Fall Foliage in Chicago and Milwaukee

Very few trees match the beauty of a Sugar Maple in the fall. According to what Wikipedia shows today, December 29, 2023, all of the Eastern North Central states are located within its growing range within the Eastern North American Forests. Taking a flight just to see the fall colors might be a little expensive, even when you use mostly airline miles and card points. Luckily, I've learned how to spend time a little more wisely by also visiting world class museums and churches. 

This was my second visit to Chicago. The last time that I visited this city was back in the summer of 2017. Besides wanting better quality pictures, I also found out about the Art Institute of Chicago, other minor museums, and beautiful church interiors. This is part of what I saw the first day:

The picture that is shown above shows one of the many miniature rooms. The picture below shows a candy exhibit where you could actually take candy and eat it. I tried the apple, cherry, and grape candies. 

The second day was the day that I visited Wisconsin for the first time: a day trip to Milwaukee thanks to an Amtrak train:

This third day was the day to visit churches as well as confirming that the Shedd Aquarium is not among the best aquariums. This was also the day when sunny weather was forecasted, so it was also a good time to take pictures of buildings. As this was a regular workday, I took this day off and flew back to Dallas in the early evening:

I was shocked to see that Sugar Maples were a little hard to find in Chicago and Milwaukee, as well as the forested area between both cities. This was evident on the Amtrak train that I boarded on my day trip to Milwaukee. Despite the fact that I did not get to see the fall colors that I was expecting, the trip was worth it. Hopefully I'll be back around the same time next year or sometime in the future.