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Milwaukee-Chicago Train Trip Day 6 of 7
Jun. 18th, 2023 11:59 pmSUNDAY
I got up about five minutes to six to pee and returned to bed. Gary woke up about eight so I turned off my alarm and took care of my morning routine, and caught up on journaling. We went downstairs for breakfast about quarter to ten.
Just after ten we left for the MKE Brat House to catch the free shuttle to the ballpark. We followed the Riverwalk on the west side of the river, passing a dude asleep sitting up on a bench with his shoes off and carefully laid to one side. It was a fairly short walk (four blocks).
We were greeted by a cute scruffy bartender who reminded me of Duff. We chose a high table opposite the bar, which afforded a good view of all the TV screens over the bar. Two screens showed a replay of the AHL championship game from last night. We split an order of cheese curds, Gary had a can of Angry Orchard (as they had run out of Strongbow) and I had a tall glass of Franziskaner Weissbier which I'd had in Germany nine years ago almost to the day. I overheard a lady complimenting the scruffy bartender on his T-shirt so I checked it out on our way to the shuttle van; it was a drawing of a brown and white bulldog captioned "yee-haw, let's break the law".
On the short drive to the stadium, we passed the MECCA arena where the AHL Admirals play, the Hilton where we boarded the bus yesterday, the Mitchell Park Domes, and a large doggy day care facility called Central Bark. After receiving instructions on boarding the return shuttle after the game, we left the van, snapped some photos, and got in line to enter the stadium. I made the metal detector beep but it was just my suspenders. We received free floppy Brew Crew hats, shopped at the team store, then made our way to our seats.
Gary settled in while I returned to the concourse to pee and buy drinks. I got a Leinenkugel summer shandy and a bottle of water. During the top of the 3rd inning, Pirates designated hitter Bryan Reynolds (no relation to our buddy in Columbus, at least that I know of) batted a 2-run homer, and the scoreboard began showing player trivia including the fact that first baseman Carlos Santana "has never collaborated with Rob Thomas". 🙂 🎶Oye como va...🎶 Across the aisle a row in front of us, a cute ginger cub was seated on the aisle, wearing a black cap memorializing the old County Stadium in embroidery of neon blue, green, and magenta and a powder blue T-shirt with the Nike "Just Do It" slogan. In the bottom of the fifth (no distillery promotion here 😊), Brewers right fielder Raimel Tapia batted an RBI bringing catcher William Contreras home from third. Señor Chorizo won the sausage race, which was held as a relay in which children donned smaller versions of each costume and lined up by first base to be tagged by their adult counterparts. In the bottom of the eighth, after two walks, Contreras batted in another RBI to tie the score at 2, and after yet another walk and a pitching change, Tapia hit another RBI for the go-ahead run. At the end of the inning, third baseman Luis Urias hit a ground ball to drive in two more runs, but was himself tagged out trying to reach second, for which he got a smack on the head with a glove from first baseman Rowdy Tellez (the hot bear Gary clued me in about before the game). Still, that was enough to win the game outright, 5-2.
We caught the shuttle van back to the Brat House, standing in the aisle at the front the whole trip. When we arrived, I sat on a bench on the back porch and exchanged messages with Nick, since he and his boyfriend TJ were in town (from Green Bay) to shop at DXL and Ikea. I was originally going to suggest they meet us at the Brat House, but Gary noticed some nastiness under the Tegaderm bandage I'd applied to my shin this morning and suggested we return to the hotel to clean it up. I informed Nick and we returned to the hotel by the reverse of the route we'd taken in the morning. We agreed to meet at Potbelly sandwich shop just across the river at 5:15 PM, about half an hour thence.
Nick and TJ were waiting outside for us as we arrived. They've been together 8 months, and TJ is only about 8 years Nick's senior (he graduated from high school when Nick was a fourth grader). Both Nick and TJ grew up in Wisconsin, although Nick was born in Romania and adopted as a baby. We ordered sandwiches and told many stories over an early dinner. We parted company about 6:30 with pictures and hugs.
When we returned to the hotel, we stopped to check out the pool and fitness center in the hotel basement before returning to the room to chill out. Gary fell asleep while I went downstairs to use the pool. It was rather busy but I managed to get some swimming in and a good soak in the spa. I especially noticed one dude conversing with two ladies in the spa, and then pulling one of them reluctantly into the pool. She eventually lost a piece of jewelry and a little boy wearing goggles found it for her.
When the pool got a little too crowded, I dried off and returned to the room. Gary woke up and I went to the lobby for Snickers ice cream bars and Powerade. I prepared for bed around eleven, and journaled and surfed briefly before calling it a night.
