Man at Work

The rooftop sculpture garden at the Grohmann Museum at Milwaukee School of Engineering is one of Milwaukee's newest "must-sees". The museum opened in October 2007. It is dedicated to artwork that shows men and women at work, predominantly in industrial situations.
The museum has 700 paintings and sculptures with a dozen of the sculptures replicated and placed on the rooftop overlooking the city. The sculptures are bronze, about 9' tall and weigh about 1000 pounds each.



The view from the rooftop is spectacular. MSOE is located in the center of the oldest part of the city, a neighborhood known as Yankee Hill. From this location you can see many of Milwaukee's most beautiful buildings - Milwaukee City Hall, Blatz Brewery, Old St Mary's and the Cathedral of St John - to name a few.



MSOE took over many of the buildings that were originally part of the Blatz Brewery. They've done a great job in the renovation and reuse of the buildings preserving Milwaukee's brew city.



Milwaukee City Hall is currently under a major renovation as you see by the scaffolding in the background. This is my favorite building in the city and I look forward to seeing it restored to it's original grandeur. The sculptures and the buildings in the background really make you understand all of the work (and the manhours) that it took to build Milwaukee.

Kewaunee

A new addition to the countryside in northeastern Wisconsin is the Parallel 44 Winery in Kewaunee, just outside of Green Bay. Growing up north of Green Bay and spending a lot of time traveling between Milwaukee and Green Bay, I've seen this area but really haven't had a chance to spend much time really checking it out. So, I recently made a trek north to visit some of the lakeside communities. I really enjoyed visiting Parallel 44 and seeing what the new vineyard/winery was all about. I look forward to watching this vineyard grow and prosper.

The lighthouse is in Two Rivers near Point Beach.

Caddies at Whistling Straits

I was at Whistling Straits in Kohler in June and had the opportunity to meet some of the caddies. Here they are walking up the course near the clubhouse making their way to the next hole.



Now on to the 10th tee. Lots of advice to be given? Or are they just looking for some treats?

Bailey's new profession

Bailey was checking out the truck the other day. I wasn't sure why. So I went to check it out.



I guess Bailey was checking the safety of the tires???

Or perhaps a chipmunk made it's way into the wheel well?

Rain Soaked Wisconsin

We went to the AMA Superbike races at Road America in Elkhart Lake on Saturday. Started out as a beautiful day and then the rains came in the late afternoon. This pic, albeit a bit blurry, shows the bikes coming around the Bill Mitchell Bend well over 100+mph. These guys are really good and a bit crazy. It actually was really hot prior to the dark clouds, so we opted to take the motorcycle. It's a beautiful drive through a portion of the Kettle Moraine from Milwaukee to Elkhart Lake. On our way home we hit rain just north of Milwaukee and it was coming down fast and furious. We ended up with close to 4" of rain in a short period of time. The rivers and creeks were rushing, the streets were flooded and some cars even ended up swimming in some of the low levels. Lots of flooding in basements, etc. - luckily for us we are on high ground and only had a little bit of dampness.


This picture shows the "usually calm" Menomonee River running through Wauwatosa. This particular spot is wild to me because it is where a small creek enters the river. Typically we are able to jump across the creek or step across on exposed stones. Even our little Bailey has been brave enough to cross the water here even though she is petrified of getting wet. So this really shows us the amount of water the river has taken in.

Quite a few trees fell along the riverbanks due to the soil eroding underneath or the rushing of the water on the branches that normally hang over the river. This was a big tree!

Weekend in the Dells

It was a great Memorial Day Weekend - temps in the high 70's and sunshine. We spent Saturday in the Wisconsin Dells. Got to love the new bar, Baja, with its slogan "Pour Me a Vacation". This bar is so new that it doesn't even have walls yet...

And you have to really love the people in Wisconsin. This guy bought a deer head in a shop next to the Baja and had to tell us the negotiation story. And then...

Had Mike hang on to it while he lit his cigarette.

We had a great time!

Loving the sunshine aboard the Edelweiss

Took the Edelweiss on a river/lake cruise with a group yesterday. Beautiful sunshine, blue skies and puffy white clouds. A bit chilly on the lake, but the trip down the river was very comfortable. We had a great view of the Milwaukee Art Museum and the Brise Soleil.



Milwaukee's lighthouse at the breakwater.



Gertie the Duck sitting on the Wisconsin Avenue Bridge with the ASQ Building (originally Gimbels) in the background.



