New Glarus brewery!

Frank is kind of an obsessive fan of New Glarus beer, which you can only buy in Wisconsin—so a few weeks ago when I went with my mom to pick up my little sister from sewing camp near Milwaukee, we made a pit stop on our way home to buy him a 12-pack of New Glarus. He loved the surprise and I was surprised to find that I liked the beer too (normally I am NOT a beer drinker. Pass the sangria!). Pretty quickly there was more than one New Glarus fan in our family, so when Frank suggested a day trip to New Glarus on Saturday, I was all in. This really has been a summer of mini-road trips for our family.

Frank dressed his mini-me in a new outfit and we loaded up the diaper bag for a day of adventure:

Little man slept most of the way there. He sleeps really well on car trips (which is probably why we've been taking so many road trips!). I pulled a blanket over his eyes to block the sun, and I had to laugh at how funny he looked sleeping with just his little nose and mouth sticking out.

Here is the brewery—for some reason we thought we'd have the place kind of to ourselves, but it was absolutely packed! It's definitely a popular destination.

We took a self-guided tour of the brewery...

And I couldn't resist taking photos of this awesome Beer Soap. I mean, what?

It came in four different "flavors".

This was the least of the gift shop's fabulous treasures. We saw everything from beer shampoo and beer cookbooks to New Glarus aprons and themed frisbee golf discs! I somehow resisted my urge to take photos of everything.

Little man was none too pleased at being awoken from his nice nap in the car. He tolerated the brewery tour and the beer tasting outside:

But was much happier when we settled down on a shady picnic table to look at the view.

The brewery has a fantastic deal where you can try three beers for only $3.50. I opted for that (small glass on the right) while Frank went with a regular-size glass of a seasonal ale. We both got to keep our awesome glasses as souvenirs (and we also bought a few other kinds of beer at super-low prices to take home).

Good times, good times.

I had to laugh when I saw Frank carrying our purchases back to the car. With a baby in one hand and a carton of beer in the other, what more could a man need? :p

Afterward we visited the little town of New Glarus, which was settled by Swiss immigrants and has a charming old-world feel. It's full of antique shops and restaurants. We stopped in a cheese and chocolate store for some dessert, and I found a new blue-and-white plate to add to my collection.

The drive was a little long for a day trip, at 2.5 hours each way, so I think next time we would probably stay the night in New Glarus and spend more time in the town. Nonetheless it was the perfect short escape, and we will definitely be going again.