Game time!

The game started at noon. We arrived around 9. We were early.

The point of this was to get good parking and beat the rush. I'm used to tailgating before Brewer games at Miller Park. There's loads of parking at the stadium, it's not that expensive, and it's relaxing. At Lambeau, there isn't loads of parking at the stadium, you can't park at the stadium without a special pass, and parking near the stadium isn't cheap. We did it anyway. It was worth it to be close and grill in the shadow of the stadium.

It was cold getting out of the car. The wind was whistling through the area that we parked in. We started the grill and huddled around it to warm up. Eventually we did cook something. When Moppy went to toss out the hot coals, some knucklehead had used it as a rubbish bin, tossing a box in it. It burned nice. We used that for warmth as well.

Oddly enough, beer doesn't warm you up much when the chill is that strong. It's the only time I've tailgated when my beer got colder as I drank it.

We wandered off, heading for the stadium, pausing to run for batteries and the bathrooms on the way. Pictures were taken. Statues were gawked at. Finally we entered the stadium itself. The atrium was warm, so very warm.

Once we went into the stadium itself, I was no longer cold, despite the lack of heating. That helped. We wandered around a little, returned to the bathroom again (I wasn't THAT warm), and then it was time to enter the stands.

It's weird. I've seen it on tv so many times, heard about people entering the place and trying to explain the vibe, so I thought I was prepared for it. I don't know how to explain it. It was exciting and fascinating and ... something. There was a hint of the feeling of history that I've had at certain places, the feeling of a very old place that just exudes its age, but this was still so alive. It was unique.

The game itself seemed to race past. I wasn't cold. The people around us were nice. Everyone was behaved. There were kids in front of us, grandparents behind us, and Bears fans next to us. When the Packers scored, which happened a lot, we slapped five with everyone apart from the Bears fans. We were nice enough to not laugh at them. However, when Rex Grossman came in to quarterback for the Bears, we did laugh. I paused, heard that it wasn't just us laughing but the crowd as a whole, and laughed even harder.

The outcome of the game was never in doubt. For whatever reason, the Bears did not show up to play that day. The Packers never lost the lead. They won the game. We celebrated, took more pictures, and headed back into the atrium for warmth and the Pro Shop.