It's been a week since we were in Milwaukee to watch the Brewers sweep the Rockies, and as fun as it was I'm glad to be back home with the family. One weekend a summer I make my way down to Brew City to get away from everyday life and take in three games with the guys. This year was no different and we planned on making our biggest weekend yet, nine guys and a chick.

Friday morning came and we left my place in Baldwin at around 10 A.M. and  made the long drive down I94. This was the first year we had to take two vehicles. A member our our crew decided to start drinking at nine in the morning so we made three more stops than usual as his small bladder couldn't contain itself. The drinking came back to haunt him and another guy in the form of a 200.50 dollar open container ticket after being pulled over for speeding. At least the driver wasn't drinking and got away with speeding. After the forty five minute delay from being pulled over, the two vehicles were back on track and almost to Milwaukee. We arrived at the same Super 8 (Wauwatosa) that we always stay at, checked in and headed to the stadium for some tailgating. The first night we packed 10 people into the mini van and headed to the game. The game started at seven and we got to the general parking lot at four when it opened. We always park in general parking, fuck preferred. I look at preferred parking as the lot for the yuppies, pussies and families. Grilling up 20+ brats on a small travel grill takes some talent and patience. They were tasty as were the Busch Lights. You can't go wrong with 30 beers for 15 dollars. The bean bags were tossed, most guys went in around a hour early. Four of us sat by the van and pounded a few more beers and headed in just in time to see the first pitch. What a hell of a first game for the weekend too, 14 inning game won by a Fielder walk off home run. Each time we got down, we would hit a homer to tie it up. First was McGehee, the Bet in the thirteenth, followed by Prince's game ending dinger. The only downfall to such a great game to be there for was the stopping of beer sales after the seventh inning.  I was sober by the twelfth inning. The crowd wasn't real big to begin with and had really emptied out around the twelfth inning too. Bryan and myself decided to go down and get a better view on the rail, and heckle Davey Nelson. We were giving Davey and Craig shit about being up past their bedtime and other forgettable obscenities as the pre and post game show is taped right under our section in right field. The Prince Fielder bomb in the 14th inning went sailing over our heads and we were on Sportscenter's top plays dancing like idiots. After the game, we went back to the parking lot, re-heated a few brats, had a few beers and headed back to the hotel. Some of the guys stayed up and drank and hit a Perkins, but not this guy.

Saturday came and started with a slight hangover. Not being able to sleep in, I was sure that my room mates wouldn't either. Seven o'clock rolled around and I woke Chad up looking for the tv remote, soon enough Bryan and Andy were up in the other rooms and looking for breakfast. We got almost everybody together and headed to the same Perkins some guys were at around five hours before. After a delicious breakfast we headed to the Brookfield mall. I didn't find anything I needed, but they did have some cool shit. We headed back to the hotel to figure out the rest of the day, but it started raining and put a damper on walking around down town and going to a brewery tour. We also decided against going to Braun's restaurant as we heard it was overpriced and not that great of food. I would still like to try it, I heard the same about Brett Favre's Steakhouse and I liked thought it was good food and decent prices. Maybe next year for Graffito, if it's still there. It was getting close to tailgating time and was still pouring so we decided on Hooters for lunch instead of grilling. Boobs, ass, wings, drinks and fish tacos hit the spot. Then it hit me, the food and drinks from the night before were bubbling up and ready to make a hasty exit. I tried my damdest to finish my last three wings before I went to shit my brains out, but could only get one of the three down. I cleared out my system in a timely fashion and went back out to finish my wings. We then headed to the parking lot to start drinking again and the sun came out. We didn't get rained on and met up with some chicks from our hometown that were down on a girls weekend. We had a few with them and headed into the game. We sat under Bernie's slide in left field in the "splash zone" and got sprayed a couple times.  Another good game to watch, I'm glad we got to see Greinke and Marcum pitch. After the game we drank in the lot until it cleared out, we then headed back to the hotel to meet up and hit the bars. After a long drawn out ride and a driver in the women's car that couldn't keep up, the women ended up going back to their hotel and we went to the bar without their lame asses. It's too bad, they would've been fun to drink with but their driver ruined it. Oh, well. We walking down to Kips. It was surprisingly a full house. We hit up Kips every year, it's a great hole in the wall dive bar with cheap beer. Can't beat it if you don't want to shake your ass in the club. I got bored and went back to the hotel, Bryan came with and I ordered pizza and cheesy bread from Toppers. I don't know why, I ended up falling asleep twice before it showed up. I ate the cheesy bread, which was delicious and one piece of pizza before I passed out.

Sunday came and it was time to pack up the vehicles and get ready to go to the park. And what would a Sunday in Milwaukee be without some van troubles. Last year it was a flat tire, this year it was a dead battery, which we also had after the Friday night game. Friday night we traded a jump in the parking lot for a third of a bottle of Jack. The sun was out Sunday and I got toasted. We grilled up a bunch of burgers and headed into the game. We sat in the front row in right center field in the loge bleachers, right next to the Tundra Territory. It was another great game to watch as Wolf looked really good. We took our McGehee bobbleheads and headed out after the game was done. I always say I would never leave a game early, but after sitting in the worst parking lot traffic I've encountered Sunday, I can see why people do. We sat there for at least an hour before making our way to horrible traffic on I94. Traffic had just started clearing when an old lady in front of me locked up her brakes and I rear ended her. I was a couple of car lengths back and the ol' mini van just couldn't make the stop. At the last second I realized I was going to crush her, and avoided doing so by turning into the concrete barrier. I barely hit her and her car only had a small scratch and a loose bumper, but the van had a dented bumper, broken headlight cover, dented hood, quarter panel and my dignity. After filling out paperwork for forty five minutes, we were on our way again. A long drive home through the rain and we arrived back in Baldwin, safe-ish and ready to sleep in my own bed.

I miss you Milwaukee, but you are a mistress I can only handle once (maybe twice) a year.

Top Things I learned this year in Milwaukee.
1. No chicks allowed, sorry bro but won't happen again. I think it was Beyonce that said it best, " I don't want no drama, no no no drama." 
2. Hooters is a great alternative to grilling out.
3. Kips never fails.
4. Planning a trip this big is a fucking headache.
5. Four dudes in one hotel room makes it impossible to find time to spank the monkey.

Ronald