Hello Wisconsin!

Wisconsin was the site for our annual family vacation and although I came here briefly in 2012, my wife had never been, so this would be her 30th state. Our two daughters and their Grandma were with us as well, making for a full car as we travelled around the Dairy State. A total of 5 new stadiums were visited (plus an unofficial 6th from off The List) and over the next month, I’ll update the website with detailed reviews for each one. In the meantime, here’s a daily breakdown on the trip:

Friday

The trip really started on Thursday, but it was mainly a car day with an overnight stop in Toledo, where in the evening, we stopped at the Botanical Garden. Friday, we had our break after 4 hours on the road in Elgin, IL. Being 35 miles from Chicago it’s easy to loop it in as a suburb, but Elgin is an impressive city on it’s own with 115,000 people. There’s a charming main street not far from the Fox River and we had a great lunch at the Blue Box Cafe. Then the Elgin History Museum was packed with interesting stuff despite the small size. They had a scavenger hunt for the kids and I took the time to learn about the Elgin Watch Company (which really put it on the map) and the annual Road Race as the automobile took off.

We then made it to Madison and after a short time in the hotel, it was off to Warner Park for a Mallards game of the Northwoods League. This place is just bonkers as it’s like a carnival past the main entrance, then the viewing areas for the game consist of every conceivable concept to go along with a seating bowl. The covered grandstand is accompanied by dugout suites, club seating down the line, the Duck Bind (unlimited food/beer), Outfield building seating, outfield ground level seats…it goes on and on. It’s honestly chaos, but generally wonderful chaos for everyone there (I just was overwhelmed and discombobulated as a stadium-admirer). There’s even hundreds of streamers hanging from netting on each side, a combination of artwork and shade-producer. The Mallards annually lead all Summer-Collegiate League teams when it comes to attendance and it was indeed a big turnout on this Friday Night. I’d guestimate 4,000 or so and they all went home happy. An Aaron Holland solo home run in the 8th inning was the only number on the board as Madison won this chilly and breezy game in a snappy 2 hours and 13 minutes.

Saturday

We remained in Mad-Town for most of the day and this city is bigger (pop. of 285,000) than most realize. It’s also somewhat challenging to drive around with all of the bikers, pedestrians and tight roads with occasional construction. Before everyone awoke, I went for a skyline photo across from Lake Mendota. Then, being here on a Saturday Morning, we had to go to the Farmers Market. It’s one of the biggest in the country as it wraps around Capital Square and it was packed. Lots of great local products and we made sure to sample all the cheese we could (along with buying some). The only bad part of the day was when the Naked Bike Ride descended on the nearby streets. C’mon man, really!? Those oil nut jobs need to find other ways to protest as I don’t need my two young daughters seeing that. Anyway, we also spent time in the Capitol building, where we also took in the Observation Deck. After lunch, we went to the (free) Henry Vilas Zoo. The weather was absolutely gorgeous, 75 and sunny with low humidity. We then made our way to Wisconsin Dells, where we would set-up shop for a few days.

Sunday – Monday

The Dells is a regional destination full of waterparks and typical kitschy entertainment options. There are also some neat landscapes (hence the town name) worth exploring instead of just following the strip of signs beckoning people to spend time and money. We saved that part for last by taking one of the Duck Tours and the amphibious vehicles took us around town and into the Wisconsin River for those rock formations. Otherwise, it was a sport-free couple days with lots of water play. Starting with the Land of Natura, a ton of water inflatables on a man-made lake defeated my 42-year old body. Father Time never loses and I certainly can’t do the things I did with ease decades ago. Noah’s Ark waterpark was the following day and the 75-degree sunshine was perfect for such a huge place. Kids had a blast and I braved the Anaconda, while enjoying other more tame rides. Evenings featured mini-golf, a lot of ice cream and the Rick Wilcox Magic Show, which is exactly what you think it would be (but fun).

Tuesday

After the morning Duck ride, we made the two-hour drive to the Fox Cities, selfishly for a baseball stadium. Doesn’t mean it was a boring a day for others as there was enough to fill the afternoon. We were in Appleton, the anchor of the area named after the Fox River. That body of water is near 19 different communities that make up the Fox Cities. The power of the river was harnessed for paper mills and remnants can be seen along Appleton, including where we stopped for an excellent lunch at Fratellos. From there, we walked through downtown, seeing a few of the sites on a longer historic trail and stopped into a few pretty good local shops. Harry Houdini spent his early childhood in Appleton and we saw an exhibit at the History Museum in the Castle that explored the famous illusionist. Afterwards, the kids spent time in “the best hotel pool ever” at the Comfort Suites before we went to see the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers.

