All these things -- water, baseball, cornfields, cheese curds and friends -- all go together seamlessly here in the midwest. And perfectly describe how we spent the last couple of days.
We got up early to catch the ferry on Saturday morning. Our B&B had packed a sack breakfast for us which was so nice and made missing the homemade breakfast easier to handle. When we got to the ferry dock we were told no problem with the ferry crossing, but it was recommended we take the complimentary motion sickness pills as the trip would be seeing 3-5 foot waves. Didn't sound that bad, but we definitely were rock and rolling the whole trip. We spent virtually the entire trip indoors as did most of the other passengers -- except those that needed fresh air "to feel better."
 |
| The Lake Express to Milwaukee |
 |
| only the driver was allowed to board by auto |
 |
| waves didn't look so bad |
 |
| the Milwaukee skyline from ferry |
We did some driving around Milwaukee. Turns out this weekend ends a 9-day music fest here which is supposed to be in the category of ACL. We were too tired to hear much music and ended up just driving around the magnificent park and downtown areas, stopping only to have lunch in the park to watch the bikers, and finally headed to the hotel to nap and shower before the game tonight.
The Brewers game Saturday night was a real highlight. The park is wonderful (stadium is domed so the weather isn't much of a factor), the fans are great and the game vs St Louis Cardinals was good -- won by the Brewers. We had a great time at the game, made even better by sitting next to some real old-time fans who go to many home & away games and are also Packer fans. They definitely added to our experience!!
 |
| we had great seats over Milwaukee dugout |
 |
| tailgating is big -- before & after game |
The next morning we woke early and only had to go to Hubers in Madison, a little over an hour away by freeway, though using the freeway wasn't our intent. So, having extra time we just set out toward Monroe, WI, a real cheese capital in Wisconsin. We figured we would stop at some Starbucks on the way to get wi-fi to work on this blog. If no Starbucks we would just go to Monroe to get cheese curds. It was a good plan, just didn't materialize that way. First we mistakenly passed by a Starbucks, then the next one was closed except for drive thru. Starbucks are not on every corner in the small rural towns in this part of the country. So we gave up on that goal and set our sights on Monroe. We were travelling back roads and saw a sign for the Decatur dairy which made fresh cheese curds daily. Of course we took that county road to discover daily does not mean Sunday here. So found another 4 or 5 county roads to take us to Monroe; the square was busy and we headed directly for Baumgartners which we knew well. Turns out they had sold the last of their cheese curds a few minutes before we arrived but would have more Wednesday!
It was impossible to be upset. It was a magical day weather wise and the countryside, vast vistas of cornfields and hills, was so perfect. Brought back so many memories from so many years ago . This truly is a beautiful part of the United States and an area full of hospitable, friendly people without pretense. We truly are comfortable here. Sent a message to Hubers we would be a bit late because we got lost, and they began to worry about our navigational skills! Their assumption: no one could get lost going from Milwaukee to Madison, a 95 mile trip on interstate. We had found a way to do so, and we were so happy we had.
Comments
Post a Comment