upstate new york: november 19-21, 2010

Posted in upstate new york on November 29th, 2010 by jenni | No Comments »
Tags: baseball, hockey, new york, sports, upstate, vermont

We arrived in Syracuse via Cleveland (where our plane was so tiny we got to walk on the tarmac!) around 12:30, got our car (a Kia Soul called ‘Scar’, according to the keytag), and drove to Armory Square for lunch at Empire Brewing. I had empanadas, poutine, and we split the beer sampler. Win.

We saw a bit of downtown, then drove to see the university and stop at the bookstore for souvenirs. Bally got himself a new orange friend named Otto! (Yes, I did decide to like Syracuse basketball a few years ago primarily because of the color.)

We headed east on US 20 toward Hamilton, home of Colgate University. Matt was going there for work; they have a yearly conference in the area, and he teaches a seminar about technology. We got our room at the Wendt University Inn (one of two hotels in town), met a couple of his coworkers from Boston, then drove the mile into Hamilton to find food. We ended up at a little tapas place that had weak margaritas, but awesome food.

We didn’t have cell signals the entire time we were in Hamilton. That was kind of mindblowing, considering we don’t even have that problem anymore in Matt’s hometown! It was really disconcerting to feel so disconnected.

Around 6:30, we went over to Reid Athletic Center at the university to see Colgate vs Brown!

We’d looked into tickets a few months ago and figured we could risk buying at the door, but didn’t realize how far off our expectations were. First of all, we were able to park in a lot right next to the rink, for free. Tickets cost $6 (or $12 if you wanted a reserved seat with a back). There were maybe 500 fans there. We sat in the front row. I couldn’t believe that these were teams on the same level (in the NCAA, at least) as the ones we’re used to seeing here. It was fantastic, and made me appreciate the Mariucci experience a lot. I’ll try not to complain too much when we have 8,000 fans in the building instead of a capacity crowd.

We got to see a penalty shot, too!

After the game, we went to a couple of bars in town. At that point, it was very hard to differentiate upstate from Wisconsin (in all the good ways).

We got up bright and painfully early the next day (6:30 on a Saturday? Ow.), checked out, and I dropped Matt off at Colgate. Due to the lack of signal, we had to revert to the olden days form of communication: “I’ll meet you here at 3pm. If I’m not here… well, maybe assume I’m dead, because there’s no way to get a hold of me.”

I got back on highway 20 and headed toward my 48th state, Vermont! There were 90 miles of small towns before I got to Albany, and I was nervous the entire time due to my lack of signal and very few cars around me. I decided that even though it’d be slightly farther, I was taking the interstate back.

The area east of Albany is gorgeous, and I reached Vermont around 10am. My first stop was at the tallest structure in the state, Bennington Monument:

I drove around town a little, then stopped at the general store for my obligatory Vermont souvenirs. The place was exactly as hippie-esque as I was hoping. Also, the lady behind the counter demanded that I stop in at the Crazy Russian Girls Bakery across the street before I left, so I picked up an awesome scone for myself, and a cookie to bring back to Matt. Then I was back on my way to New York!

I got into Utica before 2pm, so I had some time to kill before going back to Hamilton. I decided to find a liquor store and pick up some local beer for the evening. The first one Google sent me to was closed (what??) , so I found another one nearby. Upon walking in, though, I realized that they didn’t sell beer, just wine and liquor. I asked the guys at the counter what was up, and they said they weren’t allowed to sell beer. Most groceries had it, but the cheapest could be found at Rite Aid. I headed there instead.

Rite Aid had the cheapest, for sure: Bud Light, Coors, and Milwaukee’s Best. Not exactly what I was hoping for. I thought the booze laws in Minnesota were strange!

I drove back to Hamilton, took some pictures around town and on campus, then parked and waiting for Matt. He arrived right on time, and I went in to help him pack up. What I learned while there is that his coworkers adore him. And why wouldn’t they? They’re obviously smart people.

We packed up and headed to Oneida in search of food, but there was little to be found there. We decided to go check in and find something at our hotel instead. On the way, we stopped at a grocery store to examine the beer situation, and were delighted to find a sampler pack of Saranac there.

