After a perfect Saturday, I was eager to embrace my newfound itinerary-less “on a whim” mantra when we headed out on our next adventure Monday morning.
Destination: Green Bay.
We didn’t even really have a reason to go, aside from curiosity. U.S. News & World Report just ranked Green Bay the #1 best place to live in the U.S., while a blogging friend referred to it as “the armpit of the Midwest.” We figured the truth lay somewhere in between.
We weren’t wrong.
After traveling 2 hours and 15 minutes through mostly flat farmland – a far cry from the dramatic bluffs of the Driftless Area – we arrived in Green Bay. The only place on my must-see list was Lambeau Field. I’m a Broncos fan for life, but I appreciate the Packers legacy, and I certainly don’t loathe them the way I do other NFL teams (I’m looking at you, Raiders). There’s even a certain degree of adopted hometown pride. So, we pulled into Titletown, a sprawling outdoor entertainment complex across from the stadium, and walked around for a bit. There’s a regulation-sized football field open to the public, as well as horseshoes, ping pong, a playground, and a giant hill open to sledding and tubing in the wintertime.
Titletown was pretty cool. We’d like to come back in the winter and take advantage of that sledding hill. Not my photo obviously, as it was approximately 1,000º in the hot sun, but how fun does this look?
After walking around Lambeau Field across the street for a few minutes – pretty anticlimactic, given that the stadium was buttoned up tightly two months before football season – we drove downtown. I’d heard there was a boardwalk, so we found that, parked the car, walked along the water for a bit, then grabbed a beer and a delicious Caprese-style bruschetta appetizer with tomatoes, pesto aioli, fresh basil, and locally sourced fresh mozzarella, finished on toasted garlic baguettes with a balsamic glaze.
Damn if that didn’t hit the spot.
By 1:00 we figured we’d had our fill of Green Bay and were ready to move on. “Want to check out Sturgeon Bay?” Tara suggested. I knew nothing about Sturgeon Bay other than the fact that it was in Door County, but according to Google Maps, that was a mere 52 minutes away and the day was still young. I was down.
Go with the flow, remember?
This turned out to be a great side trip, and was in fact the highlight of the day. We pulled into a gas station in Sturgeon Bay, I whipped out my phone, and learned there were some lighthouses a short distance away. I do enjoy me a good lighthouse, so that’s where we headed.
Incidentally, that body of water in the bottom corner is Green Bay, an extension of Lake Michigan. Pretty obvious where it gets its name, huh? The lake breeze felt amazing; it was a solid 10-12 degrees cooler out on the pier than inland.
After checking out the lighthouses, we’d seen a billboard for Door 44 Winery, so we drove out there for a bit of impromptu wine tasting. Then we ducked into a meat shop we’d driven past, grabbed some good-looking brats (pineapple teriyaki!), and then a cheese shop on the way out of town.
It ain’t a proper Wisconsin road trip if you don’t stop for cheese, guys.
The cheese shop had a deli, so in addition to blocks of peppercorn ranch Monterey jack and farmer’s cheese with guacamole, we picked up a couple of sandwiches, loaded them into the cooler we’d smartly brought along, and enjoyed those when we arrived home three hours later.
We saw just enough of Door County to whet our appetites and leave us wanting more. Sturgeon Bay is just the tip of the iceberg; there’s Egg Harbor and Sister Bay, Fish Creek and Bailey’s Harbor – a dozen towns in all, plus Washington Island. We’re going to plan a weekend getaway sometime in the offseason to really explore all there is to see up there.
All in all, we had a great holiday weekend that was equal parts adventure and relaxing. Sunday and Tuesday were spent around the house, but other than mowing the lawn for the first time in a month and smoking a pork butt for some kick-ass pulled pork, there isn’t much to say about those lazier days.
If you’d like to read how I found strength in the face of adversity through an ’80s pop song, feel free to check out my contribution to The Heart of the Matter this week.
Mark My Words 
Leave a reply to WritingfromtheheartwithBrian Cancel reply