mini-break recap
2004-05-24, 9:11 a.m.

One rainy day, up in Green Bay,

I went to the reservation.

With coin in slot, I lost my pot,

And thus made my donation

By a gambling love, to the members of

The Great Oneida Nation.

And pledged support (by way of sport)

To the Native Population.

Yep--I lost. Not a lot (under $100) but as much as I was willing to lose this weekend. I don't really expect to win, though...if I break even, or if I get a reasonable amount of play for my investment, I'm a happy little slot jockey. And I must say that the casino has a marvelous Sunday brunch buffet; one that stacks up favorably with many I've had in LV.

Catastrophic weather aside, I really had a lovely weekend. We hit Seroogy's in De Pere first thing, before we'd even gone to our hotel. Loaded up on divine chocolates, caramels, and other goodies.

The Ramada Plaza was very nice, a comfortable room and a great pool area, a plunge pool with two waterslides, nice swimming pool, a wading pool, and a hot tub. I got two "serious swims" in, one on Saturday afternoon, and another early Sunday morning. The only thing that ticked me off was the adult swim hour that was promised from 10:00 to 11:00 PM was not enforced, and it was full of kids at that hour. (If the staff had not played this up so enthusiastically, I wouldn't have minded as much.)

Kroll's is as great as promised; acting on sound advice, we had lunch there. I had a pork tenderloin sandwich. Oh, how I love a good tenderloin. Growing up, I hardly ever ate hamburgers, because I preferred a tenderloin and everyone served them. The only place that has them around these parts is Culver's, and they're always so mobbed I hardly ever go there. I also mooched a bite of Spouse's burger. I have to say I haven't had a burger OR a tenderloin that good since I moved from Iowa.

For dinner, it was Spouse's choice, so we tried a place he found in the tourism guide--Titletown Brewing Company and we both loved it. This place is the old C&NW train station, and it was very enjoyable. Good, friendly service, very good beer and root beer, and the food was great. We had a window seat overlooking the Fox River, and Spouse ordered the beer sampler. This was a little wooden railcar that held 9 six-ounce glasses for the various beers. Cute. It even had a sample of their Sno-Cap root beer; very enjoyable. I had a pint of Johnny "Blood" McNally Red that I really liked. Nicely balanced hoppy/malty taste, and full-bodied the way I like it.

We started out with the chips and salsa--homemade salsa fresca and tri-color chips. Very fresh, delicious, and went very well with beer. For entree, Spouse had the Fish & Chips (!). Beer battered cod with pub fries, a really amazing homemade cucumber salad, and homemade tartar sauce. I couldn't believe he actually ordered fish. I was plumb flummoxed when he told me he loved it. I had the pasta special they had on for the marathon. Spaghetti, grilled chicken breast, roasted tri-color peppers, asparagus, mushrooms, zucchini, and yellow squash, tossed with a tarragon/balsamic vinegar/olive oil sauce. Bloody brilliant. I switched to the root beer with dinner. To finish, we split a piece of their cheesecake, and had them put the (fresh!) strawberries on the side, as I like them with cheesecake, and Spouse is a cheesecake purist. Dense, rich, not too sweet, and with a crust that was laced with cinnamon, it was a desert they can be proud of. After dinner, we went upstairs so Spouse could enjoy a cigar. They have a great bar upstairs, too! After dinner, I wanted to go out, but the old poop I married was too tired, so I missed out on Harry The Hipster's...I gotta trade him in on a newer model. Oh well, there's always next trip!

Enough food reviews. The fact is, we swam, we gambled, we ate, we went to Lambeau and bought stuff at the Packer Pro Shop, went to Bosse's so Spouse could buy cigars, and we spent some time driving around, looking to see what remained of Spouse's old haunts from his Schneider days. (He was quite broken up that the Shakey's was gone.) We were going to go to the National Railroad Museum on Sunday, but the inevitable rain er, dampened, our enthusiasm. It was getting hard to negotiate the streets because of the marathon, so we left earlier than planned, heading toward home about noon. For a stay that clocked in at just a scant 24 hours, we had a lot of fun! We stopped in Milwaukee for a container of the best soup in the universe--the cream of chicken-rice from Paul's Omega. A bucket of that and a bag of their incredible bread rolls, and we had a great, easy supper in store.

When we got home, we both took a nap for a while, then I unpacked and did some wash and just puttered quietly for the rest of the day.

Today after work, I must pick up my Raji from the kennel. After a stormy weekend, the trauma of the kennel, and the final indignity of a bath and manicure, she will probably sleep for days. I got her some "doggy downers" at the vet Saturday morning, for these stormy nights that don't show any signs of stopping. They usually help a lot. I'm waiting today to hear from the vet on her heartworm test and chem panel, but if I don't hear anything to the contrary she can get on her heartworm tomorrow, The doc said her adenomas were okay, but to keep watching them.

Well, I suppose I should get my ass busy doing something constructive, so that's it for now.