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June 30th 2010
Published: June 30th 2010
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Madison, WI to Custer, SD.

I would like to update you completely on my latest adventures. My brain dead haze did not fully capture exactly what went on our last night in Wisconsin and our driving trip yesterday. So here goes...

We got up on Monday morning and decided we needed to spend one more day in the mid west. It was a perfect day to do just about anything. Not too hot, sunny, low humidity...none of that Virginia weather. We headed to Milwaukee to hit up Summerfest. This is a two week long concert where they draw huge acts such as Lynyrd Skynyrd, Eric Clapton, Tim McGraw, Brooks and Dunn. Each night of the two weeks they have a huge headliner. Ticket admission before 4pm is $8, ticket admission after 4pm is $15. (This is a very important detail to my story later on.) We left for Milwaukee around 1pm and got there around 2pm. Having so much free time on our hands before the show, we decided to tour the Miller Brewery. That place is huge, it is it's own village!

The miller brewery was bottling cans of Beast and bottles of Old Style when we were there. I have never seen so much damn beer. Hearing the history of Miller, makes the beer which I don't usually prefer, a lot more appealing. Briefly, Frederick Miller came from Germany, settled in the Mid West, began his brewery at the current location. He became wildly successful and his name still obviously remains on the products today. Though Miller are combined with Coors, and South African Brewery owns them both. The miller lite, directly from the brewery did taste better than your typical cans used to supply tons of basement parties. Overall, it was very interesting to tour a brewery that large!

We made it to summerfest by 3:45. Walked around, listened to some bands play and sampled the local cuisine. It was of course all German. I hate knackwurst, but loved the brats and of course the beer! We realized that listening to Clapton wasn't actually possible due to his popularity. We were told we could purchase tickets for $45 if we wanted to get in. Not worth it...I mean, $45 was a deal, but not that good of one...not worth it. After a brief discussion we decided to head to Miller Park to watch the brewers game.

Miller Park---was Ralph Wilson Stadium for baseball. The tailgating was awesome! But before I get there, let me tell you about how I love the way Jennifer Flad thinks.

Leaving summerfest, they supply you with a bracelet to re-enter the park. Here is where you need to remember that it was $8 for us, but at this point in the day the cost of admission is up to $15. With our bracelets on, knowing we are never to return to summerfest, Jen suggests we try to sell our bracelets. Of course it is a brilliant idea. Vinny and Justin start discussing the cost at which we should try to sell our bracelets and I spot the perfect family of four. "Excuse me sir, are you going to summerfest?" "Yeay, why?" "Would you like to buy our bracelets? We aren't going back." "How much?" "$8?" "No way, that's what you pay for when you get in before 4pm, that is no deal." They walk away. Of course, I am upset with myself for being overly aggressive....damn but he didn't know what time it was! It was after 4 and we was going to be paying $15 a piece for his family of 4. Then we hear something. They are yelling behind us. They of course realized the time and that we would be saving them 1/2 price. We ended up selling our 4 bracelets for $30. Of course Justin almost lost his hand in the process because he has a tiny wrist and a big hand but he managed to squeeze it off.

Now, with $30 in our pockets we are ready to go to Miller Park. We purchased our tickets for $40 for 4 and are ready to go see some baseball. We walk around, and realize people are seriously tailgating. Brats, beer, beer games like corn hole, ladder, and flip cups are going on around us. What the....this is baseball! Well we were eying flip cup...it really has been too long since we all played. They needed more players and we were there. Flip cup went well for Jen, Vinny and Justin. I, of course, was on the consistently losing side. They were graduate students at the Medical College of Milwaukee. They thought we were weird drifters. They were quite proud of their enrollments in their degree programs, all of sciences, some even in geology! Of course we didn't tell them that Jen could be their professor. We let them feel good about supplying some crazy travelers with beer for the tailgate.

The park was cool, the game was entertaining, though the home team lost. Overall, not bad for a random day in Milwaukee.

5:30am came early. We packed up, made lunches, and were on our way. Wisconsin was pretty boring the rest of the way, with the exception of the police officer that pulled me over. I was pretty mad at myself, since speeding wasn't my goal. For those who know me, a 76 on a 65, actually isn't speeding. Once she opened her mouth though I forgave her. It was your typical northern minnesota and apparently wisconsin accent. We loved it. The cost was $202 which you have to pay IMMEDIATELY, on the spot, or you go to jail. She explained all of that to me and then told me that because I was honest with her about my speed she let me off with a warning. In Wisconsin, they actually print out a warning, and if you get pulled over again, you have to give the officer your previous warning, which then you will have to pay. It is weird, but I was happy. I considered myself warned. We hit the minnesota line ten miles from there. I went back up to 76mph in Minnesota, the speed limit there was 70.

Minnesota was long and boring. All farm land, no lakes. False advertising for sure.

South Dakota was the same until the grasslands. The grasslands are amazing. You can still picture the buffalo there and they covered wagons. You can picture quaint little homes made of sod and girls with dresses and bonnets. It was desolate. Nothing but grass. It truly is amazing, considering we are trying to grow grass in our backyard and this grass is just all over the place.

The Badlands are accurately named. That place is absolutely scorching. I can see how they got their name. Beautiful though in an eerie way. You could feel death there to those little bonnet wearing girls in dresses. Stumbling across that place in your covered wagon would be disastrous. The fossils were amazing, as were the rocks. Justin loved it too. We saw prairie dogs pop their little heads up. It reminds me of Super Mario Brothers 3 where you have to jump on their heads before they through the hammers. They were cute.

On to the Black Hills and Mt. Rushmore. Mt. Rushmore is a lot like my experience with the Eiffel Tower. Yup, that's it, time to move on. The black hills were pretty.

That brings me to now. We are headed to Yellowstone. I am so excited. I have already enjoyed all the rocks I have seen and the landscapes. We truly have a diverse country. I am a little worried but also anticipating some huge storms while we are in glacier and yellowstone. Will this be when I get to see a tornado? Part of me is excited and part of me is hoping not to be too close. I wonder....

All in all, so far so good. Chloe is holding up well...I love her more after all this bonding time. I feel the same way about Justin. He's been great.

Bye for now...I'll write more if I set up Carols tent and realize it has wi-fi. Until then, thanks for reading!

Dana



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30th June 2010

All I can say is wow!
I love your descriptions..so not fair that you got to see a prairie dog..I'm jealous. The speeding ticket (warning) didn't take long. I would have lost my bet..I expected it to be at least a week into your trip. Forgot to warn you my first speeding ticket was in Wisconsin..truth! A little worried about the storms..you're not in Kansas anymore..so not funny. Love you both..have fun and be careful!
30th June 2010

Hi Dana - I love reading your blog...we were reading it during responsive classroom training today and wishing we were with you! I'm glad you're having a great time! Travel safely and enjoy every minute! Kate
1st July 2010

Crazy couple of days
I like the details... thanks for leaving out the near death experience in the car and when the creepy guy threw his urine on me.

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