Brewers vs. Twins in Minnesota 2009

The land that the Brewery / Leinie's Lodge is built upon is exactly how you would expect things to look like in rural Wisconsin. There's plenty of trees and nature shit, and a river flows right through the property. If I didn't have a Brewers game to get to and friends to hang out with, I certainly could have hung out here for a lot longer. There's nothing more relaxing than drinking a beer and chilling outdoors in the woods.

It's a real easy drive to the Twin Cities, you just get on I-94 West and drive. After 338 miles, you are there. It only takes about 5 1/2 hours to get there, and it has the best pit stop in the entire state - The Leinenkugel's Brewery in Chippewa Falls. I have stopped here a couple of times, and will continue to do so because their beer is the best of the best. Well, at least I think that it is. And I will continue to stop there.

I was going back or forth on whether or not to make the trip this year. Being Memorial Day weekend, I couldn't get off of work Friday (Mark Travel) or Monday (Miller Park) so my trip was going to be ridiculously short. But I decided that I had to go. So I rented a car, said goodbye to Gordon and left on Saturday morning.

I fully intended to take the tour because I thought that I had some time to kill. Chippewa Falls is about an hour from the Twin Cities, and I had yet to get a hold of Mike, so I wasn't sure if they had made it down there yet. They live in Blackduck MN, which is about 6 hours North of the Twin Cities. I was planning on stopping for a bit at Leinenkugel's anyway, but I decided to skip the tour when Mike finally returned my call. I used this time to stretch my legs and enjoy my 2 free samples of Leinenkugel's beer. I ended up mixing Classic Amber with Leinie's Red for my 1st beer and Summer Shandy with Sunset Wheat for my 2nd. Were they delicious? You bet! You should try that shit; don't just take my word.

I love taking baseball road trips to see the Brewers. Aside from the bad luck that I bring the team (more on that later) I enjoy my time spent in that foreign city watching the Crew. I try to make it to a new city/stadium every year, but Minneapolis has become one of my annual trips. Part of the reason is that I go every year is that it's a pretty reasonable drive, Minneapolis is a great city and because I have a lot of friends up there. Now that Mike and Katie Bates live in Northern Minnesota, it's one of the two times that I get to see them each year. The other is when they come down to Milwaukee in the summer. So the Brewers/Twins series now means than just seeing my Brewers play their old AL Central rivals - it's my chance to hang out with 2 of my best friends. This year I would be able to see their new baby Reese, who was about 8 months old at the time I was there, who I haven't seen since her baptism. I was definitely looking forward to this trip.

Home

It was early morning-ish on Saturday May 23, and I knew that I would need a little help getting up there. I didn't ask anyone to come with me, so I would be driving alone. I stopped at Burger King for breakfast, which is a rarity. I asked for cream and sugar, but was shocked when I got this many. Now that's just silly.