Dallas’s First Trip to Lambeau Field for Packers vs. Cowboys

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We finally got tickets to Packers vs. Cowboys at Lambeau field after trying for at least a couple seasons! My mom’s coworkers often have tickets for sale but until now we’d been unsuccessful. This was Dallas’s first time to Lambeau field and my first regular season game in probably like 15+ years. Since my brother and I scalped tickets with my brother on his 21st birthday. I’ve been to scrimmages and preseason games, but not regular season.

This was also Dallas’s first time tailgating in the neighborhood. We parked in some guy’s yard and then joined the party! So much fun! We had a great time before and during the game. I sat right by two Packers fans, the season ticket holders that my mom works with. And Dallas happened to sit right by a Cowboys fan. He was visiting from Mexico City! Actually there were a lot of Cowboys fans there.

Brett Favre was honored at half time and his name was added to Lambeau Field next to Reggie White’s. Pretty epic. This guy was my quarterback for almost half of my life, so I try to forget about the bad stuff and remember the great.

Too bad the Packers lost though! As of right now we’re still married though!

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We made a weekend of the trip and stayed with my parents. My dad helped Makai carve a pumpkin and we all went out for dinner to watch the Cubs in the playoffs. And the Wisconsin game.

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Cubs vs. Brewers @ Miller Park

Last weekend was my 3rd annual visit to Miller Park to see the Cubs take on the Brewers. Sara, Kristin and Cousin met me at my house for the drive up to Milwaukee. Alden was at his parent’s house in the Milwaukee suburbs and was going to meet us at the game. Except, when I went out to the garage to leave, this is what I found:

Ok. Plan B. Kristin drove to my house so we took her car to my brother’s house. Then we switched cars because his fit all of us in it and he had a premium parking pass.


Alden, Sara


Note to self: Don’t place the jalapeno poppers on the grill this way. We lost a few!


Cousin, Kristin


Brats!

My brother also bought and prepared all of our tailgating stuff and we threw in money on it. I was expecting a few brews, a few sausages, some cheese curds… but he went all out! We had fresh, homemade guacamole, brats, Italian sausages, some jalepeno poppers, three kinds of cheese curds, a ton of chips and all the condiments. We had not only one, but TWO grills! Also, not one but TWO kinds of cookies. I made a chocolate mint one and some snickerdoodles.


Wisconsin Microbrews

Also, my brother didn’t just grab a case of Miller Lite and call it a day. He brought so many different Wisconsin microbrews. I took photos of some of them. I think there were a few more that I didn’t get. A Leinies one for sure, but I can’t remember which. These are the ones I know for sure:

Supper Club by Capital Brewing (Middleton, WI)
The Big O by Oso Brewing (Plover, WI)
Bitter Woman IPA by Tyranena Brewing (Lake Mills, WI)
Hard Lemonade by Sand Creek Brewing (Black River Falls, WI)
Wisconsin Belgian Red by New Glarus Brewing (New Glarus, WI)


Mix & Enjoy!

We mixed the Sand Creek Hard Lemonade together with the New Glarus Belgian Red and it was so delicious. It tasted like a tart juice.


Richard, Rachelle, Danny


Caroline, Sara


UFO?

Danny and Caroline were tailgating nearby with Caroline’s parents and they came over to visit for a while. I meant to go visit their tailgate but got caught up in our stuff. Sorry!


Sara & Alden. Check out all the Cubs fans!


Alden, Sara

The weather was perfect. A little windy, but sunny and very comfortable. My brother brought his urban horseshoes/washers game and we played that for a bit. Somebody (not me) managed to toss a washer down the sewer, but otherwise it was a fun game. I guess a sewer hazard is appropriate for urban horseshoes. Sara had never tailgated before and had never played urban horseshoes and had never been to Miller Park, so it was fun to show her the ropes!


AAA to the rescue!

After two games of urban horseshoes it was time to head in for the baseball game. We packed everything into the car and my brother was going to roll the window up… well, I mean press the button that puts the window up. Time for car problem #2! His battery was dead and we couldn’t put the window up. We tried to have the guy next to us jump our car (note to Alden’s mom, he didn’t jump ON our car), but it didn’t work. We tracked down the free AAA service at Miller Park and somehow the guy got our car started. We then had to run it between 10-20 minutes to make sure it would start later on when we wanted to leave. We ended up missing 2 innings of the game, but at least we got it sorted out.


Alden

On the walk to the stadium, we found this file folder on the ground. For some reason it was HILARIOUS. Someone had made this folder, slipped in their tickets, and filed it somewhere up until VERY recently. The 7 almost looks like a 9. Very dangerously close to going on the wrong day! We made up a lot of stories about this folder before throwing it back on the ground.

