I was asked by Milwaukee County Transit System to help promote their “Don’t Knock It Until You Ride It” campaign this fall. I am thrilled to work with them!

My husband and I decided to go on an “Artsy Date Adventure.” We started by meeting at a very modern-looking bus stop on Water Street. It is one of the "Bus Shelter Art Project” locations.

This stop is called “The Collide” and was created by Tzeng Lee. I love the textures and the way they mimic the building behind them. I adore this project! There are artist decorated shelters all around the city. We both agreed that our next date should be a bus tour of the designed shelters!

Next we walked across the street and dined at Saint Kate’s - the Art Hotel. I’ve been dying to see the inside!

There were gallery rooms and truly beautiful works of art. Paintings, photography, sculptures and more.

We took our time and looked at all of the exhibitions. It was a treat to see so many Milwaukee Artists’ work!

I got super excited when I recognized the artist’s name on this amazing photo/artwork. A corner photo! It was created by my friend’s brother.

We added our own artsy twist to a few scenes too. I am definitely excited to see their artist-designed hotel rooms someday… Maybe we can stay there the night we do our bus art shelter tour! Ha! I’ve already got our next artsy date planned!

After a great meal, we jumped back out onto the street and used the app to determine in real time when the next bus was coming and different routes we could take.

We headed over to the Milwaukee Art Museum.

Some clouds had moved in when we arrived and the white museum blended in with its backdrop. Beautiful!

We enjoyed the sculptures placed out front in O’Donnell Park by Sculpture Milwaukee.

The large orange starburst is a permanent sculpture and Milwaukee landmark designed by Mark di Suvero

We hopped on and off the bus along Wisconsin Avenue to take in more of the Sculpture Walk.

And... we spontaneously ended up on Brady Street for a final drink & dessert. I know this sounds like a lot to do on one date but the buses made it so easy! No parking hassles. No long wait times! We just used the app to determine our next ride in real-time. Then we jumped on and off with ease!

We had a great date!

Thank you so much MCTS for this amazing #sponsored opportunity!