Marc Von Ahnen

Dec 13, 201810 min read

Milwaukee, Bronze Fonz, AJ Bombers, Lambeau Field, Green Bay Packers Vs Atlanta Falcons, Creed 2

Milwaukee

For a Birthday gift I got my dad two tickets to a Green Bay Packers game. Green Bay is about a 7 hour driver from Des Moines and the route goes right through Milwaukee, which is where two of my favorite people live. We made a plan to meet for a late lunch on Saturday. Dad and I got up and out the door about 7, it was pretty easy drive. Both of us switched back and forth on the driving duty and my dad made a pretty amazing playlist for the trip, lots of classic rock, you know like Abba and Cher, along with some hits by Lauryn Von Ahnen.

https://www.facebook.com/LaurynVA/

Bronze Fonz

Nicki tossed out a few options for restaurants but knew my of my love for Happy Days and Fonz and told me that Aj Bombers was about 3 minutes from the Bronze Fonz, that was an easy pick for me! We got their and gave our name, the place must be a Milwaukee favorite because it was hopping and we were told we would be looking at a 30 to 45 minute wait. Not a big deal because I had to see a false idol.

Dad and I got a Lyft to the Bronze Fonz and it was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. I do not have children but I know now what the excitement and joy a new father has when he gets to hold his baby for the first time because I have seen the Bronze Fonz.

https://amzn.to/2SM0byR

AJ Bombers

We got our lyft back to the AJ Bombers and I cannot explain how cool this place was. They got their name because on the ceiling are a series of metal tracks and on them are bombs, they fill the bombs with peanuts and slide them across the track where they dispense peanuts into a bowl. The ground was littered with peanut shells.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzoSK00aWyM

They're known for their burgers so I opted for the Barrie, a bacon burger with peanut butter on it! Also the cheese curds because if you're in Wisconsin you have to have their cheese. To order you fill out a little card, checking what you'd like. They gave me a red pen so I wasn't sure if I had some how failed ordering my lunch.

It was an awesome time, even if the little one didn't enjoy my company, but it was wayyyy to short. I need to get to Milwaukee again soon!

Lambeau Field

First off, I didn't know Green Bay was so small! It's a giant stadium in the middle of a small town. My goal was to find a comic store and try and get some issues of the vampire shark in their but the only one I could find closed at 5 on Saturday and wasn't open again until Tuesday. How small is Green Bay? I was discussing how much money our lyft driver makes driving for lyft and he responded "pretty good. Not as much as you would make in a city as big as Des Moines." I'm not used to being the big city guy.

We didn't really have a set plan for Saturday night, after checking into our hotel the night was kind of open. My dad said something about hanging in the room that night, so I thought about maybe checking out Creed 2... I still haven't seen it!!!! I went down stairs and sat in the hot tub for about 40 minutes and then returned to our room where my dad asked if I wanted to go see the field and shops and restaurants. 10 minutes later we were in a car on our way.

Outside of Lambeau they had some nice statues of guys. I am not sure who they are.

I am pretty sure this guy was a Dick Tracy villain or maybe some nice grandpa.

And the guy that was named after my dad's dog.

My dad went inside the shop and went on a little shopping spree. "Marc, do you need yellow and green overalls?" Yeah dad that will go great when I am meeting clients trying to close the Henderson account. Alright, I don't really have a job like that but I don't know when I would need yellow and green overalls. I did let him get me a stocking cap for the game.

Up the escalator was a wall of plagues and people who I am sure are important. I laughed because some of them looked like mug shots.

He then decided he needed a coat, he went back down the escalator and I looked around, across the room I saw a group of teens, dressed in nice suits and dresses and figured they were a school choir caroling I went over to them to snap a few pictures and videos of them singing but then figured out that they were just teens going to a winter formal or something. I then just started fidgeting on my phone and walked away because I felt super creepy.

