The Great Memphamous RoadTrip: Wisconsinning

Up we went to the thawed tundra of Wisconsin. Katie's brother, Jake, plays baseball in the Mariners organization for their single-A affiliate, the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers (http://www.timberrattlers.com/). Lucky for us, his fiancee was visiting him as well, so the four of us got to hang out and get some dinner and watch a movie. On Thursday night we witnessed the Timber Rattlers take on the River Bandits of Quad Cities. Here's the thing. Jake is a relief pitcher, which means you never know when he will get to play. We were optimistic that we would luck out and see him pitch. When a different relief pitcher went into the game, we got sad. Especially since Jake's team was losing, the chances that we would see Jake play were getting slim. His team tied the game in the eighth inning and Jake began warming up. He pitched in the 10th inning and made each batter look silly. It was awesome. Then, in the bottom of the tenth, the first batter hit a pitch over the left field wall to end the game! The T-Rats got a victory and Jake was credited with the win. We were quite happy to be there. It was also Thirsty Thursday...$1 beverages. We drank 6.

Earlier in the day, we visited Lambeau Field. For those of you who have been living in Antartica and are not aware of this historic site, it is where the Green Bay Packers play football on Sundays. The crazy thing is Green Bay is about the size of Visalia (100,000 people). So just imagine an NFL football team playing games in Visalia. It is pandamonium.

Interesting (and false) facts about Wisconsin:

- cheese grows on trees there

- they are the top dairy producer in America (ha!)

- they use milk-based products as currency, so you have to trade in dollars for cottage cheese and yogurt at the border. A gallon of gas costs 13 quarts of vanilla yogurt. I know, it's nuts!

- they are negotiating with Canada to become a Canadian province. The only hang-up is Canada doesn't want to share a border with Iowa. Lots of hoodlums in Iowa.