Beautiful sunshine outside, but still pretty darn cold (low 40’s). We were up and out of our home by 9:15 AM (after having a wonderful breakfast of oatmeal with blueberries and strawberries and, of course, coffee).
We headed into Green Bay and parked near the Packers store. I was excited to see how much the cheeseheads were (as I’ve wanted one for many years).
It is easy to spot the stadium in this town.Nice on the outside. This is a statue of Curly Lambeau. A player coach that started the team. He gave it a great start.Of course, the other greatest coach, Vince Lombardi.Main entrance, not the one we took today.
Michael came inside with my dear friend, Pepper, a few minutes later. Pepper has been a friend of mine (now ours) for almost 40 years. I first met her while working for the County of Monterey County. She was hired as a clerk and was just always so nice and way too sweet. She continued on her career in the County, from which she retired and moved to Wisconsin several years ago. Was so nice catching up with her for the hour or so before we could go on the Champion’s Tour. So glad we didn’t go on the regular, cheaper tour because it looked like all kids. I was shocked to hear that Pepper hadn’t been to Lambeau Field or to a Packer’s game since she’s lived here. I hope she enjoyed the tour.
Pepper joined us, it has been a long time. When introducing Pepper, it is always quickly told that she is 6’3″ tall. Just thought I’d get it out of the way.Pretty woman has always wanted a cheesehead,. Who knew?Another cheesehead.We entered from the store via an escalator.You enter into the Atrium, which has really tall ceilings with really big fans.Lots of displays honoring past accomplishments.
Before the tour I had to go to the bathroom. As I entered it was pitch black until I passed a motion detector.The lights come on by sections and the ceiling furnace fired up and blew hot air into the space quickly making it warm.High tech and built for game day.Corner office 2nd floor, is the head coaches, Managers on top floor. Restaurants on 1st floor. The floor of the atrium can hold dinner for 1400, which they do a couple times a year. It, as with everything here, is to earn money to support the team.The lines on the atrium floor are perfectly aligned with the lines of the field.
The tour guide’s name was Ron, and his helper was Candy. We got to see private areas of the stadium, went down onto the field, and just got a really excellent tour of the facility. We also learned a lot of history and fun facts. Thoroughly enjoyed the tour and am now more of a fan of the Packers. I’ve decided I’m going to wear my new cheesehead hat to a 49er game. Maybe put some red and gold on it or something. Love my cheesehead.
There are many suites here. Big bucks.We went into one of the larger ones.It was very nice and would be a warm way to enjoy a Green Bay game.The side walls are glass and you can still gawk at others.Ron, our tour guide, had a great microphone and speaker system.The belt speaker put out a lot of sound.He explained what the different suites were about, I couldn’t keep enough track to explain it now though.I do recall that every single seat and spot on every bench is sold to a season ticket holder. The wait list is in excess of 116,000 individuals.We went to the roof.Got great views. Green Bay is in the distance.Thank you Ron.Then to the most deluxe and expensive suite.Curly and Vince, with their championship wins.
A piece of concrete saved from a remodel.The meaning.Neat stuff in the trophy cabinets.
We went down into the tunnels the players use to get to and from the field.As close as we were allowed to the locker room. Ron told us the equipment manager had a rug made of the G and takes it on the road so they feel more at home when they are away.They played the exciting music and introduction as we went through the tunnel out onto the field, that was a unique experience.Tradition. They don’t hesitate to call themselves “Titletown” and remind all of a record 13 Superbowl wins.Preserved from the last remodel.I am standing on the end where Bart Starr did the best ever all time greatest quarterback sneak.Pretty woman caught grumpy giving her direction on where to stand.Grumpy and Pepper.Across the street, a 60 yard indoor practice field.Some nice Victorians on the way to lunch.
After the tour we went to a little place a couple miles away, recommended by our tour guide. It had some wonderful food, but the desserts not so much. The cheesecake I got was more of a heavy bread and wasn’t that sweet. I guess I shouldn’t have wanted dessert but… For lunch Michael got a great salad and some bbq chicken wings. Pepper got a wart bread BLT, and I got a turkey/cranberry on vegetable bread sandwich. Excellent. (It’s called wart bread because it has some of the beer making leftovers in it.)
A favorite of the GBP.
My chicken salad and wings.Edie’s.Pepper’s.Edie’sPepper’s.
After talking until almost 3:30 PM, we said our goodbyes to Pepper. We hope to see her a time or two before we leave the area if the weather holds and if health holds. She headed off to her home and we headed off to the Toyota dealership down the street we had seen when we got into town. We made an appointment for Thursday to have our service done. This will be the first one we’ve had to pay for since we purchased our new little Prius. After that we headed to Costco to get more fruit and veggies, as well as oatmeal and nuts.
We are now back home, getting comfortable. That was our day. Hope yours was great!