I got up about five minutes to six to pee and returned to bed. Gary woke up about eight so I turned off my alarm and took care of my morning routine, and caught up on journaling. We went downstairs for breakfast about quarter to ten.
Just after ten we left for the MKE Brat House to catch the free shuttle to the ballpark. We followed the Riverwalk on the west side of the river, passing a dude asleep sitting up on a bench with his shoes off and carefully laid to one side. It was a fairly short walk (four blocks).
We were greeted by a cute scruffy bartender who reminded me of Duff. We chose a high table opposite the bar, which afforded a good view of all the TV screens over the bar. Two screens showed a replay of the AHL championship game from last night. We split an order of cheese curds, Gary had a can of Angry Orchard (as they had run out of Strongbow) and I had a tall glass of Franziskaner Weissbier which I'd had in Germany nine years ago almost to the day. I overheard a lady complimenting the scruffy bartender on his T-shirt so I checked it out on our way to the shuttle van; it was a drawing of a brown and white bulldog captioned "yee-haw, let's break the law".
On the short drive to the stadium, we passed the MECCA arena where the AHL Admirals play, the Hilton where we boarded the bus yesterday, the Mitchell Park Domes, and a large doggy day care facility called Central Bark. After receiving instructions on boarding the return shuttle after the game, we left the van, snapped some photos, and got in line to enter the stadium. I made the metal detector beep but it was just my suspenders. We received free floppy Brew Crew hats, shopped at the team store, then made our way to our seats.
Gary settled in while I returned to the concourse to pee and buy drinks. I got a Leinenkugel summer shandy and a bottle of water. During the top of the 3rd inning, Pirates designated hitter Bryan Reynolds (no relation to our buddy in Columbus, at least that I know of) batted a 2-run homer, and the scoreboard began showing player trivia including the fact that first baseman Carlos Santana "has never collaborated with Rob Thomas". 🙂 🎶Oye como va...🎶 Across the aisle a row in front of us, a cute ginger cub was seated on the aisle, wearing a black cap memorializing the old County Stadium in embroidery of neon blue, green, and magenta and a powder blue T-shirt with the Nike "Just Do It" slogan. In the bottom of the fifth (no distillery promotion here 😊), Brewers right fielder Raimel Tapia batted an RBI bringing catcher William Contreras home from third. Señor Chorizo won the sausage race, which was held as a relay in which children donned smaller versions of each costume and lined up by first base to be tagged by their adult counterparts. In the bottom of the eighth, after two walks, Contreras batted in another RBI to tie the score at 2, and after yet another walk and a pitching change, Tapia hit another RBI for the go-ahead run. At the end of the inning, third baseman Luis Urias hit a ground ball to drive in two more runs, but was himself tagged out trying to reach second, for which he got a smack on the head with a glove from first baseman Rowdy Tellez (the hot bear Gary clued me in about before the game). Still, that was enough to win the game outright, 5-2.
We caught the shuttle van back to the Brat House, standing in the aisle at the front the whole trip. When we arrived, I sat on a bench on the back porch and exchanged messages with Nick, since he and his boyfriend TJ were in town (from Green Bay) to shop at DXL and Ikea. I was originally going to suggest they meet us at the Brat House, but Gary noticed some nastiness under the Tegaderm bandage I'd applied to my shin this morning and suggested we return to the hotel to clean it up. I informed Nick and we returned to the hotel by the reverse of the route we'd taken in the morning. We agreed to meet at Potbelly sandwich shop just across the river at 5:15 PM, about half an hour thence.
Nick and TJ were waiting outside for us as we arrived. They've been together 8 months, and TJ is only about 8 years Nick's senior (he graduated from high school when Nick was a fourth grader). Both Nick and TJ grew up in Wisconsin, although Nick was born in Romania and adopted as a baby. We ordered sandwiches and told many stories over an early dinner. We parted company about 6:30 with pictures and hugs.
When we returned to the hotel, we stopped to check out the pool and fitness center in the hotel basement before returning to the room to chill out. Gary fell asleep while I went downstairs to use the pool. It was rather busy but I managed to get some swimming in and a good soak in the spa. I especially noticed one dude conversing with two ladies in the spa, and then pulling one of them reluctantly into the pool. She eventually lost a piece of jewelry and a little boy wearing goggles found it for her.
When the pool got a little too crowded, I dried off and returned to the room. Gary woke up and I went to the lobby for Snickers ice cream bars and Powerade. I prepared for bed around eleven, and journaled and surfed briefly before calling it a night.