Pier Wisconsin & Discovery World Museum with the Milwaukee Art Museum and a couple of the newest changes to the Milwaukee skyline (Kilbourn Towers & University Club Towers) in the background.

Life in the Fast Lane

Spring has sprung!

I wrote recently that my month of March flew by without a posting and then I watched April do the same thing. Here it is May 6 and I have so much to catch up on. The weather was absolutely stellar today - sunshine and temps in the 70's. I had a tour this morning for a couple from Texas - we had a nice time. Really enjoyed watching the Brise Soleil open at the Art Museum. We also enjoyed some Kopp's Custard - flavors of the day were Pomegranate and Macadamia Nut. You can't go wrong with either one. Actually I don't think I have ever had a flavor that I didn't like. Today is Bailey's birthday - she is 10 years old which is hard to believe. Not too much excitement - some quality time outside in the sun sniffing the world and then some comfy naptime wrapped up in the afghan on the couch. I'll do a better job of keeping up with this blog as I have many things to write about.

Welcome Mahal!

We went to the zoo on Saturday. This little is guy is Mahal, a baby boy orangutan, who was born in Colorado and refused by his mother. His first surrogate mother died and now he is being raised by MJ, a female orangutan, in the Milwaukee Zoo. He is absolutely adorable and so fun to watch. He will be fun to watch grow up.

Where have I been?

I took a brief walk away from this blog and next thing I know more than a month has gone by. There was a bit of travel and a little bout of being sick, but otherwise no excuse. I am back! Will need to recap my lost month of March...

This day in history

On this day in 1985 I met Mike at The Tap in Menomonie, WI where we were both attending UW-Stout. We've been together for 23 years - more than half my life! He's in Logan, Utah this week for business and gets back on Saturday afternoon. We'll mark the occasion and our missed Valentine's Day by going out on Saturday night.

It's been a while since I logged anything - not too much happening this past week. It continues to snow and we are bracing for another big hit on Sunday. Mid-state got it yesterday with Sheboygan getting 7" and Fond du Lac getting 11". As of mid-week, Madison has now set the record for most snowfall in the history of the city. We are currently in the Top Ten snowfalls and it is only mid-Feb. I think it is kind of pretty but it certainly puts a damper on things. I was hoping to get out on Tuesday but stayed in due to another 6" or so of fluffly slippery snow.

Wednesday was a nice day, Carrie and Mosley came over for a visit and lunch. We went to City Market near my house and then to the new Alterra and a few shops in the village. Mosley is starting to smile now - such a cute little boy.

I had a meeting at Libiamo on Wednesday night with the people from the Museum of Beer and Brewing. Talking about an upcoming event and thoughts on tours for the Pabst buildings. Libiamo is a restaurant/bar in the old tasting room for the Schlitz Brewery. The building is really incredible - cream city brick, lots of ornamentation, and great woodwork. It used to be The Brown Bottle Pub and was a kicking place to be on Import Night on Thursdays. It just hasn't caught on too well in its current state plus Manpower now has a huge parking structure built in the parking lot that used to be the main entrance to the building. A little difficult to find and certainly not a place that you walk by and think might be interesting. They have a real marketing challenge. I hope they survive as it would be sad if it fell into the wrong hands. I only had a couple of beers so can't report in on the food at this point.


I went out the other day to get a few "snowy Milwaukee" pictures. This is the Captain Frederick Pabst Mansion.

Seeing the snow in Wood Cemetery was interesting. A natural black and white photo. There were some red flowers underneath the tree.

Buried in Snow

An unbelievable amount of snow fell within a 24+ hour period. I think we probably got about 16" or more of snow. It started at 4pm yesterday and snowed lightly through the night - shoveled about 3" this morning and then it went crazy throughout the day. I shoveled two more times - 4 more inches at 11am (at about the time the snowbuddy shown here showed up on the front porch) and then 8 more inches in the late afternoon. And it's heavy stuff. I am sure to be sore tomorrow...

The house at 4pm yesterday - just starting to snow. We already had a nice base from last week.


Today at 4pm.


Bailey is not a fan of the big snow. Here she is training for the Iditarod. Or at least trying to follow my path back to the house. It's a tough world when you are small.

February Fun

So here we are on the fifth of February anticipating the biggest snowfall of the season. Claiming 8 to 10 to possibly 14" of snow. Yesterday it was rainy and gray and managed to reduce the amount of snow piles we already have from last week's 8" of the white stuff. But now everything is really wet - hopefully we won't get freezing temperatures turning every into ice underneath the snow.

