NFL Football at its Best

This past weekend I and three others jumped in my truck and headed to Green Bay Wisconsin to see the Packers game on Sunday. For those of you who are football fans I suggest you try and get to at least one game at Lambeau field in your lifetime because it is the football mecca of the NFL. The stadium is located smack dab in the middle of a town with only 125,000 residents. This is an amazing thing to see in itself as almost all of the residential houses become temporary parking lots using their driveways, lawns etc to squeeze in as many cars as they can. The cost starts at $5 and moves all the way to $20 as you get closer to the stadium. Half of them also host impromptu tailgate parties which means the coolers and BBQ’s are set up right there in the front yard sending whiffs of smoke up and down the street. There are also a number of bars that set up “a one price for all you can eat and drink” pre-game party which consists mostly of beer and bratwurst and some fixings. The game day music is always rocking outside Lambeau and you can hear it for blocks. Everywhere you look it is a collage of Green and Yellow as fans are decked out in the team colours. Every once in a while you will see an opposing team’s colours but they are quickly drowned out by the Packer faithful. It is truly a “football” town as it seems like every man, woman and child are fanatical about their beloved team. On top of that thousands come from miles around to attend the games making the traffic difficult getting into and out of town on game day. Luckily I have some old friends in Green Bay so when we arrived on Saturday night and we went right to a good buddy’s house, unloaded our gear and had a few cool ones while we caught up on current events. About an hour later we all piled into his truck and headed off to the Prime Quarter, our favourite Steak House in Wisconsin. This restaurant on a game weekend is always packed so the wait is normally an hour or more which is fine as it gives us more time to talk and enjoy a few more brewskies. Once a table becomes available the fun starts as in this eatery you get to grill your own steak on one of the two huge BBQ’s in the middle of the restaurant. As I picked a huge thick rib eye from the glassed in refrigerator, I noticed the 40 oz sirloin on the top shelf and remembered the time my son and nephew finished off one each to get their pictures on the wall of fame at the Prime Quarter. Once you season your steak with butter, salt and garlic salt you flip it on the grill and start the process which consists of turning and watching as the meat cooks sending off an incredible aroma. Once finished you add a baked potato, salad and some Texas toast and get down to business. After a great meal we head off to a bar called the Champions, owned by a friend of my friend, and have a few more beers. In the bar happens to be Gilbert Brown a retired Packer linebacker sitting at his favourite table signing autographs and wolfing down a feast of nachos. Gilbert was known as the” Grave Digger” and judging from his size you can understand why. We left around midnight and hit the sack immediately on arrival back at the house. Next morning after a big breakfast we headed to another friends place where we parked our truck. Now believe this or not, it was right across the street from the stadium! 3 minutes to cross the street and we were in line headin’ through the doors. It was sunny 57 degrees F and the Packers won, what more could you ask. After the game was over and we said our goodbyes we took off for the 13 hour drive back not regretting one thing about the weekend as it was one of the best. We have been making this trip once a year for the last 4 years and while every one of them has been a blast this one ranks up near the top.