Recently I embarked on the single-longest solo road trip of
my life. It wasn’t a substantial drive, but it felt great to get away from
Minnesota for a while and do something different. I went to Madison to spend
some time with family that I hadn’t connected with in about 20 years, and I
went with them to a Brewer’s game in Milwaukee. It was a lovely time.
I couldn’t sleep. I had been rolling around in bed since
3:30am, and it was now 5:00. I decided to get up and pack, and leave an hour
ahead of schedule at 6am. I did just that, and made one stop in Osseo, WI for
breakfast. I made it to Madison just after 10am, and was greeted by a face that
seemed so familiar, even though I had only ever seen it in my adult life on
Facebook. I called him Uncle Bob as a kid, and now I call him Bob. I’m not sure
how it works when he is my mother’s cousin. Maybe he’s just my cousin. Cousin
Bob. We chatted about family, life, politics, and dogs. We had a lot in common.
We took his dogs for a walk around the neighborhood while we
waited for his wife to come back from her yoga session, and we ordered lunch to
bring back home in the form of hot beef (Philly style) sandwiches from Gino’s
Italian Deli, which were delightful.
Bob and I took a drive over to the UofW Arboretum, which you
will see pictures of below. Nobody said the weather was nice, nobody said the
flowers would be in bloom, but I snapped some colors anyhow. We then decided to
take a spin around the city which I thoroughly enjoyed. I got the opportunity
to go through a cheese shop where nearly every flavor was available to sample. I
settled on a 10-year aged cheddar which I will sample at home later today.
We returned to his home where I took a power nap and woke up
in time to help with dinner. We sat around for a while after the meal, and this
is where I really felt a sense of family. It seems that over the years I really
missed a lot of meals with the people I left behind, and catching up on that
has been rather fulfilling.
Let’s skip forward now to Milwaukee (Actually, it's pronounced Mill-e-wah-que which is Algonquin for "the good land."). I had been much farther
east before, but never to the home of the Brewer’s. As many of you know, I love
baseball, and I truly enjoy being at the games. Yesterday I was at Miller Park
to see the game vs. our ’91 World Series adversaries, the Atlanta Braves. I
didn’t recognize any of the players from back then, but the uniforms were
roughly the same. The park itself was a grand building, and the roof seemed to
be much higher than I remember the Metrodome being. I could be wrong there.
The game itself was fun to watch. The Brew Crew ended up
winning 4-3. And that’s it for the post. I’m going to show you the pictures I
took, and I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.
