Photos of Lambeau

Sorry for the delay folks. As many of you already know, I’ve been a bit under the weather since my return last Monday… Ok, that could be a tad understated. Actually, I’ve been sicker than hell. Sicker than I have been in a LONG time. I am 100% certain it has to do with the 5 different flights in 3 days that made me sick. Friggin airplanes… Flying Hot Zones if you ask me.

Anyway, I was totally healthy for the trip, which was the good thing. George and I had a great time. Although he was already sick, which put a slight damper on our late night carousing. The experience however was worth it. As always, click on the photos for bigger versions and you can view all my pictures here: Lambeau Pilgrimage

Saturday we flew out bright and early from Boise to Minneapolis. There, we caught the flight to Milwaukee. Picked up the rental car and were on our way.

This being my first time in Milwaukee, I was struck by one thing. Granted, I could only see what I could from the freeway, but all I saw were the following… Churches (there were spires EVERYWHERE), smokestacks, row houses and neighborhood bars. Very interesting. Especially to a guy who has spent his whole life in the west, where everything is new.

The drive to Green Bay took about two hours, counting a stop at McD’s for a little grub. While we were on the road, the Boise State vs Idaho game kicked off, and I was following the action the best I could with text refreshes on the iPhone. Not as good as watching the game, but at least I could sorta follow what was happening.

Upon reaching Green Bay, we drove straight to Lambeau. Forget the hotel. Forget anything else. It was quite thrilling just to lay eyes on the place. Not to mention that it was buzzing with activity. We went into the pro shop which was massive. We both got properly geared up for Sunday’s game and had a good time just looking at everything. We decided to get a drink at “Curly’s Pub” named for Curly Lambeau the guy who started the team. A couple beers and a plate of loaded pub chips later, we decided we had better check into the hotel.

Quick aside, downtown Green Bay looks like downtown Nampa Idaho. It is small and old. But, since GB only has 100,000 people, that’s kinda to be expected.

After a quick stop at the hotel, we headed off to a bar that was recommended to us by a drunken Packer fan who basically accosted us to go there while we were at Curly’s. It was called “Fuzzy’s 63” which is owned and operated by an old Packer offensive linemen Fuzzy Thruston, who is there every night signing autographs and taking pictures. This is exactly the type of place you’d expect… filled with Packer memorabilia, and filled with Packer fans prepping for game day. I’d say the average age of the patrons in this place was about 47 years old. Apart from a group of 20-something guys, I was the youngest in there by about 10 years. And EVERYONE was smoking. The air was thick in this joint. We found a couple seats at the bar, and just kinda soaked it all in. Once the karaoke started, however, we figured it was time to pack it in.

Back at the hotel, we were able to catch the college football roundup on ESPN so I could at least see some highlights from the Boise State game, and all the other games we’d missed.

Game day.

We rolled out of bed about 7:30am and started to layer up. It was supposed to be cold with a chance of snow, so I had on an undershirt, long johns, my flannel lined jeans (love those things), long sleeve t-shirt, new Packers hooded sweatshirt, fleece jacket, winter coat, 2 pairs of socks, scarf, stocking cap and gloves.

We got a taxi to the stadium at about 8:15am. Kickoff was at Noon. We had some time to kill. We walked around a bunch and watched the parking lot fill up. There were some epic tailgates going on. We also paid 5 bucks to get into this tent village thing that they had, and got ourselves a brat and a beer. In no time, it was time to head into the stadium.

After we got through the doors came the first time we actually laid eyes on the field. Wow. There it was. Amazing. Of course, it was about now that I realized I had lost my game ticket somewhere. At least it was now, when I was already in the stadium, but still… bummer not to have that keepsake. Yes, I’m an idiot.

Anyway, we found our seats and bathed in the glory that is Lambeau. Of course, George and I were taking a ton of pictures. The wind was blowing and was pretty cold, but once the game started you hardly noticed it.

The game itself was a blowout. The Packers killed the Bears, much to the delight to all the Packer faithful. It was a lot of fun to watch the fans around us. There were actually quite a few Bears fans in attendance and there were a few drunken Packer fans around to give them a ration of shit. But nothing too out of line.

One sequence I happened to catch was the game breaking turnover and touchdown in the 3rd quarter. Kyle Orton, Bears QB fumbled the snap, the ball was loose and kicked around until a Packer linebacker scooped it up and ran 60 yards for the score. Amazing that I had the camera up and ready for that one. See the following shots for the sequence.

Once the game was over, we were wondering how we were going to get back to the hotel. It was about 3 miles away and there were 70,000 people all leaving at the same time. We had no clue how we were going to find a cab. But, we were just walking, following the crowd. About 500 yards from the stadium we see a cab just sitting there. What do you know! We hopped in and he took off. In about 15 minutes we were back at the hotel warming up. That was a terrific stroke of luck there.

That evening, we walked across the street to a joint called the Fox Harbor Pub for dinner and a few beers. We watched the end of the late games and the first half of the Sunday night game. Ate a pizza and some fried cheese brogies. All in all, it was quite a day.

Monday was the travel day, but we had a few hours before we had to hit the road to Milwaukee. So, we went back to Lambeau to take the stadium tour. This was very very cool. Learned about the history of the stadium and the Packers. Got to sit in one of the biggest sky suites they have and go down on the field through the players tunnel. It lasted about an hour. Almost as cool as the game. We also hit up the Packer Hall of Fame they have there which is a museum filled with all kinds of Packer history. Amazing stuff.

From there, it was straight to the freeway and Milwaukee. Flight to Minneapolis. Flight to Salt Lake City. Flight to Boise (finally). Long day. Too many airplanes.

I finally got home at about 10pm. Exhausted. But, it was worth it. I can cross Lambeau off the list of stadiums I want to see. Pretty cool that I have crossed two off that list this year, first Autzen in Eugene Oregon and now Lambeau. I wonder which one will be next…

I have a bunch of other pictures I didn’t place in this post… go view them!