We were staying at Vernon Downs, a casino and harness racing track near Utica. I knew it would be entertaining, but it was even better than we’d hoped. We had a quick dinner at the buffet, then went to play video poker (they don’t have tables there). I tripled my money very quickly, which has never happened to me on those machines before. We then hopped the shuttle to the racetrack, where they were giving out free tshirts since it was the last racing of the season. Over the course of a couple hours, I won $90 on horses, too. I loved it.

We went back to the hotel, laid on our bed drinking beers and watching the racing (we overlooked the track), then returned to the casino to watch the cover band, which was being cheered on by a large group of Canadians and the Elvis impersonator who’s performing Thanksgiving weekend. Amazing.

Sunday morning, we got up at 8 and drove to Cooperstown, about 70 miles away. I’d been there as a kid, and had since forgotten how cute the town is. We had a quick breakfast at the Cooperstown diner (where the locals were all arguing about the merits of small town vs city), then went over to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

My favorite thing at the hall of fame? Joe Mauer’s sideburns!

We had to tour the museum pretty quickly because we only had a couple of hours there, but we made the most of it. The Twins displays were the best, of course. We’ll have to go back when they induct Bert Blyleven and add Target Field to the stadiums exhibit!

We did some souvenir shopping in Cooperstown, then got back on the road to Syracuse. (In case you’re considering following Google’s directions and avoiding the tollway, don’t: it’s way faster.) We arrived in town around 3pm, and headed back to Armory Square for lunch. The place we’d chosen was closed, so we ended up at Empire Brewing again. It was hard to be too sad about that.

After lunch, we drove to the airport and dropped the car off. We had flights on a couple tiny Continental Express jets again, which were fantastic. I really hope they can maintain that awesomeness after the United merger.

Since this conference happens yearly, it’s entirely likely we’ll be going back next year. I didn’t think I’d be very excited to return to upstate, but now I’m looking forward to it!

(The entire photoset is here on Flickr.)

saturday 11.7.2009

Posted in boston on November 10th, 2009 by jenni | No Comments »
Tags: boston, hockey, massachusetts, sports

Very early Saturday morning, we got up and headed over to the College of the Holy Cross. If you know anything about Gopher hockey history, you’ll understand why this was special torture. I dropped Matt off for his presentation, and headed for the freeway. I had two new states to visit!

I exited just north of the Connecticut border and headed over to state route 169. I wished I had my car instead of the rental, because I’d have had the best time ever on that empty, winding road.

It looked much like I expected of New England: very picturesque and oldtimey. And of course there were a million prep schools.

I made it down to the southern end of Connecticut in surprisingly little time. Having always lived in states that take several hours to traverse, that was an absolute novelty. I headed east to Mystic, and arrived at Mystic Seaport just as it was opening.

I toured a whaling ship first, then wandered around to see the shipyards.

These ladies were working on building miniatures for the town replica. They were extremely amused that I wanted to take their picture, instead of the model’s.

I don’t usually have much interest in attractions that involve docents and historical recreations, but I enjoyed Mystic Seaport quite a bit. I’d love for Matt to go back there with me. I stopped at the store to pick up the requisite souvenirs, then took a spin through the cute little town. I had to cross the Highway 1 bridge, too; I’ve spend plenty of time on that road along other parts of the coast.

From Mystic, I drove back up to the interstate and headed into Rhode Island. State #47!! I only have three left to go: Maine, Vermont, and New Hampshire. It was torture to know they were so close, too.

I got to Providence with a specific restaurant in mind. After driving around the very confusing downtown for a while and realizing I’d never find it on my own, I pulled over and got out my phone. I’d recently purchased a Motorola Cliq, and was absolutely thrilled with the travel-related features. I switched on GPS, and it led me right to the restaurant. But of course it wasn’t open til 5pm.

I did more touring of the town, but didn’t find anyplace particularly interesting. I decided to head back towards Worcester, since it was after 1pm and Matt was supposed to be done in a couple of hours.

I really loved driving in New England. Everything is so close! And it was Saturday, so there was no traffic! I stopped to see a couple little towns (including Woonsocket, just because I thought it was a funny name), then found my way back to downtown Worcester. I drove around and took a few more pictures, then stopped for gas and a delicious Dunkin’ Donuts grilled cheese. Seriously, fast food should not be that good. It’s usually not.

