Scott's Visit

Somewhat on the spur of the moment, I decided to go home for Easter weekend. I traveled to Columbus on Thursday, April 1 and stayed until Sunday, April 4. Scott came back to Madison with me and stayed for a week. He just left this past Sunday afternoon, so all in all (between Columbus and Madison) we spent 10 glorious days together. It was so great to have him here in Madison. I like Madison. I like Madison better when Scott is here. We always have fun when we're together, which makes parting all that much more difficult. I told a friend of mine, "I'm tired of saying good-bye to my husband at the airport." True dat.

One of the things we did while Scott was here was catch a baseball game. Scott is a St. Louis Cardinals fan, so I have become a Cardinals fan through him. He admires Albert Pujols. Albert is a great player. I admire (wink, wink) Yadier Molina. I think he is about as cute as a button.

Anyhow, we considered ourselves super lucky that the Cardinals were playing the Milwaukee Brewers while Scott was here in Wisconsin. Sweet! We love going to baseball games together. It's definitely our idea of a good time.

Miller Park, where the Brewers play, is an impressive facility. Here is a photo of the entry from the parking lot area over to the stadium. The walkway actually crosses over the freeway, which is the next picture.





I had heard before we went over to Milwaukee to watch the game that the Brewers' fans like to tailgate. No shit! It was so cool. There were hundreds of people in the parking lots by the stadium. Beer of all kinds was flowing. Grills were set up cooking out brats and dogs. People were playing corn-hole and beer pong. It was a spectacular day weather wise. Sunny. Mild temps. It felt so good to be outside, doing a little partying, getting ready to take in a baseball game. Perfect weather for tailgating. Perfect weather for baseball. Now that's livin'.

The pictures don't really do justice to how extensive the tailgating was, but here is what we caught on camera.



I wrote above that beer was flowing at the tailgate party. Here is proof positive. Some guy doing a beer bong.



When we first walked up to the stadium, we went to the closest doors to try to enter. No dice. The entrance we approached was for HOG's only.


I might be a hog, but I'm not a HOG, so we had to find another entrance. Which we did.


Going to a baseball game used to be all about peanuts, hot dogs and beer. Times have changed and things are much fancier now. If you don't like beer at a ball game, how about a Bloody Mary?


Damn. From the looks of her, that lady in the picture above needs to drink herself a Bloody Mary and lighten the f*ck up.

Or, if you don't like Bloody Mary's, how about a margarita? Yes, this picture of the thatched roof hut was taken inside the ballpark.


It's even getting rare for people to eat good-old-fashioned-break-open-the-shell-and-throw-it-on-the-ground peanuts anymore. Now at baseball games, in fancy baseball stadiums, with Bloody Mary's and margaritas, you can get nuts like cashews baked in some kind of sweet and delectable sugar coating.


Here is Scott's favorite player, Albert Pujols, at bat.


Scott didn't take a picture of my favorite player, Yadier Molina. I think Scott's just jealous.

Miller Park has a massive iron dome roof that opens and closes, kind of like a fan. When we arrived, the roof was open.


Shortly before the game started, they closed the dome roof because of a minor threat of rain, which didn't happen. While the engineering and structure of the dome roof is beyond amazing, I kind of missed basking in the hot sun while drinking a beer and watching the game. The photo below is of the dome roof closed. The picture is taken from a similar angle as the photo above where the dome roof is open, if that helps give a frame of reference.


As many of you probably know, Scott is a die-hard union man. While we were at the stadium, he told me about 3 union iron workers who were killed building the dome roof when a crane tipped over in windy conditions. There is a memorial outside the park to commemorate the workers who died.

The upper middle section in the plaque below is of the iron workers. It was touching to me to view the memorial. These were three people- people just like you and me- who went to work one day and never came home. That gives me pause.

This is a photo of the outside of Miller Park taken from behind the iron workers memorial.


On to a lighter note. Those of you who know me and/or follow my blog know that I have a whole bunch of "Only in Wisconsin...." phrases. Here's another. Only in Wisconsin do they have tobogins for baseball teams. Football and tobogins? I get it. Baseball and tobogins? You've lost me.

I don't know who the guy is wearing the Brewer's tobogin in the photo above, but I know I like him and we share a similar life philosophy. Save water. Drink Corona.

One final picture of the outside of Miller Park. A magnificent structure.


I guess I will wrap up this post. But, before I do, a couple more pictures. Before Scott and I headed over to Milwaukee for the game, we went to the IHOP here in Madison for breakfast. IHOP is kind of a novelty for us because we didn't have them in Columbus. Let me tell you this. I NEVER want to go to IHOP again. EVER. I think the food I ordered sat under a heat lamp for about 4 days before they served it to me. The atmosphere sucks and the decor leaves a lot to be desired. Case in point, the photo below. I guess maybe I should appreciate that, when they tried to fix the seat with duct tape, they at least tried to match the colors.

The duct tape patched vinyl seat was bad. So were the hanging flower arrangements. There is something I like about this picture, though. For the first time in more than a decade, I had someone other than my hairdresser in Columbus wax my eyebrows. I broke down, took a leap of faith, and got my brows waxed at a salon here in Madison. They appear in the picture below and look pretty darn good if I don't say so myself. I can't say the same about the fake plant.