Day Trips in Wisconsin – Beer, Cheese, Football, & More

Wisconsin is Julie’s home state. She grew up in Wisconsin Rapids, vacationed in Wisconsin Dells, learned to love the Wisconsin necessities (beer, sausage, cheese, football) and became the woman she is today! She knows this state inside out, and knows everything about what to do in Wisconsin. Let us be your guide on all of the fun day trips in Wisconsin across the state!

First up, football. This game runs through the veins of every Wisconsinite, especially those in frosty Green Bay. If you think of Wisconsin as a mitten, Green Bay is right where the thumb meets the rest of the hand. And when you visit GB, which you absolutely should, we guarantee you won’t go 2 blocks without seeing some green and gold Packer signage.

Green Bay – Titletown, USA

You can’t really mention Green Bay without mentioning football. Green Bay is football. Football is Green Bay. Standing tall and proud in Titletown, USA is historic Lambeau Field, where Wisconsin’s beloved Packers do battle each Autumn Sunday. Perhaps the best possible day trip in Wisconsin is to Lambeau to catch a Packers game.

Lambeau Field

Lambeau Field is unique among NFL stadiums (and really all stadiums) in that it pops up seemingly out of nowhere, in the middle of a neighborhood. Imagine waking up and rolling out of bed, wiping the crust out of your eyes, peering out your living room window and seeing 50,000 of your closest friends tailgating the crap out of a Sunday donned in more Green and Gold than you knew existed.

Crazy, right?? These people live it every single year and they wouldn’t have it any other way. We love you Wisconsin, never change.

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Dinner & a Show – The Blue Opus

While we were staying in Green Bay we were on the hunt. Not for a big ol’ buck or a runaway duck, but for dinner and a show. We asked Julie’s Uncle Mike, a Green Bay resident himself & lover of all things fun, where the best place to go was.

Before we finished the sentence he was talking about Blue Opus. Blue Opus is half-bar, half-restaurant, half-music-venue and we couldn’t love it any more. Nestled into its own nook of Green Bay, this place puts on a live music show every. single. night.

Not only is there always an amazing show, but the food, drinks and service deserve mentioning as well. They serve Cajun-inspired dishes so authentic we thought there had to be a creole master-chef in the back! Zach ordered the jambalaya and Julie had the steak sandwich, which both knocked our socks off and were more food than we could possibly eat in one sitting.

The servers were so friendly and made sure we were taken care of the whole night. Beers were flowing as we tried all their fun and seasonal beers on tap, many of which were brewed right there in Wisconsin! Rain or shine Blue Opus is rocking, and please go knocking. You won’t regret it.

When we visited Blue Opus, the band performing that night was Third Degree and let us tell you, they brought the house down. This band, at least as of November 2018, is still in HIGH SCHOOL! When we were in high school we were moping around hallways picking at pimples and trying to work up the courage to talk to the opposite sex.

This crew is up there ROCKING and ROLLING without a care in the world. Our favorite part of the show was the instrumentation. These kids could play. Lead guitar, bass guitar, drums, keyboard, violin, trumpet, trombone, flute, clarinet, tambourines, they pull out ALL the stops when it comes to instruments.

What kind of songs do they play? These guys play everything! From oldies to chart-toppers, country music to R&B, they kill every single song. Our favorites were ‘Devil Went Down To Georgia’ and ‘Love Shack’. And of course they had the dance floor rocking half way through the show with some Bruno Mars.

If you ever find yourself in Green Bay, whether for a Packer Game, to explore Door County, or anything else, do yourself a favor and stop by the Blue Opus, especially if you see Third Degree on the schedule.

Beer – New Glarus and Leinenkugel’s (fine…Miller Lite too)

Beer. Oh, beer. The state liquid of Wisconsin. Pretty sure that’s not true, but if it were on a ballot I don’t know any Wisconsinite that wouldn’t be for it.

If you have never been to Wisconsin, then you’ve never tried the best beer on earth. That’s just a fact. How do I know that? 3 reasons:

1. You just said that you’ve never been to Wisconsin
2. New Glarus is the best beer on earth
3. New Glarus is only sold in Wisconsin

Ipso facto, you’ve never tasted the sweet nectar that is New Glarus’s Spotted Cow. The greatest beer in all ze world. In Wisconsin, the women may not instinctively flock like the salmon of Capistrano, but the beer sure flows like wine, and New Glarus is the best of the best.

Coming in right behind New Glarus in the Wisconsin beer games is Leinenkugel’s, Leine’s for short. The Leine’s brewery tour is the stuff of legend. We’ve never been before, but maybe it is better that way. In our mind it is a mythic tour of a hall where some of the world’s finest brew masters grow their beards and make their malts. Visiting in person might just ruin it for us, but I suppose we won’t know until we try.

