Day Trips with my dad: Monroe, WI

Every month or so my dad and I take a trip to Monroe, Wisconsin, the Limburger Cheese Capitol of the US. The population is like that of my hometown, but it seems to have a different feel. The city is about an hour and a half drive and makes for a nice short day-trip.

Where we like to eat

Amy’s Corner Café

Amy’s Corner Cafe, Monroe, WI

My dad enjoys, Amy’s Coner Cafe is a quint hometown restaurant, with a long counter with build in stools, booths, and a few table and chairs for you to enjoy your meal. Often on Saturday morning, it has been busy, or we had to wait for a place to sit.  Once we even shared a table with a few people, that was fun.

Amy’s offers a breakfast and brunch menu and is not open for dinner. If you are looking for an old school place to eat, this is it!

Baumgartner’s Cheese Store & Tavern

Baumgartner’s is a fun place to go as well, for they don’t judge you if you have a beer with your soup and cheese sandwich at 9:30-10:00 in the morning!

Baumgartner Cheese Store and Tavern celebrates the Swiss history of Monroe with decor interlaced with whimsical signs. If you come in for a drink and food, you will have the choice of several beers both on tap and containers, plus a full bar. For food, they offer cheese and other sandwiches including their famous Limburger cheese sandwich, soup, or chili.

Before you leave, check out the merchandise area and bring home something fun. For fun, you can have your server attempt to get your dollar bill to stick to the ceiling.

Places to visit

When in season, we explore the farmers market or the Flee Market that is at the fairgrounds.

Marv’s Farm Toys and Antique Store

Marv’s runs a low tech store, bring cash for he doesn’t take cards, and you probably figured out he doesn’t have a website. The retired carpenter gathered farm toys and other treasures that for the right price he will let them go home with you.

The store’s location: 1512 1/2 11th street Monroe, WI, phone (608) 558 2185 and is only open on Saturday’s

Direction’s to Marv’s to the best of my ability

Getting to Marv’s can be tricky, his shop is in an alley that runs parallel with 15th Ave and 16th Ave and access to the ally is off of 11th ST and 12th St.  The best way to find Marv for the first time is to look for 1512 11th Street you should see sign for Marv’s. Walk down the alley, and once you pass a set of stairs, you should find Marv’s door.

Visual directions to Marv’s off of 11th Street, the red arrow points to his door.

Minhas Brewery, Winery, Distillery, and Resturant

Brewery

Minhas Craft Brewery, the former Hubber brewery is a fun place to visit. The brewery offers tasting, brewery tours, a beer memorabilia museum, plus retail.

The retail area includes brewery and beer branded clothing and beer accessories. If you want to bring some suds home with you, the brewery sells there own brews, and they sell overruns of contract beers they brew.

My favorite brews include

• Hubber Premium
• Hubber Bock
• Rhinelander Special

Distillery and more

Across the street are the Minhas Distillery, Winery, and restaurant.

I have purchased a few things from the distillery; the sample bottles work well for travel. I have not been to the winery nor restaurant.

Cheese

We follow beer procuring with cheese gathering at Alp and Dell Shop or occasionally another local cheese shop. Apls and Dell is an award-winning cheese producer plus they sell others cheese makes cheese.

Not in Monroe but on our way there

The first or last stop of this journey is to Kauffman’s Country Store outside of Beloit, WI, for spices and candy novelties such as gummy chicken feet. What determines when the stop takes place is who is behind the wheel. If I am driving to Monroe, we stop on the way there, but if my dad is behind the wheel, it becomes a return trip stop. (We both have our reasons for why we go there when we do, but over time we learned not to argue the point.)

We don’t often change things up too much but for an occasional guest. Sometimes if the flea market is going on, we go to that, but that is about the only change.

Minhas Brewery

Why we go to Monroe

What makes us happy and possibly the root of this Wisconsin pilgrimage (the gathering of beer and cheese), is the time we spend together.

Our conversations are often about work, how jobs can be stressful. We never solve any world problems, but we spend time together. I think that is what our Monroe trip is all about.

What you can get out of this tale

Bitterness can engulf much of our lives, often caused by politics, work, people, or a multitude of other worries. We need time to be grateful, even for the trivial things in life. It amazes me how quickly we become depressed and bitter.

I am thankful for the time I can spend with my dad. Not everyone has this privilege anymore. I am very grateful that I can travel as much as I do, I am lucky, and I know that.

I believe if we are more grateful and look for the good in things we can improve our outlook on life. We can make our lives better by having an event to look forward to, such as a road trip with your dad or another cherished person. Often what brings joy to our life can also bring joy to someone else’s as well.

What do you need for a trip like ours:

• A destination
• Patients and understanding
• Your listening skills and a good story
• A full tank of gas
• A decent car
• Someone you love and any excuse to spend time with them will do

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Safe travels!

Kev