I had to use GPS again to find Holy Cross (it’s on top of a huge hill, but for some reason that didn’t make it any easier), but made it just before Matt and his coworker emerged from their conference. Here’s a view of Worcester from the college:

We headed back to Boston, this time with Matt driving. We made it there very quickly, dropped his coworker off at the airport, and went to our hotel to check in around 4pm. Conveniently, the least expensive hotel happened to be right on the airport property, and was also the Embassy Suites. SCORE. Our room was fantastic.

There were complicated logistics involved in the whole process, the order of which we kept forgetting: park at the hotel, check in, return the car (the rental place was almost next door), take the rental shuttle to the airport, take the airport shuttle to the T, and take the T into Boston. We were happy to learn that the Embassy Suites shuttle was able to pick us up and drop us off at the T stop, too; we didn’t have to ride the airport shuttle to a terminal.

We were in Boston by 5pm, which was much earlier than I was expecting. We got off the train and went to transfer, but the one that arrived heading to TD Garden was so packed we decided to try walking. It didn’t look far on the map, but you never really know til you’ve done it.

It turned out that it was very close. Everything in Boston seemed to be within easy walking distance. We passed Faneuil Hall on the way:

We passed a bunch of overcrowded, douchey-seeming bars (including Hurricane O’Reilly’s, which we kept referring to as Pedro O’Horny’s) and went around the corner to what turned out to be the very best bar in the neighborhood: The Penalty Box. The few reviews I’d seen mentioned the possibility of stabbing and being afraid of the bikers; it was nothing like that at all. It was just an old dive full of guys who had been going there for 40 years. They weren’t exactly welcoming, but they weren’t hostile either. We loved it.

Around gametime, we herded into the Garden (which is also a giant T stop… confusing) and pushed our way into the packed shop. Matt got a Blake Wheeler (former Gopher, who is also responsible for the greatest goal I’ve ever seen in person) tshirt, and we headed upstairs. We got surprisingly good pizza and beer, then found our seats and got ready for the game.

The Bruins were playing the Buffalo Sabres, which almost meant we got to see former Gopher Thomas Vanek as well. It was so exciting. The Bruins won handily, and Wheeler got an assist.

Oh, and there were Star Wars characters at intermission. Stormtroopers guarded the exit while Darth Vader and Chewbacca rode the zambonis. I have no idea.

After the game, Matt and I headed off in the direction of one of the best bars in Boston, according to Drinkboston.com. We used this as our guide for the whole trip, and it did not lead us astray.

Our first stop was Marliave, hidden in an alley near (what was at that moment) a burning 7-11. The place was maybe 1/3 full at 10:30pm, in keeping with all good bars. The cocktail menu was fantastic, and it was hard to choose. Luckily, we had plenty of time to look; the bartender took his time getting to us. When I asked for a glass of water, he told me he’d try to get one when he had water glasses. They were currently out.

Um, ok.

I got about halfway through my cocktail before I became fully miserable over my lack of water. I hadn’t had anything to drink since the beer at the hockey game, and we’d walked quite a bit. I was ready to leave, when they finally rounded one up. But I was so unimpressed with that bartender that we vowed to head out anyway unless we got lucky enough to be served by the other lady there, who was awesome. We wanted to try more of the menu, but not from that guy.

We got lucky, so we stayed for another round. (I appreciated the water refills, too.) While we sat there, a table ordered three long islands. The crabby bartender tried to explain that they would be very different since they didn’t have sour mix (totally understandable at an upscale cocktail bar that makes everything in-house), but they wanted them anyway. We watched as two of the long islands were returned and dumped out shortly thereafter. Haha!

We also discovered that High Life was the PBR of Boston. Every guy with a moustache and scarf there was drinking one. Strange.

Our next stop was the Last Hurrah, inside the Omni Parker House. We immediately fell in love and wanted to stay all night. They had an oldschool bar, with couches and armchairs scattered around the room. We grabbed a couch and examined their very classic menu. Sadly, our plan to stay all night was foiled by our awesome server’s announcement that at shortly past midnight, it was last call. At least we got one round in (a martini and manhattan), and a bowl of warm nuts.

Do you have any idea how much two tipsy people can be excited over a bowl of warm nuts? You might not want to know.

We decided to head next door to a bar called the Beantown Pub, just because the bouncer assured us they were still serving food. We found out shortly after grabbing a table that the kitchen had just closed. Not terribly put off by that announcement, though, we moved up to spots at the bar instead. Any good drinker knows that you should always sit at the bar if possible.

