DAY 35
Week 5
GREEN BAY (Wisconsin, USA)
Tuesday July 25th, 2006
TODAYS MILEAGE – 191 miles or 307 kilometres
TRIP MILEAGE – 4541 miles or 7307 kilometres
What would Green Bay be called if it wasn't green??? 
Every time I've seen Lambeau Field on the TV, it's been in the middle if winter and colder than a witches tit. The moniker of the frozen tundra was in the back of my mind as I took the hour long guided tour of the stadium.
Some of the facts that I picked up were pretty interesting:
• Green Bay Packers got their name from their first sponsor, the Acme Meat Packing Company.
• The Packers has the lowest population base of any NFL team.
• It's the only NFL team that isn't owned by a conglomerate, billionaire owner or business entity. It's owned by 120,000 share holders.
• They have a ticket office at the stadium, but it's never used as all home games have been sold out since the early 1960's.
• It takes 150 gallons (568 litres) of biodegradable paint to mark the field.
• Every second day, the field is mowed by lopping an inch off the top.
For lunch I rang Steve to see what he was up to. Steve's a local Green Bay fella I met in Minneapolis when I was out for dinner. He lobs up with his bride we decide to have a crack a local chili joint going by the name of Chili John's. Apparently if you're a Packer fan (i.e. a Cheesehead) then Chili Johns is a shrine to you. The chili is very different from others that I've had and is no way like Tex-Mex chili It really is different in that you get spaghetti and red beans with it and it doesn't have a lot of liquid or sauce. You don't add cheese or onions or anything but a peppercorns in vinegar solution. I enjoyed it, but would have never known about it 'cept for the local knowledge.
Speaking of that knowledge, I tapped Steve and his bride on what to go and check out. They pointed me in a North-Easterly direction into Door county and said that I need to try the "Fish Boil" which is a local delicacy. It ended up being an 191 mile (307 kilometre) round trip to Northport (Wisconsin).
Door County is basically a finger of land jutting out into the vast Lake Michigan. It reminded me a lot of when I drove through Cape Cod (Massachusetts) to Provincetown, but with a lot less traffic and a shitload more dairy cattle.
I pulled up at Fish Creek (Wisconsin) around dinner time and found a joint - at Pelletier's that does the Fish Boil. Basically it entails bringing 35 gallons of water to the boil and throw in a heap of baby red potatoes (with the ends cut off them) for 18 minutes. Drop in 50 pounds of Michigan Whitefish, 5 pounds of salt and a heap of golf ball sized onions in the water for the next 12 minutes. Too finish, you throw a gallon of kerosene under the kettle and let it flare up and burn off any of the fish oils, wait another 2 minutes for the flames to subside and pull your baskets out of the water and serve.
It was different way to serve fish and even though it tasted OK, I now know I'm not a fan of Michigan Whitefish as I've had better whitefish - for example barramundi or halibut. The major reason for this was the smell of the fish and kerosene is still in my fingers 6 hours later.
From Fish Creek I kept heading North just to see what was there. 21 miles (34 kilometres) was about it before I ran out of road and would have ended up in the drink. After taking a couple of photos I headed back to Green Bay (Wisconsin) via the Eastern side of Door County. It was a good fun drive that I'd recommend to anyone, if you've got the time.
I got back to the Man Pad in time to hear the tornado & hail warnings for the area I was just in. Seems like I fun follows me where ever I go.
Looks like I'm off to Michigan tomorrow.
• GREEN BAY ~ Lambeau Field (Wisconsin, USA)
• GREEN BAY ~ Chili John's (Wisconsin, USA)
• FISH CREEK ~ Pelletier's Fish Boil (Wisconsin, USA)
• NORTHPORT (Wisconsin, USA)