As Avantgarde/EE’s MINI Countryman Wanderlust campaign nears its end, check out the below article from
http://www.minispace.com/en_us/ which details the latest Wanderlust adventures in Chicago and New York.
Wanderlust is stomping its way across the U.S. towards the East Coast, where the inevitable April showers are just giving way to their May progeny: trees afluff with budding blossoms, shyly bonneted daffodils. Smiling through our sneezes, we in the later-blooming states are finally getting our chance to crawl out of hibernation, stuff a picnic basket full of treats and indulge our own fantasies of escape and adventure.
So far we've seen that Wanderlust is all about dreaming beyond your usual horizons, while still taking full advantage of what the landscape around you already has to offer. While our friends in Austin were scheming up
desert camping trips and food-truck tours, the Southern Californians fantasized about
beach barbecues, and had already strapped their surfboards to the luggage rack of their Countryman before you could say "Malibu." As Wanderlust fever now sweeps eastward through the Midwest and beyond, its symptoms adapt to the local climate, changing gears slightly to a vibe of dewy springtime pastures and countryside romance.
By day,
Clayton Hauck is a photographer whose pictures have run in most of the big ones: The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, The Village Voice. In the wee hours he is a DJ and party promoter, and somehow has time left over to run the well-trafficked
Chicago nightlife blog everyoneisfamous.com. But tuned in as he is to the hustle and bustle of Chicago's art and music scenes, his heart belongs to hometown Milwaukee. Just in time for Easter, his Wanderlust event had him homeward bound.
Also on-board was Cody Hudson, whose graphic-designer alter-ego -
Struggle Inc. crafts fabulous logos and imagery that has regaled snowboards for Burton, album covers, books and T-shirts. In the fine arts realm, he works on everything from pencil drawings to large-scale pieces commissioned by the city of Chicago, but it all started when he designed his own poster for a rave he was throwing in Wisconsin in the 90s.
Like Clayton's, Cody's Wanderlust journey was about paying tribute to his humble but awesome origins. If these two are any indicator, it seems you can take the boy out of Wisconsin but you can't...well, you know the rest. In parallel (but unrelated) road trips, these Midwestern move-makers took advantage of the holiday weekend to MINI Countryman it back to their home state to reconnect with family and friends while exploring the oddball sights and flavors along the way. Clayton's trip (with his sister as copilot) included pit stops at American Science and Surplus to stock up on weird/rad flotsam & jetsam, Superdawg for a hot dog lunch, Onan's Pyramid House (exactly what it sounds like) and the
Seven Mile Fair, a flea market where the photographer trawled for useful vintage camera gear. Once in Milwaukee, it was family time, culminating in a nostalgic dinner with the parentals at
Pfister Hotel.
While Clayton may have sampled some franks along the way, Cody's trip was quite literally a sausage fest-a sausage tour, to be exact. The artist and his crew stocked up on every imaginable kind of wurst along their route, with prime destinations including Bobby Nelson's in Kenosha, WI, Mader's German Restaurant in Milwaukee and Dietzler Farm in Elkhorn. Interestingly, neither fellow could make the trek without stopping at the famed and aptly named
Mars' Cheese Castle, which for Clayton offers unmissable curds and beer, and in Cody's case was just a necessary stop on the sausage tour.
In New York, downtown royal Melia Marden has been called an "intellectual sensualist," which in her case seems to mean simply that she's smart and she likes nice things. That already puts her in high standing in our book. After graduating Harvard and surviving a brief stint as a fashion journalist, she attended the French Culinary Institute and went on to found her own catering company, regaling the city's art and theater crowds with mouthwatering spreads that maintained a back-to-basics, homecooked flair. These days, Melia is bringing her studiedly rustic culinary chic to
The Smile , a deservedly buzzed-about downtown dining destination that serves as both general store and eatery to the art elite. On any given day in its East Village kitchen, Melia might be found lovingly balancing a quail's egg on a thicket of frisee, or snowing a side of sugar snap peas with a delicate rime of sea salt.
In this spirit of combining homespun simplicity with urban sophistication and style (and amazing flavors), Melia's Wanderlust journey began with an early morning coffee at The Smile, then sashayed upstate for an elegant country picnic. Melia's chosen destination was
Lyndhurst , one of America's most beautiful Gothic revival mansions. And by mansion we mean castle. She likes the spot because it's both accessible and exotic: "I love that you can create your own magical adventure so close to the city." Packing her friends and a delicious lunch into a MINI Countryman, Melia and co. spent the afternoon on Lyndhurst's lavish grounds, lingering a while over drinks and dessert before plunging back into the clamor of city life.
Have these urban creatives' delicious and peaceful escapes triggered a flare-up of your own wild Wanderlust?