Mike got back from CA on Friday. We decided to do a typical Milwaukee thing and went out for the Friday Night Fish Fry at Colonel Hart's in Wauwatosa. I had the perch and Mike had the cod - Wisconsinsites understand how that works. Colonel Hart's is the quintessential Milwaukee tavern - lots of great old sports memorabilia, mostly local; bar with a wide variety/good mix of patrons; good jukebox; friendly staff and great pub grub. Only knock on it is the smoke - it never fails that the guy or girl next to us lights one up, and being kind to their friends, lets the smoke go in our face. The fish fry was good, but I think my perch was too big - I like the little ones that I can just pick up and eat.

Saturday, we finally went to Discovery World at Pier Wisconsin - I have been there a couple of times, but was holding off on "really seeing it" until Mike came along. We went to the Discovery World Science Museum first and spent quite a bit of time playing with all the gizmos and gadgets. They have some interesting exhibits. We also went into the HIVE (Human Interactive Virtual Education) and had asteroids and planets zooming all around us. You go into this structure that looks like a bee hive, put on special 3-D glasses and get immersed into a virtual environment. Pretty freaky stuff. We really enjoyed the Reiman Aquariums - they did such a fantastic job with the design. And we got to "pet" a huge sturgeon. It's skin was like sandpaper. The rest of Pier Wisconsin is really interesting as well with an area dedicated to the Great Lakes and ships/shipwrecks on the lakes. Great addition to Milwaukee's choices of things to do, especially with kids.

After visiting the museum, we went to Water Buffalo for lunch. Great food. I had an awesome BBQ Pork Sandwich with Bacon (everything tastes better with bacon!) and Mike had a really good Corned Beef Sandwich. I think they are doing things right at Water Buffalo - nice location on the river; love the decor; both the service and the food was great.

We walked around the Third Ward for a bit, stopping at Harlequin Bakery for an after lunch coffee and a little something sweet. We both opted for a brownie - Mike had the blonde and I had the regular. mmm - they do good work! It was also fun to watch the people across the street at Fred Astaire Dance Studio learning their moves.

We did a bit more shopping/looking at Sprout, a children's store with alot of really cute things, the new Anthropologie (love it) and also two galleries. We were really intrigued by VP Gallery - they are one of the few photo galleries that have photos from LIFE magazine reproduced from the original negatives and are Wisconsin's only Master Dealer for these photos. They are also an exclusive dealer for Limited Edition photos from the National Geographic Society. In the gallery is Steve McCurry's photo of the Afghan Girl that amazes so many people. It is mesmerizing. We were also really taken aback by a set of three photos from Babe Ruth's last visit to Yankee Stadium. Would love to have the set. Good incentive to make some $.

We met up with Mike's sisters at the new Urban Outfitters on the eastside. After a bit of shopping, we went to Cafe Brucke, one of our favorite little cafes in town. It's so quaint and is a nice place to go anytime of the year. In the summer it is nice to sit on the sidewalk and in the winter it's a nice cozy little restaurant. A little bit of Euro-flair on the eastside of the Mil. Amazing selection of Belgian Beer. We shared a bottle of wine and the girls had a cheese & sausage platter and veggie sandwich. Mike & I were both stuffed from lunch, but it sure looked good.

All in all a nice day to see what's going on in Milwaukee.

Sunday was Superbowl Sunday so had to plan our day accordingly. With hesitation, Mike agreed to go see The Bucket List. The critics hated it. And we know what to think of critics... What a great movie! I would certainly recommend it. After the movie, we made chili and homemade bread and got ready to watch one of the best Superbowls in a long time (outside of the Packers, of course). Good job for the Giants. I am glad they won as they beat the Patriots the same way they beat the Packers - consistent defense and pressure on the QB. I was actually glad to see New England lose as I am getting a little sick of the "Boaston" attitude - they can't win everything!!

Time to get ready for the snow...

The Big Chill

It's the last day of January and another day of cold and snow. I ventured outside today for only a couple of reasons - to put out the garbage can, to mail a couple of letters and to let Bailey out to do her business. Other than that I am quite happy to stay inside where it is warm and cozy. I took this picture the other day when the snow was coming off the Brise Soleil on the Art Museum - thought it looked pretty interesting. We're expecting another 3-5 inches tonight. Of course Mike is out of town so I am left with the shoveling. He's got this figured out - he's either sick or out of town when it snows...