We wanted to eat at 1919 but it was over a two hour wait and I was about ready to eat my own hand so we had to go somewhere else which turned out to be rather serendipitous because we got a good look at the places around the stadium.

We walked across the street to Hinterland Brewery but this place was also hopping and had a wait list of over an hour. Outside of Hinterland there was a giant hill for sledding and a path of Christmas lights.

The path led to a small deli where I got myself a savory grilled cheese. Serendipity for all.

Game Day

We woke up on Sunday around 7 and started getting ready for the game.

"What time do you want head down there?" my dad asked.

"It's your day. That's up to you," I now regret saying.

"About 9:30?" he asked again.

"Ok," I said.

"You know what, lets go right now." It was 8:30.

Luckily for us we got the nicest Lyft driver ever. So much so that he stopped our ride early so he could give us a small tour around Lambeau field. He would explain what bars were popular. Where we should eat. My favorite is he would point to the party houses. A group of people would buy a house and make it a party house to rent for the games. It's a pretty smart idea considering that you are literally right across the street.

The day before Nicki told us that the entire experience was kind of like the Iowa State Fair and she hit the nail on the head. It was a slice of home watching people wave cars into their yard offering $30 to $20 to park...and you get to us the bathroom? What a deal!

Hanging around outside was fun because you really get experience the excitement the fans brought.

Plus there were people ice sculpting! I loved this town it felt like an small town Christmas party.

We walked around for about an hour before we decided to head inside.

I didn't have a problem but turned to see my dad being patted down. He said this always happens because of his fake knees and then flexed his muscles and screamed "BECAUSE THESE GUNS CAN'T BE LEFT AT THE GATE!!!" There is a small chance that the last part didn't happen.

It was a windy day so and it turned the bottom level of the stadium into a wind tunnel. I'm guessing it was a good 20 degrees colder in there.

My dad wanted to explore a little which was fine because I was asking an attendant if I could light a trash can on fire for warmth.

We decided to make our way to our seats. Up we went...All the way up. After so many ramps and escalators I thought I would need oxygen and a place to make camp before we made our way to the summit. Finally we found our seats.

We finally found our seats... with an hour and a half before game time. My fingers were already like ice cubes and nothing was heated! If I didn't find a way to warm up soon I was going to end up like Jack at the end of the Shining.

I stocked up on hand warmers, feet warmers, a blanket, and Tombstone pizza (the slice I bought cost $7. I can be 4 Tombstone pizzas in a store for that amount. But it was the best pizza I have ever eaten.

Our seats were high enough that I could get a good picture of this American Flag with a church behind it. The American Flag, with a church, at a Football game is the most American thing I have ever seen.

People started to find their seats and the stadium really filled up. Game time was about to start! Now I am sure you have gathered from my blogs that I am not a sports guy. This is a real exchange I have had with Ryan.

"It doesn't make sense. All of your brothers love sports but you're not into them at all. How did that happen?"

"I tried to play sports," I explained. "And I was awful at all of them. Sports didn't like me first."

It's true, the only time I got on base when I played baseball was when I was hit in the head with a ball.

You know those rules where all the bad kids get to hit a ball or shoot a basket that piss off parents of kids who take sports seriously. Those rules were made for me. Not kids like me, just me!

It's strange that Ryan and I are friends because he is such a sports fanatic. We've got in fights because it would annoy me when he would watch the Broncos win a game and say "We really came to play." You're not part of the team you weirdo!

The game was about to begin. But before the game they had to sing the National Anthem. Even someone as ignorant of sports knows that the National Anthem is a hot button at football games... Long story short it was a bad time to tie my shoe.

Ok that didn't happen but what did was something much better!

The announcers brought out a local singer, soon the chords started and he began singing. Not a problem until he got the second verse. I was taken a back because did he sing BLAH BLAH BLAH? That can't be it has to be some weird musical thing I don't know. But almost 80,000 boos proved me wrong, this guy forgot the words! It was like scene in Naked Gun where Frank Drebin failed miserably to sing the anthem.

