Day 37...Milwaukee, WI/Chicago, IL

We checked out of our LQ around 9:30 this morning and headed dowtown towards the Miller Brewing Company, so we could get on their first tour of the day - 10:30.  Since we were a little early, we decided to detour over to Miller Park, where the Brewers play, just to get some pictures. 

We got to Miller a little after 10:00 and checked in for our tour ticket (free!) and our beer-tasting wristbands.  The tour starts with a 15 minute video that goes into the history of the company, as well as all the fancy things they have going on that makes them one of the largest breweries out there...they also throw the term "Miller Time" around every 45 seconds or so, actually claiming Miller Time is the reason couches were invented...you'll have to visit for yourself to see how that adds up.  From there, we went to the building where all the beer is actually put into the bottles and cans and is stored once it's packaged...the volume of beer they produce daily is insane.  We then walked over to the brewing building and then onto the Miller Caves, where the beer was once stored to keep it cold...we even got to meet the ghost of Mr. Miller.  Lastly, we were taken to the Beer Garden, where you get to try three of the beers they have on tap that day...we stuck with the classics: Miller Lite and Miller High Life.  Granted, we aren't huge Miller fans ourselves, but it was interesting to see a facility that brews in such high volumes, since we tend to visit microbreweries.

We set out in the direction of the Windy City and said goodbye to Milwaukee.  Luckily, on the way, we were able to stop at the Jelly Belly Factory!  Also a free tour, we arrived shortly before it started.  They actually do the tour via the Jelly Belly Express...a train that goes around the factory and makes stops at different video screens, which explain the various steps that go into making the beans.  The process is pretty interesting, but the tour really just takes you around the storage area, so you don't get to see the factory so much as the volume of inventory, but you get to ride a train, wear a fun paper hat and get a free bag of jellybeans at the end, so I say go for it if you get the chance.  I will note that the employees do not seem nearly happy enough for people working around candy all day long.

After we went on a wild goose chase for some coffee and a decent route to Chicago (our GPS was being ridiculous), we got on our way.  Traffic was a bit rough, but we finally made it to our hotel around 4:30.  I think we probably did pretty well, actually, but we are so used to being on empty one-lane highways in the middle of nowhere, so the volume of cars we encountered today was a bit jarring.  We checked into our LQ, which is in a pretty decent location downtown and spent some time figuring out our plan for our time here...we are actually spending three nights in Chicago, the longest stop.

Around 6:30, we headed out for the train over to dinner.  We were excited about having some Chicago-style deep dish pizza, which I've never had, so we settled on Lou Malnati's.  We jumped at the chance for an outdoor table in order to avoid the 1.5 hour wait...they can only fit 20 people inside, so they will take your pizza order when you put your name on the list and promise to have it out to you 15 minutes after you're seated.  Since we sat right away, we had to wait a little longer for our deep-dish sausage pie, but it was a lovely night and we were able to do some fun people-watching (man dressed as hot dog dancing across the street pretty much the entire time we were there.)  I would say the pizza definitely lived up to the hype...great decision by us.

There was only one option for dessert following our pizza...Molly's Cupcakes.  Molly's is semi-famous outside of Chicago because of the radio talk show Ron & Fez.  Molly's owner is a friend of the show and when he opened the bakery, he named one of the regular cupcakes after Ron, and it's become the best seller.  Ron & Fez have pretty much accompanied us on all of our weekday drives, so we had to try this cupcake.  At around 9:00, the place was still hopping, so we decided to get 4 cupcakes to go.  Andy was very excited to get to meet Mike, the owner, who seemed really honored to have some R&F fans in the house...he even let Andy try on his famous "$3000 sunglasses."  I can't begin to believe they were actually $3000...but that's the rumor.  Turns out we are leaving NY just in time for Molly's to open up, but for those of you New Yorkers out there, you should be able to try your very own Ron Bennington shortly.

Time for bed...we have a very full day of sightseeing tomorrow!