Brrr! It's cold!

This was the winning photo from the Milwaukee Moments Photo Contest hosted by The Milwaukee Press Club. Very cool shot! Photographer: Terry O'Neill

Unbelievable is the only word to describe what happened yesterday. We went from 43 degrees to 4 degrees in a matter of a couple of hours. In less than 24 hours almost all of the snow melted - I was amazed when I went outside on Tuesday morning to find the driveway, patio and backyard almost completely clear of snow. Then at about 1pm the sky turned gray and it began to rain. The rain turned to tapioca (large pearl) size hail around 4pm and then the wind started up. Yesterday was Milwaukee's 162nd birthday and The Milwaukee Press Club hosted a birthday party at The Pfister Hotel from 5:30pm - 8pm. I almost didn't go due to the weather, but then thought "c'mon this is Wisconsin, we can handle a little wintery weather" and sure enough it wasn't that bad. I was expecting something ridiculous and it was just fine. Sometimes the media drives people crazy - they talked about 1-3" of snow and white-out conditions and there was nothing of the sort. The hail made things a bit slippery, but the salt trucks had been out and did a good job of nipping that. The party was fun and well attended. It was nice to run into some old friends and continue networking for the new biz.





Now today is different - it's downright cold! Even little Bailey was hesitant about going outside. I forced her because there are just some things that have to be done. She wasn't happy, but at least she was quick! I attended a luncheon at The Newsroom Pub hosted by The Milwaukee Press Club. The speaker was Carlos Santiago, chancellor at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He has acquired $125 million in private money for the school and has great plans for a new engineering campus and research facility perhaps here in Wauwatosa at the Milwaukee County Grounds near the Medical complex. I was very impressed with his candor and wit. He's a real asset to Milwaukee and understands the need for the community and businesses to partner with the school to encourage entreprenuerism and innovation. 22,000 students that attend UWM are Wisconsin kids and we desperately need these people to stay and flourish in Milwaukee after they graduate. We're a bit behind Madison and far behind Minneapolis in the whole "brain drain" syndrome. I am happy I attended the luncheon and learned quite a bit - gotta keep the positive vibe in the Mil!

Weekend in the Mil

We had a nice visit from Mosley, his mom and Auntie Chris on Saturday. He's certainly a big boy - all 16 pounds of him!! He looks alot like his Uncle Mike, minus the facial hair :)

It finally warmed up on Sunday, so it was time to take Bailey out of hibernation and let her go for a walk in Veterans Park. She was happy to get out from under the blankets. It will be nice again today but will dip back into the single digits tomorrow - we'll enjoy a little bit of a thaw before the cold returns. We took a drive along the eastside just to see what's happening and how things are progressing. Thursday night I attended an event hosted by Historic Milwaukee to hear UWM Dean of the Architectural School Bob Greenstreet talk about recent and future Milwaukee developments. Seeing cranes in the city is a good sign. He focused alot on the future of MacArthur Square in front of the Courthouse and what can be done there. It certainly needs some help as they made it a complete eyesore probably in the 1970's. The Milwaukee County Courthouse is such a grand building and it has been blighted by a hiddeous parking ramp with a misused park square. Dan McCarthy from the Pabst Brewery Project which Joseph Zilber is undertaking gave a good report on all that is happening with the old brewery as well as another gentleman Kevin Mantz (sp?) talked about the sustainability study and the landscaping plans. All in all very informative and I am glad I attended.

Friday, I toured the Tripoli Shrine Temple on Wisconsin Avenue. A fabulous building. They recently completed a million dollar renovation which cleaned up the tiles (and there is an unbelieveable amount of tile - it took 3 years for a family from Italy to lay all of the tile in beautiful patterns throughout the building), fixed the lighting and just did an overall sprucing up. Milwaukee should be incredibly proud of this building as it is a one-of-a-kind. I look forward to bringing groups here on tour or for special events. Check out the rental section on the website to see pictures of the dome. I was a dope and didn't take any pictures!

After the Shrine tour, I met with some colleagues at The Knick to discuss some of life's possibilities in Milwaukee especially regarding the Pabst Brewery. Then Mike and I went to Zaffiro's for pizza. What a crazy place - making pizza since 1954 and consistently getting awards for Milwaukee's best pizza. It doesn't look like much, the wait staff looks like they've been working there for years, it's somewhat smoky, but people dig it. Nice and casual with really good super thin crust pizza. Gotta love it.

