I found myself in Wisconsin this past week.

So, I took a trip to a snowy Miller Park:

(Note:  The following pictures are terrible because I didn’t have my camera with me and I had to use my cellphone’s camera).

The reason for going to Miller Park in January?

Dinner at Friday’s Front Row, of course. (Open Year Round).

Here’s a random shot of the side of Miller Park as I approached the hot corner:

I entered the park in the same entrance as Tim, my dad and I used on August 16, 2009.  In August 2009, we had to wait in line to get into the stadium.  But on this night, the door was unlocked and I just strolled right into the concourse leading to the LF foul corner.

Across the walkway from Friday’s was the Brewers team store, and this Brewers Mickey Mouse from the All-Star game:

I walked around the empty concourse and checked stuff out.  There was the “Autograph Alley”…

…display cases with information about the Milwaukee Braves…

…the All-American Girl Professional Baseball League (featured in the movie “A League of Their Own”)…

…County Stadium…

…the 1982 Milwaukee Brewers, and a couple display cases with information about MLB players from Wisconsin.

I headed into the restaurant, which is just above the fence in left field, and took a table along the windows.  Here was my view of the infield from my table:

The entire playing field was covered in plastic.  I asked my waitress about the plastic and she said they keep the grass covered all winter.

Both dugouts were covered with tarps and the lights were on in the third base dugout (visitors’ dugout).  Those lights stayed on the entire time I was there.  I’m not sure why. 

This next picture is very hard to see because of reflections of lights from the bar in the window.  In center field, all of the grass had been removed, and there were several cranes and a bunch of other construction equipment:

They were in the process of the building a new scoreboard.

The french onion soup and bacon cheeseburger were both excellent…

…and the view of a darkened Miller Park was a great backdrop for the meal.

After dinner, I headed out to the car.  It was still snowing…

…as I drove away from a dark and frosty Miller Park:

During dinner, I sent an email to County Stadium and Miller Park bleacher legend, Nick “The Happy Youngster” Yohanek…

…to mention that I was dining at his home park.  Tim and I have met Happy three times at Camden Yards on June 10, 2009, Miller Park (above) on August 16, 2009, and U.S. Cellular Field on August 17, 2009.  After several emails and text messages, Nick and I ended up meeting up the following night for dinner, once again, at Miller Park.  Those lights under the third base dugout tarp were still lit up.  Nick is a great guy.  It was great to get the chance to hang out and chat, and to see Miller Park once again.