What type of Southern Californians go to the Midwest in December?
Diehard Packer fans, that’s who.
A Monday night game, mediocre weather forecast (thanking the man above) and the best team in the National Football League? Sign me up. Our trip to Titletown, USA was filled with booze (lots of it), bratwursts and the coolest fans the NFL has to offer.
One of the two, Hailey, had made this journey once before, however her trip ended in misery as it was the dreaded 2008 playoff game against the Giants. YIKES. Regardless, can we pause on how SWEET IT IS to be best friends with the same favorite NFL team. Sure does make life a little easier.
Bars & Days Leading up to the Game
Our group of four consisted of the two of us and our two guy friends Blake and Brett. It’s always nice to have some men around when you plan on drinking your liver sideways in an unfamiliar town, always remember that.
We had three nights in Green Bay so we did what college taught us to do… Bar hop. A little bit of pregame, then we headed out to Kroll’s West, a total hit among the locals. Oh, and it’s located right across the street from Lambeau.
We got some kickass apps and some drinks and decided to call a cab to head to the next bar. The bartender serving us overhead Blake trying to find a cab and offered to drive us to the bar. Uhm, yes?! Looking back on it, maybe it wasn’t the smartest decision, but regardless, Lisa the bartender from Kroll’s got us to Stadium View safe and sound. They do say the locals of Green Bay are the best people you’ll ever meet and we can now attest to that.
Stadium View was your typical busy bar, fun and got us inebriated. Thanks Fireball. Needless to say, time got away from us that night and we headed back to the hotel. But this time, we got Uber. Oh how we love you Uber.
We woke up the next day on a mission: to be tourists. We went to the Pro Shop at Lambeau and kicked our hangover with what other than burgers, cheese curds and Bloody Mary’s at a true classic, Curly’s Pub. Curly’s, named after the late and great Earl Louis “Curly” Lambeau the first coach of the professional Packers team.
After drinking our hangovers away, we made a move to downtown Green Bay and after wandering, we landed at Anduzzi’s. Highly rated and highly recommended. So much so that we actually spent the pregame before the pregame before the game at that bar the next day (yeah, we go hard like that.)
Game Day
Waking up for game day was rough on all of us. I mean, Anduzzi’s will get you. So naturally, we started out there on Monday. Hair of the dog mentality, you know?
They put on a pregame tailgate party where you drink at your car in the parking lot and then party there all day under a tent, because yes, it started snowing. We participated in the tented outdoor live band and dance party. Let’s just say that we think the boys might have enjoyed the dance party more than us! And yes, we got video to prove it.
Thanks Brett for this!
After that, we decided to venture on to a locals’ tailgate that we got invited to thanks to Brett’s Uncle who happens to be a Green Bay expert! En route to this tailgate we almost gave up, as we were lost wandering the streets of Green Bay, in 20 degree snowy weather, without a proper liquor coat. Than like an oasis in a desert, there it was.
Once we saw it, I think all of our faces looked like any kid’s on Christmas morning. If you get one thing from this article, that tailgate before the game was one of the coolest tailgates we have ever seen. And trust us, we’ve been to our fair share of tailgates.
A huge warehouse building with a full tip-only bar inside that had WARM bathrooms. If you’ve ever been to the North in the winter, you know the importance of this. The tip was simply a courtesy contribution to keep this tailgate alive and running time & time again. There was a fire pit with a grill making some of the best bratwursts you’ve ever tried. They even had a school bus that they re-vamped as a Green Bay bus for this tailgate party. The bus was revamped with a bar inside, the ultimate sound system, & colored strobe lighting, movie theater-like seats and a big screen just in case you needed to stay out of the cold to watch. We were shot-gunning beers and making as many local friends as we could.
To be honest, the locals probably got a bigger hit out of us than we did of them. They thought we were hysterical with how we “oo’ed and awe’d” to their lifestyle. Can’t forget to mention that that this warehouse was WALKING DISTANCE from the stadium. Clearly, these people really know what they’re doing.
It was hands down the best part of the trip, other than watching the Packers beat the Falcons. Duh.
Next, we headed to the game. And boy were we amped after that pregame.
Although we were freezing, we had done some pre-planning preparation and packed some vodka in 
flasks that we smuggled in our seven layers of clothing. Pat-down checks upon entering the snowy stadium while wearing seven layers of clothing were a breeze. We ended up putting it in some hot chocolate and (shockingly) it was magical. And let’s talk about the brats. I thought the bratwursts at the tailgate were good, but the ones at Lambeau were the greatest ever.
The game was incredible and our offense was as usual, on fire. There is nothing like seeing Jordy Nelson catch a ball from Aaron Rodgers and run it into the endzone for an 80-some yard touchdown.
All in all, the trip to Green Bay was not only something to check off the bucket list, but doing it in the beginning of December for a Monday night game, was the best decision we have ever made. The four of us made a promise to return once every year just to bask in the glory of it all. Let’s just say anybody can turn into a cheesehead, but when you go to Lambeau for a Packers game, it’s hard to leave Wsiconsin without gaining a heart full of gold… gold cheese that is.
– Carly & Hailey
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