We then moved on to have a couple of pints of Guiness at the new Irish pub in town, Brocach. Just when you think we've had enough Irish Pubs in Milwaukee, someone comes around with another very cool addition to the city in an up and coming area along the river. I love this place. Brocach is Gaelic for Badger Den. This is appropriate as the bar is built into the side of a bluff. Very narrow so you better not have an affliction to people bumping into you. Great job with the decor. Looking forward to the next visit and a sampling of their food.

Nice plug for the Milwaukee Public Market

I love this place. Nice addition to Milwaukee and I already have tours booked that will include a visit and/or lunch at the market. This is a nice piece on it:
http://www.onlyatfarmersmarkets.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=24

Top Secret

Mike and I went to a new Japanese restaurant in Brookfield, Takara. We love it! The menu was overwhelming so we ordered the specials of the day. Mike had something called Top Secret which was a lobster, avocado, and salmon roll - very good. I ordered something that sounds like yummy, not sure what it really is. Tempura Shrimp, avocado and spicy crab roll. They plated them together - almost too impressive to eat, but we devoured it. Can't wait to go back for the sushi bar and/or the hibachi grill.

I can't believe Heath Ledger died...

A look back

My grandmother, Isabel Burg-Christopherson, moved to Milwaukee from Lena when she was a young woman to find work. She was a nanny/housekeeper at this house on Lake Drive for the Kopmeier family in the 1920s. My sister sent me the picture and I was able to find the house again as the address has changed from a Milwaukee address to Shorewood. The pillar in front of the house shows the original address still etched in the concrete.



This is the house as of today. Hasn't changed much on the exterior. I wish I could talk to my grandma now and have her tell me about the time she spent here. She ended up moving back to Lena where she met and married my grandfather. Thus my existence...

From Mayhem to Misery

We went up to Green Bay on Saturday night to take part in the pre-game celebration. It was cold!! But everyone was so pumped up about Sunday's game and of course, Packer nation was so confident that we would beat the Giants and head to Arizona for the Superbowl.



We have to thank the Packers for a great season and also the Giants for beating the Cowboys to bring the NFC Championship to Lambeau Field. The economic impact for Green Bay was incredible. It also gave people, like this girl, something to be happy about in mid-January when it was 0 degrees!!



We had fun in Green Bay. Very glad that we didn't spend oodles of $ to spend hours in the freezing weather. It may have been worth it had the Packers won, but I am glad we stayed home to watch the devastation in our own little world.

There's always next year!

PBR Me

Here I am with one of Milwaukee's finest gentlemen - Captain Frederick Pabst.

On Friday, I had the opportunity to tour a little bit of Pabst Brewing history. Walked through the old Gift Shop/Tour Center for the Pabst Brewery as well as Blue Ribbon Hall and the corporate offices, including Captain Pabst's office. Pabst left Milwaukee in 1996 and the buildings are now going through redevelopment with ideas for offices, restaurants, potential site for a brew pub and The Beer Museum. When this takes place I really think it is going to be another positive thing for Milwaukee. The buildings are still in nice shape with awesome woodwork, stained glass and brickwork. We're probably looking at 2009/2010 for project completion. I am excited for this to happen and in the meantime I think we could do some tours of the brewery "as is" for people interested in Milwaukee history, Pabst history, and architecture.



I am sitting in Captain Pabst's office reading about Brett Favre!



Love this guy! Great stained glass windows in the old tour center for Pabst Brewing Co.

Business Update

I've been working on a few things this week for KBC Tour Company. On Tuesday I completed the CTA (Certified Tourism Ambassador) training given by Visit Milwaukee. So now I am a Certified Tourism Ambassador for Milwaukee. I already received my CTIS (Certified Travel Industry Specialist) training through IUPUI and American Bus Association when I worked at the CVB. So now I have a bunch of letters to follow my name to make me look really important - Kay Collins, CTIS, CTA.

I've been working with some local Milwaukee tour operators to use me for their Milwaukee area tours. Hopefully all will be successful and my 2008 tour season will be a busy one.

Had lunch today with a tour planner in the Wauwatosa village at Pizzeria Piccola run by the Bartolotta Family. It's a great place for a nice casual light lunch or dinner. Gotta love the wood fired pizza. Had the Chicken Sausage and Pine Nut personal pizza today - yum! Did you know the first pizza was made in 79AD??!!!??? They found artifacts indicating pizza making in the ashes of Pompeii!

