Part of the beauty of living in Milwaukee is our proximity to nature. A half an hour drive in any direction (except east, of course) gets you out of the city and into the country. But the Schlitz Audubon Nature Center is even closer. Located off of Brown Deer Road in Bayside, it's a quick and beautiful getaway -- any time of year.

Boasting 225 acres of beach and trails, it's easy to forget you're within biking distance of downtown. The Center is home to seven miles of trails that encompass nearly all the landforms and ecological communities you can find in southeastern Wisconsin: prairies, forests, bluff, ravines, ponds and lakeshore. You can even get a bird's eye view of the action from the 60-foot observation tower.

So what's this rustic hideaway doing in the middle of suburbia? A century ago, the land was home to the Uihlein Nine Mile Farm, named because of its distance from the Schlitz Brewery. In fact, the Schlitz draft horses commonly made the trek up and down Port Washington Road, bringing water pumped from the lake to the brewery. Evidence of the old farm and the water tower are still visible on parts of the property.

With the advent of trucks, Schlitz no longer needed the farm to rest its horses. After years of lobbying, the Schlitz Board donated the land to National Audubon in 1971.

The Center is now an attraction to hikers, families and schools. Nearly 37,000 school children visit the grounds on field trips and 71,000 visitors come to hike and bird watch annually. When the snow is on the ground, the Center also offers cross-country and snowshoeing on the trails.

Admission is just $4 for adults, and $2 for children 12 and under. The Center is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., seven days a week. For more information, call (414) 352-2880. The Schltiz Audubon Web site is schlitzauduboncenter.com.