I ended up in a conversation with a guy next to us, who appeared to have been rooted to that bar stool. Grady told us his life story. The details are a little fuzzy, but they involved him living in Maine and going to school in Boston, which meant he stayed in a hotel during the week and then drove home over the weekends. He was pretty entertaining, and we were only slightly weirded out at his continued insistence that we come back to his room to drink with him. I’m pretty sure it was just the fact that drinking there was free, and nothing more creepy, but we of course did not go with him. We settled on shots instead.

Then there was the girl we named ‘Nachos’ because she kept asking us to order her nachos, not understanding the part about the kitchen being closed. And then there the sailors who wandered in and instantly had girls hanging all over them. The Beantown Pub was pretty damn entertaining.

Round about closing time, we all teetered outside and hailed cabs. The stupid T stops running at 1am. Oh, and some girl called us hicks because we got the cab instead of her. That rules.

saturday 6.6.2009

Posted in chicago for the world cup qualifier on June 8th, 2009 by jenni | No Comments »
Tags: chicago, illinois, roadtrip, sports

We got up at the crack of noon (haha), and got ready to head downtown. We were smart this time, and took the hotel shuttle to the train station at O’Hare. It was a big day!

We intended to go to Hot Doug’s to get some food, so we hopped off the train at the appropriate stop and headed east. Most people would’ve taken the bus, but we insist on walking. After a mile or so, we arrived to find a line two blocks long. I’m sure Hot Doug’s is awesome, but we couldn’t wait that long.

So we kept walking. And walking. I have no idea how far it was, but it was a lot. Finally, we found ourselves at Wishbone, one of my favorite places. It was 3pm. Perfect time for brunch, if you ask me.

We revived ourselves with lots of coffee and grits, and then headed up to hop on the El. Someone on twitter had told me about the crazy paintings at the Old Town Ale House, so we had to check that out. Well, the paintings were amazing. How can you go wrong with creepy naked Sarah Palin? The bar itself was kind of scary, though: we walked in and everyone turned at stared. That’s because everyone else lived there, and we were strangers. At least the bartender was nice!

We rode downtown and walked over to Millennium Park, because no trip to Chicago is complete without a visit to Cloud Gate, aka the Bean. There were Honduras soccer fans everywhere. So awesome.

We still had a bit of time to kill before the game (and we were alarmingly sober), so we set off in search of Matt’s dad’s favorite bar. It was easy to find, and was crowded with fans. We found spots at the most oldschool bar ever, and I ordered a Manhattan and a piece of spanakopita. That’s just how I roll.

Matt went out to smoke, and came back in with Robin in tow. He’s one of Kris’ friends, and we run into him at every soccer-related event in Minneapolis. We finished our drinks and decided to head down to Soldier Field.

Even though I grew up in Chicago, I’d never been to Soldier Field!! It’s amazing, and so was the crowd.

There were a few sections of US fans at either end of the stadium, but it was at least 80% Honduras fans. That was a little intimidating, but the atmosphere seemed friendly. The US fans seemed to be doing most of the taunting, of course.

We got to see Landon Donovan:

And Jozy Altidore:

And, of course, Tim Howard. I love Tim Howard. A lot.

The game was pretty stressful, but the US team managed a win! Towards the end, some of the Honduras fans in the upper deck started throwing their beer cups onto the US fans. We were pretty glad to be in a sheltered area.

The entire crowd poured back into Chicago together. Despite the taunting and such at the game, everything was very friendly again. It was also the only time I’d be comfortable chanting “U.S.A.!” Usually that kind of behavior makes my skin crawl.

It was worth it for the deep dish.

I was pretty much dragging at that point. We wanted to go hang out somewhere for a bit, but didn’t want to make a lot of effort doing so. Thankfully, the blue line helped us decide; it was closed for several stops between downtown and O’Hare, so we decided to take the shuttle up to the part where it was back in service, and find somewhere to drink right near the stop. Then getting back on the train and to the airport when we were about to fall asleep would be as easy as possible.

The offerings at that stop looked a little bleak when we got there, but we managed to spot a couple places, and decided on the one called the Green Eye. This, it turned out, was the right choice.

