The Phallic Road Trip

Another 330 miles down, we are now in Bloomington, just outside of Minneapolis. Today’s agenda: visit the Mall of America, then head into downtown Minneapolis for a 7:05 Minnesota Twins game against the New York Yankees. Disappointed that Joba won’t be starting, but Petitte/Hernandez should still be a good match-up.

Yesterday was long. We woke up at 6:30 to take our showers and leave Manitowoc for Green Bay. We got to Lambeau Field at 8:15, with plenty of time to get tickets for the 11 o’clock tour that went on sale at 9.

After getting tickets, we headed down to the nearest breakfast stop: IHOP. Got there a few minutes past 9, missing the $2.99, 6-9 early bird special — though we never found out what that was. Regardless, IHOP was a hoppin’ Sunday morning spot. Service was fast; we were out by a quarter to 10.

As we still had over an hour before our tour, we decided to head down the street to Best Buy, only to be shocked by the line of 20 or so people waiting to get in. No sales were had, just eager Wisconsinites ready to check out some cell phones and TVs. The Guitar Hero demos weren’t even working. Disappointing does not even begin to describe how we felt.

Lambeau Field was amazing though. I’ve only been to one football stadium before — Raymond James in Tampa Bay — and I’m not a Packers fan, but walking around Lambeau is well worth the trip. Originally opened in 1957, the stadium underwent some extensive renovations in 2003, making it feel like a brand new facility. Walking through the tunnel and down to the field was our Sunday morning churchgoing sports equivalent.

We left Green Bay at around noon and made our way west, stopping off for some gas — $3.97/gallon — and some subs. Along the way, we passed a few great spots, including Chubby’s Gentleman’s Club — we did not stop, just loved the name.

We got to John’s grandmother’s house in Eau Claire at around 4, and took her out for some BBQ at a nearby restaurant, where I finally got some authentic cheese curds.

It was fascinating hearing some of the stories of her late husband who had been a POW in WWII. Really is amazing how different life has become in just two generations.

Afterwards, we finished the 90 or so miles to Minneapolis. Got into our Comfort Inn at around 8 and headed down to the attached Outback Steakhouse for a couple of rounds of drinks; Justin left after two, John and I stayed through last call a couple of drinks later.

All told, yesterday was about an 18-hour day, but fortunately, we will be staying in this room again tonight, so we got to sleep in.

Today, we are mall rats. Mall of America, here we come.