It's Finally Fall!

Greetings and HAPPY OCTOBER!! I wrote that in shouty capitals because I'm having a hard time containing my excitement as October is one of my favorite months. 

I've enjoyed taking some beautiful drives in my area, but regretfully haven't had much time to stop and take some photos. Luckily, I remembered to bring my phone along as I was walking my dog and was able to snap a few. I really enjoy the little things in life and stepping on crunchy leaves while admiring the newly colored trees is probably one of my favorite things this time of the year.

Some of my other favorite fall activities:

Decorating with autumn/halloween decorations (already did this 3 weeks ago)

Drinking apple cider and pumpkin spice drinks

Watching scary movies

Going to apple orchards and pumpkin patches

Haunted houses

& Bonfires!

A Salute to Autumn

Here's to a wonderful October! What are your favorite fall activities?

The Best of the Northwoods-Leinenkugel Brewing Company

It's no surprise that great beer comes from Wisconsin, and one of the best breweries is located in the Northwoods of this state. While many breweries offer a great experience, I don't think there are any that offer quite as much as the Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Company. 

Located in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, the Brewery has an interesting history. It all started in 1867 with business partners Jacob Leinenkugel and John Miller. When they started brewing, they had only themselves as employees, with Jacob doing the brewing and John delivering the beer by cart. In 1884 John sold his share to Jacob, and from then onward the brewery has been known as Leinenkugel's. Today, Jacob Leinenkugel's three great-great grandsons, Jake, Dick, and John are running the business, and it is better than ever! For more information about the history, visit their homepage or visit the brewery yourself!

Outside the Brewery

One of the many great things about Leinenkugel's is that a guided tour of the brewery is completely FREE! The whole tour takes about 30-45 minutes and really shows you the ins and outs of the brewing business. I'm not even a huge beer drinker, but I was able to leave with lots of new information. 

Secondly (and probably the best part), not only is the tour free but so are the samples! This very rarely happens in breweries. I opted to try Summer Shandy and Berry Weiss, which was my favorite. I haven't had a chance to go in the fall, but I've heard great things about their Oktoberfest and I may go back soon just to test it out!

Samples inside the Leinie Lodge

Autumn is the PERFECT time for a visit to the Midwest, and just as equally a great time to take some brewery tours. If you are in the area, the Leinenkugel's Brewery is a must see.

Photos by Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Company

Being a Cheesehead

Hello fellow travelers! For those that don't know, I am from Wisconsin, where us Wisconsinites are best known for eating cheese and drinking a lot of alcoholic libations. Of course, there is more to this wonderful state than just dairy and beer, but why not indulge from time to time? By the way, our cheese curds are to die for. I'm fairly certain there is nothing quite better than a fresh & squeaky cheese curd. 

So enough with the food talk, and onto the main subject here, which is being a cheesehead. What is a cheesehead? The word was first originated by Illinois football fans back in the day, which was supposed to be offensive. We Sconnies embraced the word though, and now use it to describe ourselves as fans of the Green Bay Packers. We even wear big foam cheese blocks on our heads to drive home the fact that we love our team (Yes, I own one). The Packers got their name in 1919 by Curly Lambeau (of whom the field is named after), because he asked for funds for uniforms from his employer, the Indian Packing Company, on condition that the team be named after the company. Thus, the name "Packers" was born and is still in use to this day. The best part, I think, about the Packers is that they are the only non-profit organization in the NFL (and other professional sports teams for that matter), AND they are community owned which means that any one can buy stock and therefore be an owner of the team (no other professional team in the US does that). Add to that having the most NFL Championships of any team, and one can understand why we cheeseheads love our Packers. 

Cheesehead 4 lyfe

I was able to go to my first ever Packer game last week at Lambeau Field. We purchased a package of tailgating and tickets, so we arrived to Green Bay at 4:00 PM to start the festivities. The tailgate party was in the parking lot of Brett Favre's Steakhouse and included all you can eat (burgers, brats, etc.) and all you can drink pop, screwdrivers, bloody mary's and good ole' H20. They also played some good music and had some activities going before the game started at 7.

Lambeau Field

So, at 6:30, we made the walk to the stadium. There were multiple tailgate parties going on, plus lots of things for sale and different things to do, like free hair painting, if you so wished. We got inside and walked to our seats in the 11th row. I was so excited being able to actually see the players faces, and tried desperately to get Clay Matthews and Aaron Rodgers attention by flailing my arms and screaming, but alas, no luck. The Pack was not doing so hot against the Browns, and it kept raining every 5 minutes or so, so we decided to leave at half-time. I know, we get a C- as fans. But, in my defense, it was pre-season AND we had a 3 hour drive ahead of us. Regardless, we had a really fun time and it was so much fun being surrounded by devoted fans of all ages. The only thing missing that night was a good bag of cheese curds. 

Fan Appreciation Night