The ballpark is actually in Grand Chute, more of a suburban part of the Fox Cities. There is now a corporate name to the stadium and it was built in 1994, featuring one of the earliest renditions of the open concourse where you can see the field. There have been plenty of additions and renovations through the years and the most notable is the huge slide in the left-field corner, which is then followed by a wrap-around outfield walkway. They do food and drink here very well as the options and quality is quite impressive. The seating bowl is unremarkable as it is sloped gently and features bleachers in the top half (bleh). As for the game, it was another one where the scoring was done in only one frame. The Rattlers plated 5 in the bottom of the 5th and that was the end result as it finished 5-0. There’s a good community aspect to this team and having them affiliated with the Brewers certainly helps as well.

Wednesday

It was our first rain of the trip and it didn’t cause much disruption as it was just relegated to the early morning. We wanted to spend some time on the shores of Lake Michigan, but both the water and shore was chilly (low 60s with a breeze), so instead of driving to Kohler State Park, we made a brief pit stop in Sheboygan. This lake-side town has a small sandy beach and that’s where we dipped our toes in the lake and strolled for a bit. Back to Kohler, if that sounds familiar, it is indeed the home to Whistling Straits Golf Course and I certainly gave it a thought. However, $750 is insane and I’m sure I’d regret it on Hole #3 or #4 as I’m cursing myself that I suck. After our beach detour, we headed inland to Plymouth, the self-proclaimed Cheese Capital. The Heritage Center was a let-down, but at least we had lunch there and picked up a few goodies for the trip home. The final hour-plus drive led us to Milwaukee, where we set-up shop for the next several days. A perfect introduction was to head downtown, where we went down the RiverWalk. Watching the bridges lift upwards to let boats through was pretty neat and checking out surprisingly impressive architecture were the highlights. And of course, we had to see the statue of “The Fonz”. Classic Milwaukee continued with a walk to the Public Market and finished off with a Fish Fry dinner via St. Pauli’s. Brats and Beer need to quickly follow.

Thursday

I really love this city. Great character, architecture and hang-out sections. Accentuating all of this was the MKE Sightseeing Cruise, an awesome boat tour that went down the Milwaukee and Menomonee Rivers and then out over Lake Michigan. It’s a unique city layout with most of downtown along the Milwaukee River, countering the initial thought that it is on Lake Michigan. The 90-minute cruise was narrated splendidly and it was a great way to tour the city. Before we did that, we stopped at the Milwaukee Public Museum. There’s not much time left for this relic as they move to a brand-new place in 2027. Many of the exhibits won’t be making the trip and that’s a shame as there is an ornate charm to a lot of what we saw. Wish we had more than a few hours here. Lunch was at Milwaukee Brat House, an excellent choice although there wasn’t anything special about the Urlinger Brat I had. During the evening, I went solo for a baseball game, while the girls enjoyed some pool time. The Lake Country DockHounds were only 20 minutes from our hotel and they are in Oconomowoc, an area that is serene and idyllic. The stadium to the south along I-94 is 5 years old and in an area with business parks and plenty of open space. It’s very club/social heavy with plenty of spots and spaces above the main seating that take up a lot of real estate behind home plate. Regular seating is straight-lined down the 1st base and 3rd base side. Because seated capacity is less than my threshold for an official visit (coming in at less than 3,000), there won’t be a detailed review. It was an enjoyable place and there’s a good little niche of fans that are into the team and provide a following. The DockHounds beat the local rival Milwaukee Milkmen 9-4 in this American Association game. We’ll see the Milkmen in two days.

Friday

This was the big one of the trip: the Brewers and American Family Field. Not only that, but it was against the Cubs. On Friday Night. With Jacob Misiorowski pitching. Wowzer! Before the game, we visited “The Domes”, a 3 facility relic that features horticultural wonders from three segments of the world. Then we checked out the Pabst Mansion, former home of the famous brewmaker in the city.

