Midwest-Day 4

And it was Sunday, my last day of the trip. I got up at 6:15 and did a 3 mile run to Lambeau and back to the motel. It was humid, sort of the sticky midwest heat. After a much needed shower, it was breakfast at the motel restaurant. I had the Philly steak skillet with hash browns, sirloin steak, veggies, and pepper jack along with some sourdough toast. It was not garbage plate quality, but it still did the trick. And I was happy to get my 3 bucks off for staying in the motel. 

From there, I picked up Tommy and Karen and we drove to the Packers Hall of Fame, which is inside the atrium at Lambeau Field. It's a very well organized chronicle of the Packers, as one would expect

The best part was the Ice Bowl Theater where they show a film of the famous NFL championship game  between the Packers and Cowboys from 1968, though I think that theater should have been kept colder than the rest of the Hall. Just my humble opinion. They did have figurines of people bundled up with smoke coming out of their mouths. So they tried to create the atmosphere, at least.

All I really needed was about 45 minutes. We then went on the Classic Stadium tour, and there were probably about 50 people there.  The tour lasted about 60 minutes from the atrium to the Suite level and finally, the walk through the players tunnel onto the field. Well not quite the field itself. Just the outside padded area behind the end zone. And the bad part is no video allowed. Apparently the NFL has a rule where you can take video on gamedays, but not non-game days.

I went back to the motel and checked out. But before I left, I finally ate the yogurt and berries I'd saved from Corner Bakery the day before. And so began the 3 hour drive back to Illinois. There was some heavy rain on the trip, and part of the highway was actually flooded. I did get to Costco in Glenview in about 3 hours. And I could not believe that there was no wait for a gas pump in the middle of a Sunday afternoon. I also could not believe that gas was about 50 cents more per gallon in Illinois than Wisconsin. 

Then it was off to Portillo's in Niles, where I met my friends Q and Ryan. They didn't know each other, but I was glad two of my better friends got to meet. and I had the Italian beef sandwich, the big one with sweet peppers, hot peppers, and shredded cheddar. It's the best. 

Getting to O'Hare was brutal with three roads merging into the terminal traffic. Thankfully I was able to get off that road early to return my rental car. I'm glad Budget let me just park the car, leave the keys, and go. I got the the gate around 5:30, more than an hour before I needed to be there. All 14 standby passengers got on. Middle seat, an hour delay, it was fine. I spent most of the flight reading a book about Vince Lombardi's first season coaching Green Bay. It only seemed appropriate.

Mom picked me up and I was home about 11 pm. This laundry pile is going to be freaking huge!