I am adding a quick comment. I found an article talking about his performance.

https://www.kansascity.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/for-petes-sake/article222903390.html

And it turns out he was only asked to sing about 3 hours before the game started; not having a lot of prep time and singing in front of a crowd as big as he did, I would like to give him props. That's an intimidating place to be. So props to Frank!

Packers won the coin toss but I missed the first few minutes because I was texting everyone about the National Anthem. Something bad must have happened because the Falcons had the ball with in a few seconds. I continued to watch the game when a fight broke out! This was turning into the best football game ever.

I did become pretty invested. Sitting around 80,000 cheering fans will do that for you. Every time the Packers got a touchdown the elevator attendant would run up the stairs of our section high-fiving people.

At one point there was a fumble and both teams dived onto the ball. Then the crowd roared and I looked at dad and said "Did we get the ball?" yes Ryan I said we.

By the second inning I no longer noticed the cold. I was a full on Packers fan! Half time came around and my dad need to stretch his robo knees. I got up with him and he said he wanted to buy some feet warmers too. He asked me to watch his water and I said sure. Then they announced that people were parachuting into the stadium and rushed back to see this. It was an impressive display, every jumper I thought "they're coming down way to fast." or "They were way off from where they need to be." But each one landed perfectly. And the last jumper was non other than Santa Clause.

I went back to my dad who was putting the warmers in his shoes and asked "where did you go." I need to see the jumpers I explained. "Well you left my water." he said tossing it in the trash.

The second half went as well as the first and guess what... "WE WON!

https://amzn.to/2ErVW8i

KROLL'S WEST

http://www.krollswest.com/menu/

After the game we filled out of Lambeau field. Our plan was to sit down at a the restaurant across the street, warm up and have something to eat while we waited for the streets to clear so we could get a lyft back to the hotel.

I walked along side my dad until I noticed a large herd of green and yellow fans flooding into the front doors. It was like a zombie movie but instead of human flesh they all hungered for fried cheese. At this point I broke off from my dad, darted into the building, pushing women and children out of the way.

We were able to get a seat and I ordered the chili with spaghetti, I have heard of it but have never tried it. It was tasty. I may have to try to make this on my own.

"I'm not to hungry," My dad said

"They have a prime rib hoagie," I told him.

"I'll have that."

The food was great! And our plan worked. We ate some cheese curds and drank coffee and soon got a ride back to the hotel room where dad was thrilled to watch the Simpsons.

DRIVE HOME

Our drive home was uneventful but seeing all the frost and snow on the trees was beautiful. Funny side note. We got home Monday night, I walked up stairs to see my dad watching football on TV and I said "They show football on Mondays?" So maybe I'm not a super fan yet.

CREED 2

Finally. Finally! FINALLY! Got to see Creed 2

https://amzn.to/2rwdBDr

It doesn't seem possible that these are as good as they are. The Rocky movies (including Creed films) have 6 spectacular movies, 1 pretty good one, and another. Is it safe to say that the Rocky franchise is the best movie franchise ever? I believe there is an argument there.

I should watch these on a loop because they pump me up and I just want to run to the gym and get jacked. That fades away on the drive home because I just ate cheetos and a bag of Christmas cookies.

https://amzn.to/2SDdj9a

I liked that this showed what happens to Drago after he lost the fight to Rocky. He lost everything, his wife even leaves him. It puts Adonis Creed and Viktor Dragoo in a place redemption. Their not fighting for a title, this is more personal and that really came through.

Viktor Dragoo explains that he never got to know his mother and I am sure if he got to talk to her he would love to ask her a million questions. My guess the first one would be 'Flavor Flav?"

ELF

Flix Brewhouse is showing Christmas movies and Elf is one of my favorite movies of all time, not just Christmas. So of course I snagged a handful of tickets to that. I have seen it about a hundred times and I still laugh extremely hard.