Vacation... On 3!!!

04/17/08 11:20 PM | Spurts

So we left the Dodgeville/Spring Green area for another Green. Green Bay. I have been a football fan since I was four or five. I would watch the games with my dad in glorious b&w, and knew the Lombardi sweep, and the Purple People eaters better than I knew anything by the time I was 9. When I was 9 I read my first book all the way through, and it was a tough read for a 3rd grader. It was the biography of Quarterback Bart Starr, #15 of the Green Bay Packers. I was a Packer fan when Johnny U. was playing for the Baltimore Colts, when Fran Tarkenton was scrambling to save his rear end every snap because of a porous O-line, and when Roman Gabriel was the talk of the league only because his O-line was the best ever at the time. I was a Packer fan.
So when I conceived the idea of a Mystery Vacation in Wisconsin I had the trip to Lambeau field added in from the beginning.
That is where we went on the third day of the trip. I took a photo of the much larger than life statue of Vince Lombardi. I wiped the tears of awe from the corners of my eyes. I felt almost like a religious zealot going to the Holy Lands. This was my shrine, my beginnings. I spent $62.00 in the pro shop, but had to pass on my first sports hero's $265.00 jersey. I took pictures.

Jenni took pictures and one of the Lambeau staff took our pictures too. I didn't take the tour, I didn't see the field but I did get to haunt the stadiums common areas. I have all but vowed to return to Lambeau on October 19th when the Colts go North to battle the elements and the Favre-less Packers.

Chuck Pace © 2008