Going to Green Bay!

Yep, going to Green Bay to watch the Packers take on the Eagles in their home/season opener! Freshly delivered today:



I am so excited! This is just gonna be awesome! I've been wanting to see them play for a LONG time now, and to get to see them in Lambeau is definitely a dream come true!

Chris, you LOVE football!! hope the game's worth the trip.

Oh yeah man.. The worst part of the sports year for me is Feb-August. I enjoy Nascar, Baseball and Hockey too, but not nearly as much as Football. So yeah, I think it will be well worth it!

Chris,

Congrats on getting tickets! Lambeau is quite the spectacle. Go early and enjoy the surrounding pre-game atmosphere. Living 30 minutes south of GB, the excitement is BIG during the season.

If you want any area info, let me know, I can help you out.

...And, there's a WOOSH launch at Bong Recreation Area in Southeastern Wisconsin (a few miles W of Kenosha). It's a good 2.5 hour drive south from Green Bay, but it's quite an experience flying at The Bong.

-Eric-

E_A_G_L_E_S...........GO (away) EAGLES!! (the most choking team in football) They cut Trotter, the heart and soul of the defense! I hope they lose every game!!

I'm with Eric on this one. Go early (couple hours early) and bring something to grill. You won't really need to bring a grill itself as just about anyone will loan you a corner of theirs to throw your burgers/bratwurst on, particularly if you're wearing the right shade of green (that's Packer green, not Philly green).

Spend time wandering around soaking up the atmosphere as well. It's one of the few statiums left that still has bleacher seating. It'll blow your mind too how small the place feels once you're out in seats. If you're an old die-hard Paker fan, take that extra moment to walk slowly out the tunnel into the stadium proper. The hair on the back of your neck stands on end every single time. For a football fan, it truly is a special place.

Oh, and don't think you're leaving before the game's over even if there's a 21 point lead for one team or the other. I promise you'll get grief for it if you do.

I wanted to go early, but getting the time off from work got in the way. The plan was to leave Friday afternoon, but at the last minute the boss scheduled a meeting, so I can't leave here until 10 that night! Seriously, that is the earliest flight I would be able to make. And to top it off, tehre are no return trips from Green Bay that are scheduled for after the game, which means I would have to leave the game early. Yeah, like that's happening..

We wound up booking a flight to Milwaukee, which lands at 9:30 the next morning. (Ugh). Tickets were like $900 cheaper to fly there and drive. Then it's like a 2 hour drive to Green Bay. We're scheduled for a tour of Lambeau Field at 1:30 Sat. followed by an autograph session at 5:30 pm. Then on gameday, we'll be attending the tail gate party at Brett Favre's Steakhouse for all you can eat/drink brats, burgers, adult beverages.. We'll go to the game, hopefully watch them beat the Eagles (Man that would be nice! One more win and Favre will be tied with Elway for the most wins as a QB) and then proceed to get hammered at one of the local sports bars or something. We'll leave Green Bay Monday morning and drive back to Milwaukee for the flight home.

SpartaChris said:

I am so excited! This is just gonna be awesome! I've been wanting to see them play for a LONG time now, and to get to see them in Lambeau is definitely a dream come true!

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Congrats! Lambeau is an awesome stadium. You're going to have a great time. As others have stated, get there early and soak up the ambience out in the parking lots. Make absolutely sure you have at least one brat with sauerkraut. Yellow or brown mustard goes good with that. Ketchup is a no-no on a brat.

Here's to hoping you see lots of Lambeau leaps at the game!

Ltvscout said:

Here's to hoping you see lots of Lambeau leaps at the game!

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I thought they were changing it to "Lambeau Creaks" in honor of Brett Favre.

Fishhead said:

I thought they were changing it to "Lambeau Creaks" in honor of Brett Favre.

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I am a Bears fan myself, but comments like that "north of the border" could get you killed, typically by being smothered in cheese or trampled by dairy cows stampeding or was it the dairy farmer's daughters stampeding.... Either way it is a gruesome way to die.... :rotflol:

Alright, well, it's 10 pm and our plane leaves in 30 minutes. Yeah, I'm pumped!



So we walk to the sports bar nearest our gate to partake in a little adult refreshment, and what do we find? Perhaps it's fate!



And of course, the wall says it all!



OK, well, the plan is boarding. Next stop, Atlanta!

Chris -

Welcome home. Sounds like this is your first visit to the holy shrine? Only been there a handful of times myself and I still get a little choked up every time I walk out to our seats. It looks SO SMALL the first time you see it in person. Kinda feels like a really big high school game.

Visit the gift shop during the 1st quarter when there's no one shopping yet.

I'll be there for the Viking game in November!

GO PACK!!!

By the way - sorry to say you can't get Fat Tire in Wisconsin. But you can get it over here in MN.

Best local beer you GOTTA try is New Glarus Spotted Cow. One of my favorite beers. It's very popular, so you won't have any trouble finding it on tap at some local bar after the game. I don't think they serve it inside the stadium anywhere.

paparoof said:

Best local beer you GOTTA try is New Glarus Spotted Cow. One of my favorite beers. It's very popular, so you won't have any trouble finding it on tap at some local bar after the game. I don't think they serve it inside the stadium anywhere.

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Anything from New Glarus is good. Besides Bass Ale, New Glarus beers are my favorite.

You are correct, this is my first time going to Green Bay.. Man, what a sight!

So we finally arrived in Milwaukee after a ridiculously long journey. After getting our car, it's time to make our way North, and take in some of the sights:



And low and behold, the Holy Grail!



