Completed?

I have decided I may have to get rid of a goal. Or I may have come close enough to fulfilling it. Not sure yet. I have to think on it. It's the "Places to Go" - Attend Summerfest goal.

This weekend we were celebrating my sister's birthday. Her husband threw her a surprise party, in which we ate at her favorite restaurant and then went downtown to a piano bar we all enjoy.

The complicating factor was Riversplash. Milwaukee seems to have festivals every weekend when it's not snowing, and Riversplash is a festival in which they close off certain streets downtown, set up stages, and bands play into the night. Bars set up kiosks on the street, and it's a big drunken love fest. Or at least a fest.

Anyway, while we were in the bar - sometime after 11:00 but before 12:00, we saw droves of people all running in one direction. Running. Frantically. It looked like a stampede. Then people starting ducking down behind the wooden bars and hiding behind brick work on buildings. Seriously. I was - to put it mildly - a little distressed to know that a mere pane of glass was separating me from whatever was going on outside.

Finally, one of the guys hiding behind the brickwork and in front of the window held up his hand in the shape of a gun. Apparently some moron lunatic had fired shots. Soon, the police arrived on their motorcycles to set up a rolling baricade, and equestrian officers followed. The intersection just in front of the bar was completely taped off with crime scene tape, and we could see them interviewing witnesses.

All of this about 50 feet from where I sat.

So I've decided that Milwaukee sucks, and I'm none too impressed with it. When we lived in Maine, I remember hearing a few stories about how mobs randomly beat unsuspecting citizens. It made national news. What is wrong with the people here??? Anyway, since Milwaukee is apparently unable to maintain reasonable control of itself in large groups, I'm not sure I want to attend Summerfest. I think it might end up being more of the same.

So Riversplash may sub in for Summerfest, and I may cross that one off my list.