Vacation to...Milwaukee?

On Friday afternoon, we loaded up Big Whitey with Big White'uns, namely Erin and I plus Erin's parents and the Grantster, and headed for our vacation in Wisconsin. Following a brief debate which I, predictably, lost regarding whether or not we would try to go through Chicago or around it, we began our trek.

We arrived in Chicago around 2pm and took the Skyway into downtown. All was well until we hit the north side of town, at which time we gained admission to the "Greater Chicago/Milwaukee Parking Festival" for the next couple of hours. I repeatedly brought up the debate which had just occurred as we left Indy, but all it served to do was remind me that I was the only person riding in the van who had not at some point held the last name "Gunst."

Upon arriving in Milwaukee, our predetermined destination for the evening, we began looking for restaurants. Never settling for an Applebee's or the like, we drove downtown and dined at the Water Street Brewery. (You pretty much HAVE to eat at a brewery when in Milwaukee, right?) The food was good, but it was obvious by the duller-than-usual stares that we were all pretty beat. My father-in-law and I dropped the women-folk at the hotel and went out for a quick night cap (at Applebee's, no less) where my father-in-law chose not to remind me that I would never win debates like the one had earlier in the day.

On Sunday, we decided to take in a tour of the Miller Brewing Company. I would have preferred to have toured one of the smaller brewries in town, but the timing just wasn't going to work. We arrived at Miller at around 10am and took the first tour. The gift shop where the tour started was what you would expect -- old beer bottles featuring the Miller emblemn from bygone eras, a timeline showing the history of Miller, and a healthy selection of Asians with large photographic ensembles awaiting the tour.

The tour was enjoyable, if nothing remarkable. It did end with three samples of Miller beers and their associated imports, which made the whole thing a-o.k. The samples confirmed what I had suspected throughout the tour -- I don't like anything brewed by Miller. I tried High Life, touted as the "champagne of beers." I don't much like champagne, and I definitely don't need it in my beer. I tried Miller Lite. No go. I tried MGD. Tolerable, but if anything else was available, including water, I'd probably go that direction. My father-in-law had the right idea. He chose to get three samples of Foster's, which is imported by Miller. The servers didn't seem to mind serving him three of the same thing, and he didn't have to endure the lingering taste of Miller Lite for the rest of the day.

One interesting fact we learned on the tour was that up until some time in the 1980's, the employees at the Miller brewery could drink as much as they wanted (or could) while on the job. This had to provide an amazing work environment. Nothing says OSHA like four drunk guys and a giant vat of beer or a fork lift. It's a wonder that every other bottle of the "champagne of beers" didn't feature a "finger from a drunken employee."

After Milwaukee, we made our way on up to Door County, Wisconsin. We're still getting settled, but I'll try to post throughout the week. I have discovered, though, in my first 24 hours here that a) there are no mini-golf places featuring animatronic cartoon characters and b) three out of four people are an expert on infant sleep patterns and how to improve them (especially if they're all related).