Tough to talk about Wisconsin beer and not talk about the giant: Miller. Brewed in the state’s largest city, Milwaukee, Miller makes beer for the masses. Here’s when we like Miller Lite: day drinking.

Miller Lite goes down easy and doesn’t make you full, therefore it is good for a tailgating session or a day at the cabin. Just mix in a New Glarus and a Leine’s every now and then to remember how amazing Wisconsin beer can taste.

Wisconsin’s Autumn Leaves

No Autumnal mead’s here. Autumnal leaves, baby.

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Wisconsin played a HUGE part in our drone video, and rightfully so! When the leaves change, Wisconsin may just be the best place on earth to explore. The colors are mind-bogglingly unique, and blended together as if by Vinny Van Gogh.

Do yourself a favor and head to Wisconsin during at least one Autumn of your life. Even if it is just during a long weekend in Chicago and you decide to take a quick road trip up the coast of Lake Michigan. It is magical.

Cheese

Time for a love story. Once upon a time there was a girl who was always taught to believe in true love. From fairy tale endings in Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella to watching her parents love for each other. Love was something she got from both nature and nurture.

This little girl had just been pushed to the ground by a boy on the recess playground, a boy she liked. Her love life had dealt her a rotten hand. She was down on her luck, strolling a downtown alley kicking a can, when all of a sudden…

Around the corner ahead of her, she glimpsed something. What it was, she couldn’t be sure, could have just been a glimmer. She decided to investigate, and ran as fast as her two little legs could carry her in the direction of what she had seen.

She didn’t know it yet, but what the little girl came upon would change her life. It was a small square of tin foil. She slowly unwrapped it, to discover a cube of pure gold: golden cheddar cheese.

The girl tasted the cheese, and immediately every fairy tale and love song she had ever heard made sense. She forgot about the boy on recess, and to be honest about boys in general. She was in love with that delicious golden goodness she stumbled upon: cheese.

Is this story about Julie? Is the Pope Catholic? Does a bear shit in the woods? Of course.

Wisconsin is the cheese producer for the world. Just how much cheese does Wisconsin churn out? Over 2.5 billion pounds per year. Billion, with a B. With all that practice, you have to believe they know what they’re doing.

On your trip to Wisconsin, you’ll be offered cheese with everything. Bloody Mary? Comes with cheese. Steak dinner? Covered in cheese. Fried cheese? Duh. Cream cheese? Probably on half the menu items. Cheddar, pepper-jack, colby, mozzarella, parmesan, brie, gouda, provolone, muenster, bleu cheese, sharp cheddar, white cheddar (so many kinds of cheddar), and more. Cheese is in every gas station and at every check-out counter.

Cheese curds deserve their own paragraph, so here it is. If you went to Wisconsin and didn’t try cheese curds, you didn’t go to Wisconsin, period. Cheese curds are just delightful. You can have them cold, you can have them hot. You can have them fried, you can have them plain. They taste great as a side, and appetizer, or even a main course if you’re brave enough! Point is, on your trip, do yourself a favor and dive into a pool of cheese curds.

You go to Italy for pasta, Greece for gyros, and Wisconsin for cheese. It just makes sense. Make sure you’re ready for the yellow creamy avalanche awaiting you on your trip to Wisconsin. And always remember, enjoy responsibly.

If you’re looking for a great gift for a cheese and sausage-loving loved one, look no further. These gift baskets from Wisconsin Cheese Company are the cream of the crop.

8 Tips to an Epic Cabin Trip

It doesn’t get much more ‘Wisconsin’ than have an awesome weekend at a lakeside cabin with friends and family. Over the years, we’ve taken weekend trips to the cabin at least 4 or 5 times every summer, and of course in that time we’ve learned a lot! Here are our 8 tips on how to absolutely CRUSH your cabin weekend.

Be on a Lake

Lakes > Seas > Oceans > No Water. Disagree? Change our mind.

Let’s set the stage. Your eyes blink open, you are warm in your bed but the air is crisp. You make some strong coffee and stroll to the shore, edging out to the end of the dock.

The sun creeps over the tree-line and paints the sky a masterpiece of oranges and blues. Does it get any better? I submit that it cannot!

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Whatever floats your boat, you can’t disagree that life on the water is the best. Growing up we spent an unhealthy amount of time in some questionable lake water whenever we had the chance.

Our personal favorite water activity is tubing behind a boat. No, no, no, I’m not talking about some mundane boat pulling a round disk with one person behind it going 20 miles per hour doing soft S-curves. If that’s you, you have my respect, but not my admiration.

I’m talking about 2-3 tubes LOADED with at least 3 people each, careening around the lake at ludicrous speed doing donuts and hard S-curves. Name of the game is finding or making the biggest wave possible on the lake and ripping the crew over it to LAUNCH people into the air. SEND IT!

Best part? This is even more entertaining for people on the boat than it is people on the tubes! The best reality show there is.

