Current Location: Glenview, IL, N 42 05.084', W 087 52.004', elev. 757 ft.

Friday I drove east on I-90 / I-94 in Wisconsin. I drove through Madison, got off the interstate and drove around a short bit to check out the town. I continued on east until I got to Milwaukee, and Lake Michigan. Milwaukee is a cool town, and the girls are amazing. I usually prefer dark haired girls, but there's just something about those blond, midwestern farm girls with their Minnesota and Wisconsin accents, and they love to drink. Its great. Milwaukee has certainly had its share of visitors. The French missionaries and explorers began visiting here in the late 16th century. Isn't Milwaukee an Indian name? Yes, in fact, it's pronounced "mill-e-wah-que" which is Algonquin for "the good land." And did you know its the only major American city to ever have three socialist mayors?

My plan was to go to the Brewer's game friday night, but it was sold out, I assume because Roger Clemens was pitching, so I traveled onto Racine, WI (N 42 41.769', W 087 50.636', elev. 689 ft.), a suburb, and found a place to stay for the night.

Saturday, I didn't do much, I just hung around until about 4 PM when I drove back to Milwaukee and drove around the city a bit before the game. I eventually made my way back to the stadium and paid $6 to park. The game started at about 7, and I got to the lot at about 6:15, and there were tons and tons of people all around me tailgating for the game. It was crazy, I have never seen tailgating for a baseball game, but I guess these Wisconsin sports fans are really hardcore. And people were really getting smashed in the parking lot too. On the way into the stadium, I would say about a third of the people I was walking with were totally drunk and rowdy. Very fun! I paid $12 for a ticket, and the seat was awesome. It was upper deck, but almost dead center in the park. Unfortunately, I sat next to a guy who was a bit of a weirdo. He was older, and smelled and dressed like a homeless person. He kept trying to talk to me, but the stuff he was saying was a bit off. He was very into the game, but every time a ball would go into the stands, a homerun or a foul ball or whatever, he would catch all the people around him off guard by yelling something unintelligible at the top of his lungs. I think he was asking the person who caught the ball to throw it to him (they might be hundreds of feet away), but I'm not sure.

Miller Park is a retractable roof stadium, and it is huge; far and away the largest baseball only stadium I have ever been in. They sell pickles at the refreshment stands, so I had to buy one. The fans were really into the game and many were decked out in full Brewers gear; they really had a great time at the game. I saw a ballpark proposal on the big screen in the stadium. I can't believe anyone would propose at a ballpark, how unromantic. An interesting point in the ballpark is the home run slide; whenever a Brewers player hits a home run, Bernie Brewer, their mascot, slides down the slide and the folks go wild.



Another fun part of the game that the folks were really into was the sausage race. Everyone in the stadium was on their feet in the middle of the 6th inning, cheering on their favorite sausage, be it Italian, Polish, Bratwurst, or Hot Dog. In the end, Hot Dog came in victorious.



On my walk around the stadium, I came to the bullpens where I got to witness a drunk fan getting tossed after throwing beer into the bullpen. I imagine this is a common occurrence. Despite an exciting 9th inning comeback by the Brewers, the Astros won the game 7-5. You can view the photos here.

After the game, I drove south (east) on I-90 / I-94, and branched off on I-294 in Illinois, until I reached Glenview where I stopped for the night.