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!

I’ve ridden the MCTS buses plenty of times in the past.. typically for work or for a special event.

This time however we rode the buses solely for a day of fun!!

The boys and I spent a day cruising around Milwaukee using the buses with no particular plans.

A spontaneous day in the city!

It worked out so well I think we might make this a regular outing.

We went to the Harley Davidson Museum for the first time. We learned so much about the history of the bikes AND our city there.

They have a bus stop right out front on 6th street too which was quite convenient.

And they have a great kid’s play area! (You can read more about our visit here!)

Using the MCTS app made our spontaneous outing so easy! We simply had the app locate us. Using our location, the app told us in real time what buses were coming & where we could go next.

Sometimes we’d see a bus was heading in a general location so we’d jump on it and then just jump off when we saw another fun thing to do!

Like jumping out at the Purple Door Ice Cream shop. Delicious!

The boys got into the habit of pointing out every bus that went by. “Should we get on this one?” they’d say.

We also bought our tickets on the app and checked out different “trip options” using the planner.

Using the app to pay meant that there was no need to worry about “exact change” or fumbling with my wallet when we climbed on the bus. We just had to show the drivers the tickets on my phone.

We pulled the yellow cord to tell the bus driver to let us out on Old World Third Street. We wandered the neighborhood a bit..

Until we popped in to the Punch Bowl Social Milwaukee Restaurant. If you ever go - try their Rosemary Fries!

We enjoyed playing all the games they have there! Bowling, giant Jenga, Scrabble, hand shuffle and more.

While we were playing at the restaurant, we saw that the Milwaukee Bucks were having some sort of event out front. So we popped in.

Turns out it was a free weekly summer event called “Fawn Fest.” There was a DJ, free basketball, games, inflatables, kid food and more. Wow this city has so much going on! (You can read more about our visit to Fawn Fest here!)

Our next bus ride didn’t last long!

We jumped off at the Milwaukee Public Museum.

We happened to arrive exactly when a new movie was starting! It was time to sit back, relax and learn about the Great Barrier Reef on a six story dome screen!

What a great day! It sounds like a lot - but it seems that when you’re winging it, you end up doing so much more than if you had planned it in advance! All in the name of adventure, right?

This was a glorious summer day that we will remember fondly - especially because soon we will be back on school buses again. The boys just found out their teachers for the year and school is on the brain. Thank you so much MCTS for asking us to take a ride and keeping us in good hands! It was a highlight of our summer. Don’t knock it until you ride it!

** This post is sponsored by MCTS. All opinions are my own!**