Ok. Inside the park, finally, we were headed for our seats when we ran into these degenerates:


Lycke, Trent, Biefel

And I mean degenerate! They had been drinking since about noon (it was a 6pm start for the game) and it showed! I ran into them a couple times, actually. They didn’t have seats even. Just standing room tickets.


Miller Park at Sunset


Miller Park Scoreboard


Bernie’s Dugout

Sara had a hankering for some ballpark nachos so we asked a lady where she got hers and scoped it out. They were no ordinary ballpark nachos, though. They were piled high with meat and peppers and everything. We picked up a couple Lites and a couple Leinies Honey Weiss while we were up. Actually, that was the only beer I had all game. One beer, because I thought I was driving back to Chicago.


Miller Park Sausage Race


Miller Park Sausage Race

It was a gorgeous night in the ballpark. I brought a light long sleeved shirt but I didn’t even wear it. During the 6th inning, the sausage came running out right in front of us.


Miller Park Sausage Race

I cheered for chorizo like always, and Sara cheered for chorizo as well. Too bad he got spanked! Polish sausage smoked everyone!


Take Me Out To The Ball Game, Roll Out The Barrel

During the 7th inning stretch they played Take Me Out To the Ball Game, but the people who’d never been to a ballpark in Wisconsin were surprised with the Roll Out the Barrel follow-up song!

A few notes on the players:

1. I really wish the player called Corey Hart would play Sunglasses at Night for his at-bat song.

2. Alfonso Soriano was fielding right in front of us and gave Sara a nod when she was screaming “FOOOONNNNZIIIIEEEEE GO FOOONZIIIIIIIIEEEE!!!!” I don’t know much about Soriano, only that he wears the tightest pants in the MLB.


Miller Park Scoreboard

3. I love the scoreboard at Miller Park, which is new this year. It shows a huge photo of each player when they’re at bat and shows the stats so far for each player. Sara taught me what Strikeout Looking is when a guy’s stats said at one at bat he struck out swinging and at another turn he struck out looking. She definitely knows a lot more about baseball and the Cubs than I do, but the big board definitely helped me keep track of what was going on and helped me get to know the players better.


The Wrigley Field Road Tour

In the stadium there must have been a hundred(s?) of people wearing this same red tshirt. They’d biked to Miller Park from Wrigley Field in Chicago for The Wrigley Field Road Tour. I think I’d have been sleeping in the stands if I’d done that.


Click to Embiggen

In the end, the Cubs lost 4-6. They made a rally in the 8th inning when they made 3 runs, but it wasn’t enough. The Brewers actually swept the Cubs in the series. But that’s ok. We all still had a great time.


Miller Park at Night

After the game I had to go to the bathroom so I said I’d just meet people at the car. I didn’t even make it to the car when I found that everyone I was with had made new friends and was drinking all their beer. After the game is pretty much like another big tailgate. We’d run out of beer, so how convenient that these fans were willing to share. They didn’t want to share with the Cubs fans, but they were convinced when I broke out the extra cookies I’d baked. Also, they liked that Alden and I were from Wisconsin. Also, we met a couple from Milwaukee whose daughter lives a few blocks from Alden in Chicago. Alden asked if the guy would put in the good word with his daughter, but the guy said the daughter was getting married in a matter of weeks. He said he’d let Alden know in October if it didn’t work out. He also asked that Alden please refrain from stalking his daughter now that her location had been revealed!


Sobriety isn’t an accident, but getting drunk many times is!

I drove the car back to my brother’s because he’d had a few too many. On the way Alden was texting his mom and she invited us over for more drinks, but I vetoed that plan. My brother and cousin and Alden were all for it. Of course, because they were the drunkest ones! My brother was busy typing Alden’s parent’s address into the GPS and when it was shouting out instructions it was so confusing to get back to my brother’s place! It would have been fun to visit the Almagro family, but it was getting late, especially since we still had to drive to Chicago. At my brother’s house we all made a pit stop. Alden had a special moment with Milo, the dog, and then we were off to Chicago. I thought I’d be driving but Kristin insisted. We all knocked pretty hard on wood and it worked because that car made it home without incident. I think we got home at about midnight? Long night, but so fun! Thanks to all my friends for making it a fun day and special thanks to my brother for organizing the tailgate and getting the tickets for us! A new set of washers in IN THE MAIL!!!

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2009 Cubs v. Brewers

Cubs vs. Brewers @ Miller Park

Last season my brother took my dad to a Cubs vs. Brewers game at Miller Park and I gave him a hard time because I wanted to go. I’m kind of a Cubs fan by default. When we were young our family never watched baseball. When I got older I went to watch some Brewers games at County Stadium, but only a couple years later I moved to San Diego. I went to some Padres games there. I moved to New York. I went to some Mets and Yankees games there. Now I’ve been in Chicago attending Cubs games for 5 years. It’s the longest I’ve watched any one team. So, I wanted to go up to watch the Cubs play, but also, I’ve never been to Miller Park so I wanted to check out the new ballpark.