Some random pic my fiancee took, because she's into things like this:



Oh look, 84 more miles!

I learned two things about Wisconsin on my way to Green Bay..

1) There seems to be an epidemic of suicidal butterflies here. I dunno what the deal is, but seriously, someone needs to get them some therapy. Or Raid. Maybe send them to Afghanistan? I'm sure they could be put to better use than mucking up my windshield!

And 2) Green Bay has absolutely NO shortage of grain silos! Here's one of the thousand we saw along our journey:



But the bright side, is only 30 more miles to go!



Jen, snapping another random shot:



What's that off in the distance?

Crossing the Fox River:



And finally we made it! I skipped the whole checking into the room thing and fast forwarded straight to the Tundra Ale part!



Man, this is good stuff!



Jen's weird..

Now on to the good stuff. First up on the day: Take a tour of Lambeau!

So, heading in:



Oh man.. It's breathtaking:



The Gods love me:



Seriously, words just can't describe the excitement:

On our way to find our parking spot, we stumbled upon this guy:



And after parking, on our way in, we caught Tom Clements, the Packers Quarterbacks Coach on his way out:



We also caught Donald Driver on his way out, but he didn't stop for photos. Bastid!

Yep, Vince and I go way back:



Inside the Atrium, Green Bay has a tribute to some old timers whose numbers have been retired:



Another cool thing about the Atrium is that it has lines that run along the width of the floor that are exactly lined up with the lines on teh field. Too cool! Unfortunately, we didn't grab a pic, but will do that tomorrow.

I'm smiling inside:



Jen seemed to develop some weird obsession with our tour guides. She really liked the one guy's butt:



Another shot of the Vince Lombardi statue:



And one of the Curly Lambeau statue:



It turns out that those statues were made from some guy in Chicago and cost some $250,000 each! So, Jen decided she's gonna get me one for Christmas. Thanks honey!

Here's where the magic happens, aka Mike McCarthy's office:



A pic of the upper deck where the sky boxes are:



I swear Broseph used his 31337 painting skills that he used on the Talon to paint this, but no one seems to agree:



Here's Paul Hornungs actual Heisman trophy. He donated it to the Packers when he learned that they were putting up a Hall of Fame wall on the upper decks:



A shot of the field from the sky boxes:





And some guy cutting grass. If he needs helps, I know where he can get a LOT of guys with lawnmowers for CHEAP!

From the upper decks to the field level, our next stop was the players tunnel. But first, a tricked out cart anyone?



The media interview room. This is where the post game magic happens. When you see the post game interviews and the like, this is the room it takes place in:



Every woman's dream: The locker room. And look, there just so happens to be a woman going in! Hrmmm...



And now the players tunnel!

Favre's point of view:



My point of view:



"Now introducing, #17 in your books, #1 in your hearts.. SPARTA!!"



Right at the opening of the players tunnel, there is concrete surrounded by three sets of bricks, preserved from every renovation that has ever taken place on that field.



The players have to cross over this "monument" and read the following plaque before taking the field:



It kind of gave me the chills to thinking that folks like Bart Starr, Paul Hornung, Reggie White, Brett Favre, plus countless others, have all walked over that same piece of real estate.

So here I am, field level:

And some shots of the field:









A quick shot of the tunnel we just came out of:



And Jen and I:

Yeah, Jen's a dork, but I love her anyway:



I am SO getting me one of these bad boys!

So that was the tour of Lambeau. Wow..

But the highlight of my night was soon to come. Part of our package included an autograph session, which this time had Greg Jennings, Scott Wells, and former packer William Henderson!

Here I am with Greg Jennings and Scott Wells:



And also with William Henderson:



Making a special appearance was Jeremy White, Reggie White's son. He was there signing his book that discusses his life as the son of an NFL Hall of Famer.



After the autograph session, Chris Havel, who helped write the book "Favre" and who wrote "A Year of Champions- The 1996 Green Bay packers", hosted a Q&A Session:







I'll end this with a shot of the sunset from our room:



All in all a very fun filled day, with gameday tomorrow! Stay tuned for another update! Go PACK!

Okay, so, if you're that much of a cheesehead...

Did you eat in Curly's Pub? If not, you need to do so.

Also, you can buy the same carpet that's used in the locker room of the Packers. The link to where to get it is on the Packers' website; don't know it off the top of my head.

Also, if you want to engorge yourself, go to Brett Favre's Steak House -- it's behind the Hilton, and off of Holmgren Way. Can't give you compass directions, as I always get screwed up with I'm there, but I think it's south-east.

-Kevin

The Pack in Green Bay, the Badgers in Madison. It gets no better. Enjoy SpartaChris!

troj said:

Okay, so, if you're that much of a cheesehead...

Did you eat in Curly's Pub? If not, you need to do so.

Also, you can buy the same carpet that's used in the locker room of the Packers. The link to where to get it is on the Packers' website; don't know it off the top of my head.

Also, if you want to engorge yourself, go to Brett Favre's Steak House -- it's behind the Hilton, and off of Holmgren Way. Can't give you compass directions, as I always get screwed up with I'm there, but I think it's south-east.

-Kevin

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Funny you mention Curly's Pub and Brett Favre's Steakhouse. Both of those are on the docket today!

Curly's Pub will be the dinner spot after the game. Brett favre's Steakhouse is where the tailgate party is. The bus for that leaves here in a few minutes, so I gotta run. I'll update some more tonight!

Great shots you have there. I've lived here all my life and never took the tour. I've been to many a game, but have not seen the areas you had access to.

Go Pack!