Miller Field home of the Milwaukee Brewers

Tuesday, June 23

Day 77

We packed up our stuff, did a bit of last minute emailing and blogging and drove through Loyola University which was further north right on the shore of Lake Michigan. Our niece, Megan, went to school here for awhile so we really wanted to see it. It was very nice but were unable to find parking to get out to walk. It was sad to say goodbye to Chicago. We think we both agree that this was our favorite city so far. It was clean, easy to maneuver without driving and has tons of really wonderful things to see. We barely scratched the surface. 

We had a fairly short day driving toward Milwaukee. We had already arranged for a hotel as we have a night game tonight and then a noon game tomorrow in Minneapolis which is about 5 ½ hours away. We checked in, went to the grocery store for snacks and a couple beers as we had learned in The Ultimate Baseball Road Trip Book that there is tailgating at Miller Field. Yesterday, I said we preferred the parks built into neighborhoods, but we have to say, if you must have your baseball park in the middle of a big parking lot, Milwaukee takes the right approach! They allow tailgating up to 3 hours before the game. 

 There were lots of families BBQing and playing beanbag toss games and many group gatherings before going into the game. I would guess that what they lose in food sales, they gain in group attendance. We were looking at the board that lists the group sites for tailgating and 2 caught our eyes. One was a Mary Kay beauty products group and one was the Jay Buckley's Baseball tour group. Could it be the same folks we met the other day in Chicago? We walked over to their site and sure enough it was the same group. We got to talk to our new friends again, amazed at this small world experience and then met the tour guides who told us about the tour company and we swapped stories of going to different stadiums. It was a great experience! 

Marty and Mark from Jay Buckley's Baseball tour group

 We walked around the stadium and took photos.

 We spotted 2 young men with t-shirts that said 30 in 30 for 30. I had to ask them about it and found out these 2 guys were seeing all 30 ball parks in 30 days, driving! One would drive while the other slept. They were roommates in Chicago and started their trip in Seattle where we will end ours. The most ironic thing was that this was also their game 25, just like ours! We again swapped stories, wished them safe travels and gave them our blog.

 If you want to read about them, check out their website where they post daily summaries of their adventures.

www.30in30for30.com

Miller Park has space-age roof that was open tonight. To me up close it looks like a spaceship from StarWars.

 It opens like a fan and only takes 10 minutes to do so. It weighs 12,000 tons, covers 10.5 acres and can hold up to 12 feet of snow. When it is closed, the building can be warmed to 30 degrees Fahrenheit above the outdoor temperature.

Sausage races

 We watched the “stadium seat patrol” at Miller Park. Each section has an attendant as was typical in each park. Then there was a supervisor who must have supervised a few attendants. They went up to everyone who sat down and asked to see their tickets and politely let them stay for 3 more outs and then they were asked to leave. It was quite comical. Not all the supervisors were so diligent. At the seventh inning stretch, they play “Roll Out the Barrel”. That seems appropriate for the Brew City. They also have sausage races. We watched the Brewers defeat Texas in front of a fairly large crowd for a Tuesday night.

When a Brewer player hits a home run, Bernie slides down the slide.  No
 sliding for Bernie tonight.

Now that is a glove!