fun and and really unique.

The Safehouse:

We headed back to the campground to enjoy the afternoon there and hang out with Kizmet, as well as to get ready to leave tomorrow. The boys went to the pool/waterslide area and I joined them to try and get some of my outstanding blogs posted. The only problem with the internet at this campground is you only get it for 2 hours and then you cannot hook back on until 1/2 hour later. I got my two hours in and quite a few blogs posted, but then it was time for supper. After supper we played Five Crowns (a card game) and then it was too late to go back and do more posting. I had a few things to do in the RV and then it was bedtime.

Goodnight,

Sonya