Wisconsin Day 1

1) Up at 5 to hear Boomer and Carton's opening about the Mets sweeping the Phillies and posting those three shutouts.

2) I have to remember to avoid driving through downtown Barrington unless that is my final destination.

3) The garbage plate with homemade toast at Frankie's was awesome as always.

4) Drove up the Milwaukee lakefront for the first time. Amazing sights of rocks, sand, water, and people.

5) I must have walked those paths for two hours. I just wish I had worn my sneakers so I wouldn't have this blister on my right heel that bothered me for several days.

6) After wall that walking, I really wanted a bottle of water. I walked up to the snack stand at McKinley Beach, where my car was parked. The stand had 30 people on line and at least 100 people were waiting for their orders. So I took off for Brady Street.

7) I liked that neighborhood, which has been renovated rather recently. It has a lot of modern and independent little businesses with shops and restaurants. Not too many I found that appealed to males my age who prefer women...

8) I had lunch at a Mexican restaurant called Cempazuchi. Looking back, I almost wish I had tried the al pastor tacos with the sauteed duck. Instead, I went with the al Gusto. They had onion, cilantro, and two had steak while one had a mix of spicy chicken and pork. In all fairness, I wish I would have spent the extra six bucks and tried the duck. The tacos were certainly good, but they weren't anything special.

9) I walked down one block and stopped at Peter Sciartello's bakery, which has lots of Italian cookies, breads, and gelato. They even stuff their cannolis fresh to order, and I picked up four (just ate the third five minute ago). I also got some sesame cookies as well as a few chocolate chips for the Serranos.

10) It was around 2:00 by this point and I planned to arrive at the Milwaukee Ale House around 4 p.m. With a little extra time, I headed down by the river to the heart of downtown and visited the Public Museum. For 12 bucks, I thought it was a solid value. Some of the displays that I remember best were the butterfly garden where I got to walk in this light, heated room while butterflies whizzed right past my head. There were some nice displays for Native Americans too. I especially liked the displays of animals from across the globe. There was even a real African elephant. I wish they hadn't explained the gruesome process of transporting the elephant into the museum and then upstairs and then into the display area. I even had a brief chance to dance to some Pacific Island music...

11) The Milwaukee Ale House was just half a mile away. I arrived at 3:45 and waited 15 minutes until happy hour, when they start serving $2.50 pints. I drank my trusty Juneau Ale and headed to Miller Park.

12) The chipotle chicken baked potato was awesome as always. My seat was the last row of the 200 section right behind home plate. That put me right in front of all four Mets announcers, Gary Cohen, Ron Darling, Howie Rose, and Wayne Hagin, who even waved to me. I was hoping something good would happen so I would have a chance to go nuts. That never came. Great job by Johan though. And one guy sitting next to me introduced me to one of the vendors as Mike Piazza. And I had not even mentioned his name the entire night! Great job by the Miller Park staff saying Ike Davis was batting second AND fourth and playing BOTH first and second base. Embarrassing.

13) My GPS sucks in Wisconsin. I wound up taking three wrong turns until I got to 4913 Flad.