Long Weekend in Green Bay and Door County

Dallas had to go to Door County, WI for work so Makai and I tagged along on a mini vacation.

Our hotel is in Green Bay, a block away from Lambeau Field. When we arrived, we checked into the hotel and then we had dinner at Hinterland Brewery a few blocks away. There was a neighborhood night market at the Titletown development where Hinterland is. It was so nice. We walked around with a beer and looked at all the stands, and listened to the band. They are developing so much in this area!

Dallas had to go to work early in the morning. Makai and I had breakfast at the hotel. He LOVED it!

I wanted to take Makai to The Farm in Sturgeon Bay. I knew he would love it. To make it even more fun, cousins Tessa and Margo joined us!Baby chicks and a guinea fowl.

Feeding bottles of milk to baby pigs!

Tessa trying to feed some corn to a cow. Open wide!

Oh no! Trapped in a well!

Lost looking for the rabbits. … I mean… nature hike.
Found them!

Found the horses too!

Last but not least, kittens! Makai loved this kitten sooo much! After the farm we had lunch at PC Junction, where a train delivers your food. Too bad there was an hour wait in that part of the restaurant. Still a good place for lunch though.

We headed back to De Pere to drop Tessa and Margo off at home. Then Makai and I changed and picked Dallas up at work in Sturgeon Bay. This is a random sign we saw.

After picking Dallas up, we headed up Door County more to Sister Bay. Our friends from Chicago, Andy, Simonie, James and Reid moved there from Chicago. They were having a party and invited us, since we were nearby. We couldn’t stay late because Dallas had to work in the morning and we had a long drive back to Green Bay, but it was so great to see them. I loved their amazing house, so close to downtown, but also right on the lake.

Our hotel was a block from Lambeau Field! The Packers were practicing at Training Camp on Ray Nitschke Field. Makai and I met Jeff, Charlotte and Margo to watch.
#23 Cornerback Jaire Alexander was our guy. His bag was right in front of us and he would come and get things out of it. He practiced right in front of us the whole time. We didn’t see Rodgers because he was practicing on another part of the field, but we did get to see Jordan Love.

It was fun to spend time with family. When we got hot we went to get some drinks and visited some of the sponsored activities tents. Ahman Green, Jarrett Bush, and Evan Smith were the former players signing autographs.

After training camp we had some lunch and Kelly met up with us. Then we went to Lambeau Field for a stadium tour. It was so cool to be up in a suite and down on the field. Makai loved the echo! We also got to go through the tunnel all the players go through!

After spending most of our money at the Packers Pro Shop, Kelly took us for shave ice at Ice Clouds!

Fresh outta the Packers Pro Shop!

For dinner we went to T. Bacon’s BBQ.

Then we met Kelly and Margo at the Marcus Cinema to watch Thor: Love and Thunder.

The next morning we ventured downtown for breakfast at The Creamery, which was super good and cute.

Makai had been DYING to go in the hotel pool, so I took him down for a bit.

We met Kelly, Charlotte and Margo at Bay Beach, which gave Kelly and I a lot of flashbacks to when we used to go when we were kids!

Makai stayed overnight at Kelly and Jeff’s house. Dallas and I looked up some nice places for dinner and actually ended up going back to Lambeau to a restaurant called 1919 Kitchen & Tap. The food was good but the service was terrible! I also tried their old fashioned.

The next morning Dallas had to go to work for a while. I went to Kelly and Jeff’s and hung out til he was done. Then he picked us up and we headed back to Chicago.

Oh, and KC was hanging out with Jazz the cat and Maggie the dog (and Rachel, Scott and Otis) while we were away!

Asahi Beer Hall in Sumida, Tokyo

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SO many bikes in Asakusa! And none of them are locked up!

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Japan has so many buildings with animals on them. Here a pig…

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….here a crab.

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I took Dallas, kicking and screaming, up to the 3rd floor to check out Uniqlo. I was looking around a bit and couldn’t find him. He was in the fitting room, trying on clothes!! We visited different locations of Uniqlo 2-3 more times on the trip and Dallas got several shirts!!

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Shopping around Asakusa. Dallas likes to speed walk through these streets instead of strolling and looking around, which is pretty annoying.

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Crossing the bridge over the Sumida River to check out the Asahi towers.

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These buildings are: Sumida City Hall, Tokyo Skytree, Asahi Beer Tower, Asahi Beer Hall.

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Asahi Annex, where you can drink and eat.

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Looking up at Asahi Beer Hall.

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Dallas enjoying his first beer.

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Asahi

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The couples behind us were doing a tasting.

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We loved this English translation of hamburger: “minced meat cutlet burger.” We spent the rest of the trip describing hamburgers this way! Also? Raugen Hot Dog? Is that supposed to be Reuben?

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As we left and started walking to our next destination we got this great view of the Tokyo Skytree.

After lunch we walked around Asakusa a little more. And then off in the distance we saw the golden poo, also known as the golden sperm, also known as Flamme d’Or. This iconic structure tops the Asahi Beer Hall on the east bank of the Sumida River in Sumida, Tokyo. So, across the river we went!

There are two main Asahi buildings. The black building with the golden poo is the Asahi Beer Hall. “The hall is described as a representation of Asahi Super Dry, shaped like a beer glass, with a black granite façade punctuated by a grid of portholes designed to give off the illusion of carbonation. It is topped with the enormous golden Asahi Flame, or Flamme d’Or, which is said to represent both a frothy head, and the yakushin, or “burning heart of Asahi beer” and its employees.” To it’s left is the Asahi Beer Tower. This is the Asahi Brewery‘s head office. This building was “designed to resemble a sudsy mug of beer with its amber-tinted glass window curtain and top frieze of triangular white panels arranged to simulate foam frothing over the roof of the building.” Source.

The beer hall and tower are all corporate offices, I think, but next door is the Asahi Annex. Beer is actually brewed here on the 2nd and 3rd floors so you get the most fresh Asahi possible. This building was four stories tall and had four options for enjoying Asahi beer (and food). There was a more formal beer and cocktail bar on the top floor, a beer restaurant on the 3rd floor, a beer hall on the 2nd and on the ground floor was a beer cafe. We opted for the cafe, called 23 Banchi Cafe, because it seemed the most casual and had outdoor seating. There were many kinds of Asahi beer, but we stuck with Asahi Super Dry and Asahi Super Dry Extra Cold, which is served at -2 Celsius.

While sitting and enjoying the Asahi day, we planned our next moves…