Our initial cozy group of ten met at a fireside table at the Best Place at the Historic Pabst Brewery. ("Best Place" is the actual and very apt name.) After introductions and small talk, we hopped onboard the bus—with our traveler cups—to set sail that day for a six-hour tour. A six-hour tour… (Are you singing along? Because we sure did, all night.)
By our second venue, we were feeling so comfortable together and enjoying ourselves so much that our server at Bryant's Cocktail Lounge, Milwaukee’s “oldest cocktail lounge,” warned us twice to keep the noise down. It was a lovely place with terrific PERSONALLY TAILORED cocktails, but we moved on to where our loud enthusiasm might be better suited.
Over the next several hours, we cruised downtown Milwaukee, visiting a total of eight bars and pubs. They varied from Victor's on Van Buren, a hot local dance club that my 23-year-old son cringed about going to with his mother (oh, I danced, just to embarrass him further), to Who's On Third, Milwaukee's Pub (the BEST cheese curds in Milwaukee), to the Old German Beer Hall, where we sang the E.I.O Polka and took shots from a wooden shot-ski. (The last time I did a shot in a bar? Probably in the eighties. The next time? Don’t hold your breath.)
Midway through the night, our Partridge Bus morphed into the Pied Piper Bus. Our passengers more than doubled as we made adventurous new friends along the way, including a middle-aged couple, their power-lifting pro daughter, and their delightful companions. And, a special shout-out to Taylor, who was a hard-core trooper.
In between our stops, we sang, did classic TV trivia, laughed nonstop, and annoyed the hell out of our somewhat patient bus driver.
It proved to be one of the craziest and most entertaining nights I’ve ever had, accentuated by the company of a handful of close friends plus many new and random ones.
Ten other outings remain on the Stranger Party Tour over the next year, including our Jan. 24 events in Chicago, to cave-spelunking in Austin, to a scavenger hunt in Boston. The bar’s been set pretty high by the first two outings in Orlando and Milwaukee. Yet I have a feeling we’ll find a way to match that fun.
When’s the last time you did something for the first time? Those of us who joined in on the Partridge Family Bus escapade in Milwaukee can say: Just last weekend.
Read about other upcoming events on The 52/52 Project's National Stranger Party Tour here: https://www.facebook.com/The52at52Project/posts/395041997326397