The crowd reminded me of a cross between Grumpy’s and Triple Rock, which was immediately appealing. The bartender was gruff and hilarious. After we’d had a drink or two, he came over and excitedly started telling us about the movie they were about to play; apparently they have a trashy horror-film tradition on Saturday nights. It was called Poultrygeist, and it was a Troma musical. Rather than try to explain it, you should just go read about it.

Poultrygeist was as great as it sounds. The entire bar sat there watching it, breaking into hysterics and groans. We really need to get a copy so we can spread the love.

Eventually, Matt and I made our way back over to the train, and from there to the hotel shuttle stop at O’Hare.

friday 8.3.2007 (chicago)

Posted in chicago/milwaukee baseball roadtrip on August 6th, 2007 by jenni | No Comments »
Tags: chicago, illinois, karaoke, millennium park, roadtrip, sports, stadiums, visiting friends

We got up Friday morning and searched in the phonebook for the nearest Dunkin’ Donuts, because what you’ve heard about their coffee is true. We headed downtown and had a brief rendezvous with Lauren outside her work, because she had obtained a parking pass in her neighborhood and some 24-hour CTA passes for us to exploit. We drove up and parked by her house, and took the bus to Wrigley Field.

wendy found herself some reading material on the bus.

We got there really early, so we wandered around the store for a while, then crossed the street to the Cubby Bear. Of course we had to try the Cubby Blue Bombs for $4 (it made my stomach hurt for the next five minutes). The Sparks girls were there handing out samples, and of course we had to try that, too. It wasn’t great, but it was free. They came back around later asking if we liked it, and wanted free cans. Um, yes.

I lived in Chicago for ten years growing up, and had never been to a baseball game there. In fact, I’m pretty sure I’ve never been to any sporting event in Chicago. I was only really interested in Wrigley Field, though. It was great.

Our seats were in the second row from the top, but they were awesome. I’m glad we weren’t in the bleachers, because the sun was brutal. Our row-neighbors were from Oklahoma, and I’m pretty sure they’d never been to a baseball game before; one of them got up and made us stand up so they could wander around at least every 15 minutes. They couldn’t even go as pairs.

We got to see Luis Castillo, who the Twins traded to the Mets a few weeks ago, and also Eddie Vedder singing “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” during 7th inning stretch. (Pearl Jam was playing at Lollapalooza.) I had flashbacks to 12 years ago. Also, I was excited to realize that you can see Lake Michigan from the ballpark.

The game was going well until the last inning, when the Mets scored about 500 runs. I’m not joking.

the ‘lose’ flag

We killed some time wandering around the stadium, then went to the el station. It was still crazy, but we managed to get on the first train and ride downtown to Millennium Park.

crown fountain

We had decided upon deep dish pizza much earlier, and there was a Giordano’s a few blocks up Michigan Avenue. We walked over there and found it very crowded. While Matt and I waited in line, Willis looked up another location in downtown. He called them and they said there was no wait, so we headed over that way.

After eight blocks or so, we realized that Google Maps had lied to us, and the restaurant was still several blocks from there. We ended up walking very far for that meal, but it was worth it. Not only was the pizza awesome, Franz from the Hold Steady was sitting at the next table.

We were rerouted along the way back to the train station because they had cordoned off a large section of downtown to film a movie. We asked a security guard what it was, and he said, “Batman.” We weren’t sure if that was true or not, because there was a production assistant across the street telling people it was Rory’s First Kiss. Willis looked it up, and it turns out that’s the supersecret working title for the new Batman movie. Wendy decided to stay and film some scenes.

wendy on the batman set

We got lost trying to find the el station for a while, and had to call Lauren for help. We rode up to her house, and walked over to Louie’s, the karaoke bar we’d visited the first time I stayed with her.

The karaoke was awesome but the drinks were not, so we headed to a dive called the Beachwood instead. Upon close, we went for 2am breakfast at the Hollywood Grill. It was not great at all, but it was necessary. We didn’t get back to the hotel til 3:30.

saturday 8.4.2007 (chicago to milwaukee)

Posted in chicago/milwaukee baseball roadtrip on August 6th, 2007 by jenni | No Comments »
Tags: chicago, dancing, illinois, milwaukee, roadtrip, sports, visiting friends, wisconsin

We arose very late on Saturday morning, got us some giant coffees at Dunkin Donuts, and headed toward my old hometown of Wheaton. It’s a tradition to drive through and see it every time I’m in the area.

i lived here for grades 1-5.

