Planning a Midwest road trip with a friend - help and thoughts?

Ok as an update, the dates for the trip are picked out: July 5th - July 8th/9th. This makes it a 4-5 day trip. Still heading towards the Twin Cities in MN for a night or two. I figure since it is not a week anymore, we don't bother going into Michigan as it would be out of the way. Does the best thing to do seem to be hit up some places in Wisconsin then make our way over to Minnesota?

My friend and I are going to start booking places and getting ready this weekend once we figure out our itinerary. Anybody care to help us plan something out now that we know the duration and dates?

Are there any good events or things happening in IL, WI, MN during July 5-9?

Help us make this road trip happen! We will leave Friday morning so where are we headed and what's our game plan the next 4-5 days? Remember, we'd like to prefer driving any extra mileage by backtracking so obviously that should be avoided.

Also if a running junkie can give me a recommendation of a good convenient running spot for each day that would be awesome!

Look at a map pick out a couple of big towns &small cities along the way internet them with Chamber of Commerce/free for visitors/state/regional tourist boards.

Thinking your money is short if the two free frienddays turns to one.

I DK current cheap hotel rates in the area.

You do have back up credit cards with a fair limit for unexpected,say auto expenses AND CASHdon't you.

Chambers of Commerce and regional tourist board are available by phone and usually do a great job promoting their area- one on one interactive conversations.

If you like waterparks, try the Wisconsin Dells. Lots of fun but LOTS of families and screaming kids.

You're coming from Chicago if I remember right. Check out Miller Park. Brewers are playing at home on all those dates. They play the Mets 5th - 7th & Reds 8th - 10th. They suck this year, but games are still fun. Also check out Milwaukee & visit the lake front.

The second part of Summerfest is July 2nd - 7th. Always a good time.

http://summerfest.com/

Head up I 43 to Kohler Andrea State Park. Go for a run on the trails & sand dunes & then cool off by taking a dip in Lake Michigan. (I also like the running trails at Harrington Beach State Park a little north of Milwaukee.)

Continue north to Lambeau Field! Do a tour.

Head up to Door County & visit a state park or 2 & play on some cliffs or more sand dunes.

The best parks are up north. Copper Falls State Park. Pattison State Park. Amnicon Falls State Park. Duluth is also worth a visit.

Head North!

No waterparks please, hate them haha.

tw, I like your plan. I think we will for sure do a Brewer's game and Summerfest. Maybe both in the same day, but it might be better to do a day each.

At this point with the shortness of the trip, I guess I might just have to settle for random runs wherever I am. I do want to go up to Lambeau, but if we do that we kind of go out of the way from the Twin Cities. And my friend really wants to go that way because he has friends/family there that we will crash with for night.

Anything to do in Minneapolis/St. Paul or things we should definitely see there?

So as of now we will for sure head towards Milwaukee to do some things there. We could go up towards Madison I suppose? But still we need to head towards MN. Anything to do on the way from Milwaukee to MN? Any good city to stop in? Good places/sites to run going in that direction?

I would actually avoid Milwaukee if you are from Chicago. The cities are similar in a lot of respects. Stop at Madison and walk around State street and grab some lunch. Go running in the arboretum.

Drive up to Wisconsin Dells. On the way up, you can stop at Devil's lake (great place to hike around or go for a run). Skip the water parks at the Dells (seriously a ton of yelling kids and a parking nightmare). The city is worth a stop though as a tourist destination. There is a giant mini golf place and go-kart amusement park (with underwater go karts and all sorts of crazy stuff like that) if those things are more your speed.

Drive from Wisconsin Dells up to LaCrosse. Run up in Hixon Forest. Snake up the river to Minneapolis, stopping at river towns. In Minneapolis, stop at the sculpture garden, take in a Twins game, whatever. Lots of places to run off east and west river road (trails closer to the water).

Parks and Wet--

consider bumming around border towns/just across into Wisconsin. Some great State Parks (MN side) are Afton, William O'Brien, and Interstate (the latter covers both banks of the St. Croix River, thus the obvious name).

Canoe on the St. Croix River or inner tube on the Apple River-- there are outfitters that provide setups, including shuttle service. Google phrases such as "St. Croix River canoeing Taylors Falls" or "Apple River tubing Wisconsin"

Minnesota State Parks map:

http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/state_parks/map.html

Why would you go to the midwest when you can come to Canada?

It is way cooler up here!

Going to meet up with my friend tomorrow night to discuss and start planning/booking things, any more suggestions where to go what to do? helpful itineries? Ideas for our trip. Much appreciated as always

As of now we will head to Milwaukee first. Still not sure about the rest

summerfest isnt THAT great, so I'd look into the lineup and reviews before spending time there.

You're going to plan yourself right into the ground. Just get in the car and go. Stop when something interests you.