Oshkosh, WI
Adjacent to the field on the southwest side, by the EAA AirVenture grounds; the patio looks straight out at the runway, and during AirVenture week, when the tower becomes the busiest in the world, it may be the best restaurant seat in aviation. Family owned for more than 30 years by Lisa and Brook Marshall. Classic Wisconsin tavern fare; charcoal-grilled steaks, burgers, fried cheese curds, and a fish fry served daily; the walleye is the one to order. Walkable from the EAA Aviation Museum side of the field.
Named for Steve Wittman, legendary air racer and aircraft designer who managed this airport from 1931 to 1969. Wittman set speed records in planes he designed and built himself; his pilot license was signed by Orville Wright. He flew his last pylon race in 1989 at age 85, and died in a 1995 crash at age 91 when wing fabric separated on his Wittman O&O Special en route from his Florida winter home back to Oshkosh. Every late July, EAA AirVenture transforms this field into the busiest airport on Earth — over 10,000 aircraft arrive in a single week, requiring an arrival procedure published in a special NOTAM that's legendary among pilots for its complexity. The EAA Aviation Museum is one of the best in the world.
Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Every late July, Wittman Regional becomes the busiest airport in the world. 10,000+ aircraft, 600,000+ visitors, and every type of aircraft from ultralights to B-29s. Even outside of AirVenture, the EAA Aviation Museum is world-class and the grounds retain a hallowed quality for anyone who loves airplanes. If you've never been during the show, put it on your life list. The NOTAM for AirVenture arrivals is legendary in its complexity.
Home of the Green Bay Packers since 1957, Lambeau Field is the oldest continually operating NFL stadium and one of the most storied venues in American sports. The Packers themselves are unique: the only community-owned, non-profit, publicly held team in major American pro sports — owned by some 540,000 shareholders who can never collect a dividend or sell at a profit, which is why a team from a city of 100,000 has never left for a bigger market. The frozen December games gave the place its nickname after the 1967 "Ice Bowl," played at minus-13 degrees. The bowl was rebuilt and expanded over the decades but never moved; the Packers still run out of the same tunnel onto the same hallowed ground.
Before it became the self-proclaimed "Waterpark Capital of the World," the Dells was a genuine natural wonder: a five-mile gorge where the Wisconsin River cut narrow, winding channels through soft Cambrian sandstone, leaving sculpted cliffs, pillars, and slot canyons. A 19th-century landscape photographer named H.H. Bennett made the place famous with his images of the river gorge (and his famous stop-action shot of his son leaping the gap at Stand Rock). The boat tours through the Upper and Lower Dells still show the sandstone formations. Around that natural core has grown a dense cluster of waterparks, go-karts, and Tommy Bartlett-style attractions — but from the air the river gorge is still the bones of the place.
Milwaukee's downtown lakefront features one of the most photographed buildings in American architecture: Santiago Calatrava's 2001 Milwaukee Art Museum addition, with a 217-foot wingspan brise-soleil that opens and closes twice daily like a giant white bird. Just south is Discovery World, the Hoan Bridge's blue arch, and Lake Michigan stretching to the horizon. North along the shore: Bradford Beach, the Hoan Bridge, the North Point Lighthouse. The harbor, the breakwater, the city's long lakefront park system, and the famed Summerfest grounds all line this same waterfront. The General Mitchell International Airport at the south end is named for Billy Mitchell, the WWI flying ace and prophet of air power who was court-martialed in 1925 and whose hometown was Milwaukee.