Tomorrow will be fun - going to the old Pabst Brewery for a tour. It's going to be cold. Hope to have some good pictures as I have nothing to post today. It's snowing again and I don't need to show that again...

NFC Championship Bound!

What a great weekend! The Green Bay Packers beat the Seattle Seahawks coached by former Packer coach, Mike Holmgren on Saturday in a snowstorm at Lambeau Field. The game started out dismally as the Packers turned the ball over twice and Seattle capitalized on it with two scores putting the Pack down 14-0. But the Pack came back and took over! Final score 42-20.

Then yesterday we watched the New York Giants beat up on the Cowboys to win that game. Now the Giants come to Lambeau to play the Packers in the NFC Championship. It's going to be great for Green Bay and surrounding communities. It's going to be pretty chilly though - probably in the teens. But I am sure there will be some silly souls who show up shirtless in the stands with big Gs painted on their bodies. Go Pack Go!




The rest of the weekend was nice too. Friday night we met an old friend of ours at Mitchell's Fish Market in Brookfield. Was good to catch up. It is amazing how fast time flies. Mike and I caught one more at Fleming's Steak House in Brookfield as well. We'll have to go back to check out the dining. Both places are nice additions to Brookfield and even though they are chains, we'll give them a chance. They are both "classy joints" and the staffs are well trained. We'll still be more supportive of the independent guys though!!

Saturday afternoon we went to the Milwaukee County Zoo to catch up on what's shaking there. It's nice to have a Zoo Pass - we go often and enjoy the walk. Plus we can decide what animals we want to see each time so we don't get overwhelmed. Each time we go we seem to learn something new or see a new addition. This time we got to see the baby Siamang that was born in November. Still clinging to her mother - very cute! The little brother was a riot as he was swinging around and then grabbed a pillow case and kept playing with it, twirling it around and shaking it with his feet. We spent 15 minutes just watching his show - makes me think that he may have been the inspiration for Cirque du Soleil! Unfortunately I couldn't get a good picture because of the glass and flash. I did include a picture of the Elk though - rather majestic rack he is sporting! We ended the visit with a chest pounding demonstration from Cassius, the gorilla. He's quite the show-off.

Saturday night after the Packer win, we went to a neighborhood party. The hosts put out quite the chocolate dessert display. Good times. We really like our neighborhood and the people in it are all very nice.

Sunday morning we decided to catch an early flick at the AMC theater in Mayfair. Being big Johnny Depp and Tim Burton fans, we went to see Sweeney Todd. Ghastly!! Definitely not a "feel good" movie. Critics are raving. It's not for everyone though...

Happy Monday!

Changes

What a difference a couple of days makes. We had the hottest day in January on record - 63 degrees!! All that crazy snow we had is almost all gone. And we had thunderstorms and tornadoes. Unfortunately an area near Kenosha got hit and quite a few people lost their homes. Who would have thought - January??



I went to Chicago overnight via Amtrak for a reception at The Hotel Intercontinental. Probably one of the warmest days I've spent in Chicago in a long time - I swear Chicago is the coldest place I've ever been in the winter with the combination of low temps, moist lake air and the wind. But last night was awesome, I could have walked Michigan Ave all night. We hit a couple of old favorites after the reception - Boston Blackies and Smith & Wollensky's. This morning I walked to the Sears Tower to visit with a friend of mine who works at the Skydeck. It's really an amazing building. Still the tallest building in the US. Trump was trying to build a tower taller, but decided to scale down after 9/11. Nice short trip. Amtrak makes this trip so easy - downtown Milwaukee to downtown Chicago in 90 minutes - gotta love it.

Green Bay Packers

One of the best things happening early in 2008 is having the Green Bay Packers in the NFL Playoffs. On our way back to Milwaukee we stopped at Lambeau Field. Mike hasn't been in the stadium since the newest renovation. They did a really nice job and we look forward to going back to have dinner/cocktails in Curly's Pub. The Pro Shop was buzzing with lots of people. We laugh every time we are in Green Bay at the sheer number of people wearing Packer apparel. If you want to be in a successful retail business, pretty much sell anything Green & Gold (or Pink for Deanna Favre) and the word Packers on it! The Pro Shop has almost everything you can think of, including shower curtains and hangers. It would be funny to know who the person is who has the most items that you can find in the Pro Shop. Their world has to be ridiculously green and gold.

Looking forward to the next game - hope they go far. If not, it's at least been a surprisingly fun year to watch the Pack. Go Pack Go!!

Snowy New Year's Eve Day in Lena