Tuesday, September 13, 2011

The Good Land



As someone who uses "Garth Algar" as her go-to Halloween costume, how could I not start a post about Milwaukee with that Wayne's World clip?

HELLO WISCONSIN! The dude and I took a long weekend out to The Good Land to see the Phillies play the Brewers. I've been to Minneapolis, but not Milwaukee or anywhere in Wisconsin. So cross another state off my list.

We stayed at the Pfister Hotel, which is a short walk from downtown Milwaukee. Not bad. I like historic places, and this was one historical hotel. It was also along the bus route to the baseball staidum, which is how we got home from both games we attended. I don't have too much to report from Friday since I had to work that morning. Though we did get to Miller Park Friday night. Yes, THAT Miller Park. We saw a lot of Phillies fans, including this guy:


I don't know who is he, but he was in line for beer, and when I tweeted this picture, I think "Rick" might have pooped his pants.

Also: SAUSAGE RACE!


Yes, we were that close. And yes, we saw Pete Orr run into the race as it was happening.

Also (again): many of the bars and hotels run free shuttles to and from the stadium. We opted for Moe's Irish Pub. To the guys who were there from Chicago on a bachelor party, I hope you had fun.

On Saturday, we ran 15 miles by Lake Michigan, which was lovely. However - HOLY CRAP WISCONSIN. You were supposed to be cooler and not as sunny. I got my first REAL sunburn of the summer in the fall. In Wisconsin!

Anyway. Then, after, running, there was this.


If you've read this blog for a while, you know I am a big fan of having a bloody mary after running. THIS bloody mary, which was purchased at the Wicked Hop, came with an olive, mini pickle, mushroom, beef stick, beer chaser and OMG CHEESE. Yes, those curly things coming out of the top of the drink are pieces of cheese.

But a woman cannot subsist on bloody marys and cheese alone, so we headed to Mader's, which is a classic German restaurant that about a dozen people had recommended to me. It satisfied my need for brats while in town. Their pretzel appetizer was out of this world, too.

Then we headed to the Miller Brewery to meet my doppelganger:


Her name is Lucy a.k.a. the Girl in the Moon a.k.a. the Miller High Life girl. I am in the process of pitching a story about her history, tied to the fact that I am staring at myself when I ever look at a case of Miller High Life. The Brewery Tour was cool. It was free, and included two free samples of beer if you were over 21.

And the it was back to Miller Park, where we found a concession stand that served only this:


SERIOUSLY Milwaukee! I had no idea that this culture of the bloody mary existed - even so far as to go into the baseball stadium of record. Wow. Just wow.

Sunday was a quiet day. We slept in, had brunch at the Pfister (which included a bloody mary bar in the cost of brunch), and then flew home. Yes, we flew on 9/11. No, it was not fun. And that's all I'll say about that.

When I got home, I unpacked and then repacked for Cape May. On Friday, I leave for North Carolina on a trip that I thought started NEXT Friday. So if anything in this post is garbled, that's probably why!

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3 comments:

Leah Ingram said...

We think we saw you on TV at the Brewers game, when the cameras panned a bunch of Phillies fans in the audience. Did anyone else mention that? Glad you had fun. Makes me want to take a trip to Milwaukee!

Kristine Hansen said...

So glad you enjoyed my city!

Joe Hipp said...

Jen, Just came across your blog. That pic of the guy holding the sign is me (Joe Hipp). Fortunately I'm about 60 pounds lighter than I was last year. I'm a Philly native whose job brought me to Milwaukee in 1998. Haven't missed a Phillies-Brewers game since I moved here and will be at all 4 games later this month. You can follow me on Twitter if you'd like under "phightinphils". Take care!