Invite Friends & Family

Every year, we take a trip to a Northern Wisconsin cabin with the whole crew, a mix of college friends, childhood ride-or-dies, and anyone who loves a good time really. The cabin itself is not the point of the trip.

The unforgettable (but oft forgotten due to consumption) memories with the people you love is what it is all about. Not to toot our own horn, but having done this for ten plus years, we know a thing or two about how to do this right. Here’s a few tips:

Crew Composition: You need people who are down to have fun and have a sense of humor. Get yourself a MAXIMUM number of clowns. People who don’t mind crawling over each other to find a place to sleep.

People who will roll with the punches as you hand them their fourth beer bong of the day. People who won’t thumb their nose at Tommy puking in the bushes and rallying with another Smirnoff Ice. Those are the people you want in your life, but you NEED at the cabin.

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Beer Games: No cabin trip is complete without some ridiculous games. Even better? Make it a beer olympics. Choose captains, draft teams, and create a tournament of champions. I’m talking beer ball, beer pong, bean bags, butt beers, spike ball, slap cup, King’s cup.

Find your one friend that is way too competitive (you know who I’m talking about) and make him/her do all the cat-herding getting everyone in place.

Dogs: I think I’m on pretty firm ground saying that dogs are better than people. Did you cry in I Am Legend when the dog died? How about when all the people died of the virus? Point made.

For all you statisticians out there, we have proven that there is a perfectly positive correlation between number of dogs present and amount of fun to be had on your cabin trip. It’s science.

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Life’s Better on a Beach

If you meet someone who mutters, “meh, I’m not that into beaches” you RUN away! Run as fast as you can! I don’t even care what direction you go, just get your butt moving in a direction away from that individual.

Life is too short to associate with people who hate beaches. Do they have sand in their penis/vagina? Obviously not, because they haven’t been to the beach, but goodness me their attitude needs and adjustment!

Pro tip for your next beach trip: as with many things, alcohol can make it a bit more fun. If alcohol isn’t allowed, maybe there are a few ways you can treat that as a guideline rather than a hard-and-fast rule. Am I telling you to slip a cold beer into a McDonalds cup? Are you hearing me say that you can stuff your bra with a bag of Franzia? Of course not…

Play Outdoor Games

Volleyball is the GOAT of outdoor games. Sweet spot is 4-6 people per team. If you are playing with any couples, make sure they are on opposite teams. Can’t stress this enough. If they’re on the same team, they’ll spend the whole time bitching at each other.

Love is love. If they’re on opposite teams, then every once in a while you get the beautiful moment, the one you dream about, where one gets to spike it on the other. Coming in behind the GOAT is Spike Ball, with bean bag toss falling into bronze medal position. In our humble opinion, at least.

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Don’t Set an Alarm Clock

Going to bed without an alarm clock is the highest high human beings can achieve, and alarm clocks have no place at cabins. Anyone who disagrees with that should not be invited, and that is a fact.

Come to think of it, going all Office Space on an alarm clock would be an excellent way to kick off the weekend!

Unplug

Hand in hand with the alarm clock. Technology is the ENEMY at the cabin, except as a means to play bangers. Lift those eyes up from that 4-inch screen and see the world!

There is legitimate science behind this one. Time spent on your phone is time not spent experiencing life to the fullest! At the cabin, time is the ultimate resource. You should be having so much fun that you forget about that distraction machine and focus on spending some QT (quality time) with the people you love to spend time with!

Food, Food, Food

There is not a cabin on this earth that doesn’t have a grill. Facts are facts. If it doesn’t have a grill, then it is not a cabin.

Point number 2: We dare you to find a piece of food that is not better when cooked on the grill. We have tested this theory for the last 10 years. We believe this more wholeheartedly than we believe that the earth is round. And we are not flat-earthers…

There is zero, zilch, nada, NOT ONE edible item that isn’t better grilled. Charcoal vs gas vs pellets? Doesn’t matter, as long as it is hot enough that you are breathing fire after you take the first bite.

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Aaaaaaand Giant Inflatables

This has been a recent addition to our cabin trips, and let us say: giant inflatables are a game changer.

Right off the bat, these live up to their name. They are ENORMOUS. Basically a floating living room. If you wanted, you could sleep 10 people on this thing (not recommended).

Looking for a little extra income? Rent out your giant inflatable as an Airbnb room and see if you get any takers! They are THAT big.

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Just as they are enormous, these bad boys are RIDICULOUSLY fun to hang out on. The inflated outer ring makes for a perfect bench, and the built-in cooler is a nice addition for all of you 21 and over out there.

If you really want to take this to the next level, figure out how to attach a sail to your inflatable and see where the wind takes you!

Giant Flamingo

The answer to your Christmas gift conundrum for your young daughter or adult son. This giant flamingo will make sure everyone on the lake knows who you are. Stand out and shine, you were born for this.

And of course, pin the image below to save this goodie for later!