What’s there to do in Green Bay? Not much. I mean, there’s a Walmart with a huge Packers section. There’s some casinos where we made a ton of money playing craps. You can have dinner at the Brett Favre Steakhouse where’s there some cool memorabilia from "There’s Something About Mary". Oh, and there’s Kroll’s West, the first place that ever served me a burger with a stick of butter melting on the patty. But there’s a reason thousands of people love coming to Green Bay. Watching a game at the iconic Lambeau Field is essential to every football fan’s bucket list.
We started our trip from Chicago and stopped at Miller Park for a quick tour outside the ballpark.
We finally arrived in Green Bay the night before the game. There aren’t a lot of hotel options in Green Bay, so book as early as possible or you’ll get stuck at the Microtel like we did. We ate dinner at Legends Eatery and Brewhouse and met a couple of Chargers fans. However, the restaurant was mainly filled with drunk Packers fans so wearing my Rivers jersey probably wasn’t the smartest idea. One guy even yelled at me, “Philip Rivers, get the hell out of my state.”
We were told that parking would be an issue, so we left early on Sunday morning for the game. Lambeau is located in a residential neighborhood surrounded by single family homes. We ended up parking in someone’s yard for $10.
Once inside the stadium, we found an all-you-can-eat breakfast buffet with no shortage of cheese entrees.
Even though the stadium quickly filled with people, it had a very small-town community feel, almost like being at a college game, with cheerleaders and a band to welcome players at they took the field. There are also tributes to the history of the Packers organization and players around the stadium instead of large advertisements.
At 78 degrees, we couldn’t have asked for better weather. Some Packers fans asked us if we would’ve come if the game was in December. The jury is still out on that one.
Packers fans were very friendly. They loved singing along to “Roll Out the Barrel” and other polka favorites and were proud to talk about their G-Force, a boost of energy from the fans that makes a difference in the outcome of the game. I guess it works because we watched Brett Favre tie the NFL career record for touchdown passes and we lost the game 31-24 after being up in the third quarter.
After the game, we had dinner at the Brett Favre Steakhouse and decided this would be the first of many stadium adventures.