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Lakefront Brewery, Milwaukee

Saturday I went up to Milwaukee for the game. My brother had 4 tickets and his friends Brian and Eric went along too. First we went to Lakefront Brewery. We’d planned to go on a brewery tour, but we got there too late for one and the next was sold out. Since we were there, we just drank some beer. I had the Riverwest Stein Lager, an amber lager, and really liked it. I’m going to try to find it at our liquor store here next time I go.

There were a ton of Cubs fans at the brewery. My brother and his friends said that Cubs games are a lot different experience in Milwaukee than any other team they play. Because Chicago is not that far away, the city is overrun with Cubs fans. I had worn what I thought was a sort of neutral blue shirt, but everyone decided it was more Cubby blue than Brew Crew blue. The Brewers old school blue is very much like the Cubs blue, though.

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Richard :: Miller Park, Milwaukee

At about 3:30, we decided to just head over to Miller Park and tailgate until that game started (at 6:00 p.m. I brought up some Half Acre lager and Fat Tire, neither of which you can get in Wisconsin. There was a ton of other beer and chips. And Brian brought burgers made from the beef raised on his family’s farm. My brother’s friends Michael and Julie also met up with us. They were going to the game but sitting in another section. Julie made and brought the most riche, decadent brownies to share, which was perfect because we didn’t have any dessert. The weather was crisp and chilly, but the sun was blazing. By game time I was pretty cold, but I still managed to sun/wind burn my face.

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Miller Park, Milwaukee

Walking up to the park we were finishing off our beers. I couldn’t finish mine before we got to the gate so I set it in the garbage can. .. and then I got yelled at by everyone I was with and even some strangers. I had to take my beer out of the garbage and finish it! Garbage beer! Classy.

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Richard & Rachelle :: Miller Park, Milwaukee

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Miller Park, Milwaukee

Inside the stadium everything was so nice and new compared to what I’m used to. I guess it’s like 9 years old, but compared to Wrigley Field, which is going on 100 years old, it’s brand new. Also, because of the weather, the roof was not retracted. It was like watching a baseball game indoors, which felt kind of weird.. especially when they lit the fireworks off. Inside. During the game we only had a few beers. I think because we had drank so many outside! Made for a pretty inexpensive game.

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Miller Park, Milwaukee

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Chorizo :: Miller Park, Milwaukee

The fans in the park were almost 50/50, Cubs/Brewers. Fans yelled at each other and tried to out-chant each other, but for the most part they were friendly to each other. I’m sure it happened, but I didn’t see any fans on either side getting really nasty or anything. I bet on chorizo to win the Sausage Race. Hotdog won, then we ate chorizo . I found out that at Brewers games they always sing Roll Out the Barrel after singing Take Me Out To The Ball Game. And the Cubs won!

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Drunk Dancing Idiots :: Miller Park, Milwaukee

Before going home a lot of people started tailgating more. We decided just to head out, since we were all pretty tired. Eric drove because he only had a couple beers earlier in the day and the rest of us had many more up til the time we left. He said he didn’t mind because he doesn’t drink much. Perfect. On the way out these two guys and a girl were all dancing for the cars as they were backed up trying to leave. We talked to them for a while. We even gave them a dollar for their entertainment.. which the girl thought we meant we wanted to see her boobs, but luckily we were able to stop her before she did anything stupid in 30 degree weather in front of loads of people!

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Stephanie’s Bedroom :: Oak Creek, WI

That night I stayed over in Milwaukee. My nieces were staying at my parent’s house for the long weekend, so I slept in Stephanie’s room. Looks just like my old room when I was her age!

I had a good time at the game and hanging out with my brother and his friends. My only complaint would be that it could have been like 10 degrees warmer to make the tailgating a bit more tolerable. We did ok huddling around the grill and drinking more beer, though. I’ll definitely have to go back to MIller Park again. If not this season then next!

Tailgating Before Going Into Lambeau Field

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Jessica, Rachelle, Stephanie :: Lambeau Field, Green Bay, WI

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Keg-a-que :: Lambeau Field, Green Bay, WI

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Burgers From Brian’s Family’s Farm :: Lambeau Field, Green Bay, WI

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Richard, Sheila, Brian, Eric, Stephanie :: Lambeau Field, Green Bay, WI

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Scrimmage Ticket :: Lambeau Field, Green Bay, WI

On Friday I took the day off work and took the Amtrak to Milwaukee. From there I went with my brother and his family north to Denmark where we met up with friends and then continued on to Green Bay to see the scrimmage between the Green Bay Packers and the Buffalo Bills. We got a parking spot in someone’s yard right by Lambeau Field for only $5. A great price since the house owner who sold us the parking spot also took care of our trash & recyclables after we tailgated.