We drove through my old neighborhood and cute little downtown Wheaton, which is scarred irreparably by a Starbucks. We then headed to Portillo’s for lunch. I was thrilled to see that they now have a veggie sammich.

Very sleepy from lunch, we made our way into Wisconsin, with a quick stop for gas and naked ladies.

We checked into the hotel and then headed back out to pick up tickets, Wendy’s friend Rick, and grilling supplies. We arrived at Miller Field a mere hour or so before the game, in the rain, but this did not prevent us from getting our awesome tailgate on. We had plenty of company there, too. Milwaukeeans know how to party.

willis drinking a 40 from a plastic bag

that’s leftover deep-dish pizza on the grill!

wendy with a yard of berry weiss, smoking strawberry and tequila swisher sweets at the same time.
and she’s wearing a cape. yeah.

Post-tailgate, we headed toward the stadium, but were diverted at the Sausage Haus. We went in to use the restrooms, and they were blasting ‘Party Like a Rock Star’ at ear-bleeding volumes. We didn’t know it then, but this was some serious Wisconsin foreshadowing.

Miller Stadium is amazing. It has a retractable roof (which was closed due to rain, but that was alright), and is designed really well, in a way that makes me very excited for the open-air stadium here. Also, they have sausage races. We saw two of the sausages going up in the elevator, both leaning folded-over on the people in there with them. It was hysterical.

We found our seats and somehow ended up drinking Sparks again, for reasons only Wisconsin understands. Round about the fourth or fifth inning, Willis and Matt and I got up to go to the bathroom, and then decided to check out the outdoor bar. It was there we met Bobby Chicago and his girlfriend, the people sitting next to us at the game. Bobby and I both grew up in Wheaton, and he told me how everybody thinks he’s hardcore because he’s from the 187 (the zipcode is 60187). They introduced us to the Captain Bomb, and we possibly didn’t realize how long we were out there until Wendy texted, wondering where the hell we were.

We went back inside just in time to catch the sausage races and the end of the game. The Brewers had a pretty spectacular win, and we stuck around for a bit afterward watching to see if the Cubs fans who showed up just to aggravate the crowd would get their asses kicked. There were a couple people escorted out by the cops, but that’s about it. Also, it’s pretty funny to see the difference in the baseball crowds between Chicago and Milwaukee. As we all know, Wisconsin = booze.

We made plans with Bobby Chicago to meet up after the game, and headed to the store to shop. We stopped again at the Sausage Haus on the way back to the parking lot, and this time I found Wendy a son. He was laying on the floor under the sinks on one of those little-league photo buttons. She named him Jacob.

Since there was a line of traffic waiting to get out of the lot (admittedly, a very short line, but we’ll take any excuse), we decided to continue tailgating for a while. We ended up blasting Minneapolis hiphop with all the car doors open and dancing in the parking lot. After that, Rick drove us to the Safe House.

I cannot really express how awesome the Safe House is, so you should probably just go. We all whispered the password and passed our $5 to the girl in the entryway, happily escaping the customary televised ridicule of people who had never been there.

We shared a giant drink called the Mission Impossible, explored as much of the place as we could figure out how to access, went in the sound-effects phone booth, touched Burt Reynolds there, and a couple of us may have gotten up to naughty bidness in the downstairs hallway. Possibly.

We finally found ourselves sitting next to the dance floor, and then there was dancing to things like ‘Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy’ followed by ‘Crazy Bitch’ (best two-song playlist ever!), ‘Fergalicious’, ‘Sexyback’, and, yes, ‘Party Like a Rock Star’. The floor was so sticky that my flipflops kept adhering to it; I’d dance out of one of them, then have to dance back toward it to retrieve it again. There was a bachelorette party going on next to us, complete with a male stripper with his boxer-briefs on inside out (they dubbed him Skidmark). And there was also Black Derek, but I cannot possibly explain about that. All I remember was his shirt, and the fact that he was there dancing on the stairs with us.

I have no idea what time we got back to the hotel, because I was sleeping in the backseat most of the way there. I have vague memories of them getting lost, and apparently that did actually happen. Oh, Wisconsin.