Curling is harder than it looks. And while most of us admire the sweepers manically brushing ice every Winter Olympics, the job of getting the stone moving is way more difficult. I learned that the hard, wobbly, cold way on a recent visit to Wauwatosa Curling Club in the namesake suburb of Milwaukee.
It’s not that the ice is slippery; it’s textured, and less hazardous than it looks. No, the convoluted process of “delivery”—crouching and balancing on a slip-on shoe slider, pushing yourself along the ice, turning your wrist 90 degrees, and hanging on to a plastic balance thing—is what is tricky to master. I failed spectacularly but had a lot of fun blundering.
It’s surprisingly hard to get your stone onto the bull’s-eye, as several Afar staffers discovered on the ice sheets of Wauwatosa Curling Club.
Photo by Elizabeth See
I was playing with a group of colleagues, who would probably all agree they were similarly inept, and we spent several funny hours trying to get the stone down the sheet of ice somewhere near the button (bull’s-eye). As with most new pursuits, our learning curve was steep and our movements the antithesis of graceful. By the end, we were approaching beginner level and had a new appreciation for this singular sport. We knew our broomstacking (a tradition of postgame socializing) from our bonspiel (a tournament consisting of several games).
We headed to the venue’s basement for a beer. The club has recently upgraded the viewing and dining area upstairs, but this subterranean bar is a treasure. It’s packed with curling memorabilia and jokey artifacts: pin badges, curling stone statues, a Worst End trophy (complete with protruding horse’s butt), strategy whiteboards, and a sign revealing the Scottish Curler’s Grace. It reads, “O God . . . Gie us a hert to dae what’s richt, As curlers true an’ keen, To be guid friends alang life’s road, An soop our slide aye clean.”
The Milwaukee Pierhead Lighthouse dates back to 1872.
Photo by Huenerfuerst/Unsplash
Slide aye clean, I left to explore more of Milwaukee and stopped at Ben’s Cycle in the Lincoln Village neighborhood. The family-run bike repair and rental shop dates back to 1928, and it’s been a community stalwart throughout the years. In addition to boasting an expansive emporium of bike bits of every description, the shop encompasses a behind-the-scenes warehouse in an old theater. Ask for a peek, and you’ll find every space filled with boxes, bicycles, and frames, many of which have been turned into chandeliers. It’s a treat.
The staff at the shop set me up with an e-bike and a Google Maps itinerary for a two-and-a-half-hour ride, and I spent a happy morning cruising through back streets to a lakefront path on the eastern edge of the city, crossing the Kinnickinnic River and passing the bright red Milwaukee Pierhead Lighthouse and several waterside parks, including Lakeshore State Park and Veterans Park.
Milwaukee Public Market hosts food vendors serving pizza, tacos, sushi and, of course, lots of cheese.
Michelle Heimerman (left); James Meyer/Shutterstock (right)
A strong latte at Colectivo Coffee near the water (and, admittedly, 60 percent of the bike’s battery) propelled me through more of the city. I crossed over multiple bridges, cruised along a peaceful trail by the Milwaukee River, and pedaled on to the historic Brewer’s Hill district, where the city’s grid-like streets stretched down to its center. Cycling is a great way to hit up many of Milwaukee’s top spots, including the Milwaukee Public Market (West Allis Cheese & Sausage Shoppe is a must), the RiverWalk, and the Historic Third Ward (for 10 blocks of top shopping).
On my last day, I drove 20 minutes to a section of the 1,200-mile Ice Age Trail at Lapham Peak near the satellite city of Delafield. The region marks the entrance to the Kettle Moraine State Forest and is a serene backyard for residents of Milwaukee: a patchwork of wetlands, forests, and prairie land.
The Ice Age Trail is administered by the invaluable National Park Service.
Photo by Dave Jonasen/Shutterstock
I was here on a late-spring afternoon when the sun was thinking about setting. It brushed the rolling grasslands with a wonderful shade of yellow as they rustled in a gentle breeze among the stark outlines of bur oak trees awaiting new buds. For an hour, I encountered nothing with a heartbeat save for three deer—until I noticed some happy kids bustling through distant pines on cross-country ski tracks. The whole scene was all very pastoral and a suitably Wisconsin way to end the trip.
The Wauwatosa Curling Club offers four-hour Try Curling sessions at $50 per person. Ben’s Cycle is at 1013 W Lincoln Avenue. The Ice Age Trail Alliance has maps and more information on hiking routes.