Those were some tame, quiet visits prior to getting to American Family Field very early for the game. The tailgating scene here is like football and the smells emanating from the parking lot certainly made me feel like it was Fall and not Summer. The roof was closed despite 68 degree sunshine at game time. That gives the ballpark a sterile and unnatural feeling. The stadium isn’t anything to write home about and the defining element is likely the slide in the left-field corner that Bernie Brewer goes down after a home run. Milwaukee won this game and the opening battle between The Miz and Pete Crow-Armstrong was awesome as he threw 103 – 105 MPH….while cocky PFA whiffed on most. The Brewers ended up winning this game 6-2 as Garrett Mitchell jump started the offensive side by hitting a two-run homer in the sixth. Misiorowski went six innings and gave up 2 hits, 1 run and struck out 8. The vibe in the stadium was party-like and I got the feel that many came here to just drink with plenty of 20-somethings acting like idiots. Evidence of this was our section in the 400s, where innings 1-3 were half-full. Then most were in their seats for innings 4-6 and then it emptied out just as quick for innings 7-9 as I overheard plans for where to go next. The visuals in the rest of the stadium weren’t that different. I wasn’t a fan, but I will say at least the noise-level and atmosphere was pretty good.

Leaving the stadium was the most frustrated I’ve been after a sporting event. After taking 30 minutes to just exit the parking lot (no thanks to attendants assisting the exit), we made it to the outer rim where it was two lanes. There was no signage for I-94 E vs W and nowhere to switch lanes, so I found myself stuck towards the Eastbound ramp. Not the way I needed to go, so I went straight, did a U-turn in a residential neighborhood (like many others) and then found that the Westbound lane was blocked from that direction. Infuriating, as I ended up getting on I-94 E to find a turnaround and the whole ordeal from arrival into the car to hotel was 1 hour and 10 minutes (normally a 20 minute ride). Terrible..

Saturday

SummerFest is one of the biggest music festivals in the country and it happened to be when we were in town. By all accounts it’s a pretty great event, however I was cursing it for the driving and parking problems it was causing as we went back downtown for Discovery World. This visit was mainly for the kids, though I enjoyed the panoramic view from the 3rd floor outdoor overlook. The weather remained beautiful, even a little cool thanks to a breeze off the lake. During the afternoon, we went to Sprecher Brewery…not for beer, but soda. 95% of that type of beverage makes up their revenue and their tour comes with all the free samples of soda you want. I think my daughter tried them all. Plus you can have 3 beer samples. Given that I’m not that big on beer, I thoroughly enjoyed it. We brought a bunch of sodas home as well. The space is great too with board games to pass the time as you wait for a tour.

Afterwards, the evening brought us to the suburb of Franklin, for another American Association game with the Milwaukee Milkmen. I saw their sloppiness a few days prior and that foreshadowed their 6-2 loss on this day. That’s what you get for being the only team to not respond to any emailed questions I sent. It was a weird game with 3 players leaving injured, including two pitchers. The ballpark is great for a newer, 4000-capacity one. Sleek designs with concourse elements behind home plate and wide/close seating overall. The footprint for the stadium grounds is huge, so whyyyyy was there no kids play area!? They squeeze these in every place I been to and my antsy kids could’ve used it. At least their mascot kept them entertained as Section 103 was a congregation area of stadium employees. That also includes “Van, the Milkman” who is both the P.A. and M.C. Never seen that before. It wasn’t a surprise to have the Milkmen / Cow references be over the top when just perusing their website, but the frequent Moo’s after each moment was something.

Sunday

14 hours to get back home to Jersey and since we’re splitting that drive into two days, the perfect halfway stop on the first travel day was South Bend, IN. Ideal since the South Bend Cubs had a 2 PM matinee! I’ve been to the area before for a Notre Dame game back in 2011 and while I’ve seen campus, I wanted to take another walk. Unfortunately, time got the best of us, so we just went right to lunch and then the game. Boy am I glad we made a stop at Four Winds Field as this was my favorite ballpark of the trip. Over the years, they’ve taken a rather plain ballpark built in 1988 and turned it a remarkable facility that includes mixed-use development. It’s one time that I’m ok with the parent relationship as the relatively new apartments lining the outfield entrance include rooftop seating, just like Wrigley. The look and feel of this stadium crisp and impressive, with varied seating. The actual bowl is suboptimal with a shallow pitch and poor sightlines, but that’s really all I can complain about. The game was super fast and set to be done in nearly two hours as the Cubs had a 2-0 lead going into the 9th. Then, closer Ethan Bell imploded as he blew the game. He gave up 4 walks, 5 hits and had a boneheaded play where he let the winning run score after a comebacker to the mound with one out and bases loaded (he threw to first, not home). Quad Cities went home with an unlikely 7-2 win.

And that wrapped up a successful vacation as we paused in Toledo and then drove home Monday. It’ll take me awhile to get all 5 stadium reviews up, but they’ll get posted through the month of July.