Even the most causal sports fan knows about Brett Favre and the problems he has making up his mind. Earlier this year, Favre was all about retirement, then all about playing football, and then back to dreaming of 365 days of golf. Well he finally decided to toss the pigskin around for one last season—we’ll see if one last season turns into more next year—and has led the Minnesota Vikings to an undefeated start. In about two weeks, Favre will return to Green Bay to play the team he led for many years, and the city’s citizens want to ensure that Favre has a warm welcome back home.

Mayor Jim Schmitt of Green Bay is asking for public suggestions for respectable ways to welcome Favre back to town. One of the best suggestions so far is to cook up a giant waffle in the shape of a number four—Favre’s uniform number. This will be a somewhat subtle dedication to the player’s reputation for indecision regarding his retirement. Another idea was to play a reel of all Favre’s interceptions while in a Packers uniform before the game. ]]> kjb 2009-10-22T09:08:41-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/10/7/42311/3256

You've seen Andy Warhol's classic Campbell's Soup cans and his bold, bright Marilyn Monroe silkscreen works, but you probably haven't seen the Pop master's art from the latter part of his life, which veered away from glamour and beauty. The Milwaukee Art Museum gives you a peek at those works with "Andy Warhol: The Last Decade," the first U.S. museum exhibit to examine the artist's final years through a survey of painted pieces.

Although Warhol received most of his acclaim from his '60s Pop Art, his output during decade before his death in '87 was far more prolific. The Milwaukee museum shows pieces from this period, including collaborations with Jean-Michel Basquiat and Francesco Clemente that inspired the artist to return to painting by hand; abstract works, black-and-white ads, works examining death and religion, self-portraits, camouflage patterns and oxidation paintings—also known as "piss paintings" because he peed on them...nasty. ]]> Jennifer Kester 2009-10-07T10:32:37-05:00 43.0384558 -87.897475 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/10/2/8389/15810

WTF, yo? Poor Wisconsin; their tourism board obviously doesn't employ any youngsters who are familiar with the hip, internet lingo of the day. Perhaps they should have run their name by an intern first? The "Wisconsin Tourism Federation," or WTF, is a little late to realize that their own acronym is also a popular abbreviation for "what the f*ck."

So instead of continue on the path to permanent jokedom, the WTF sat down and decided to give in to the web change their name to the Tourism Federation of Wisconsin, or TFW. CNET has the scoop on their reasoning: "'We didn't want it to detract from our mission,' said Julia Hertel, a spokeswoman for the newly renamed TFW."

Aw, isn't that cute? But you see, what they didn't count on and probably still haven't realized the value of, is all this publicity. Now, thanks to their slip-up and unfortunate association with a cussing internet slang term, the WTF TFW is known outside of Milwaukee. The jury is still out on whether or not this incident will attract tourists to the dairy state.

Related Stories:
· WTF? Bloggers cause Wisconsin Tourism Federation to change name [CNET]
· Wisconsin Travel [Jaunted]

[Photo: WTF or is it TFW?]]]> JetSetCD 2009-10-02T09:02:14-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/9/24/64048/2444

Now that fall is officially here, our minds—and stomachs—start to yearn for the tastes of autumn. Pumpkins, apples, and even cranberries all start to take priority over corn-on-the-cob and baked beans. Although we are fans of cranberries, especially with a generous side of turkey, we have a lot to learn before this year’s Warrens Cranberry Festival in Wisconsin.

It’s the world’s largest cranberry festival and they want everyone to know about it. There’s over 1000 booths on display with people selling their arts and crafts, flea market finds, and probably just some junk from around the house. All together the vendors make up over three miles, so you probably want to fill your water bottle up with some Ocean Spray for a little extra energy. They are expecting over 100,000 fans of the cran this weekend as things run from September 25 to 27. ]]> kjb 2009-09-25T10:33:48-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/9/8/152624/7312

Just when you think you're cool, a Bronze Statue of The Fonz from Happy Days goes and accepts an award for being exactly that: really darn cool. Over the weekend, Milwaukee accepted the award on behalf of the Fonzie statue they erected back in August 2008.

Officially, the reason for the honor from the National Council for Destination Organizations (whatever that is) is that the city has done such a great job of marketing the statue and the city as a tourism destination because of it, that they've raised over $17,000 for a literacy program from sales of autographed cast posters and contributions. Of course Henry Winkler was on hand to pose with his metal doppelganger. ]]> JetSetCD 2009-09-08T15:44:38-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/7/20/11332/0829

After weeks of grieving for various celebrity deaths, a nation was finally able to laugh again this weekend when we learned of a Wienermobile crashing into a Wisconsin home.

The 22-year-old driver of the iconic Oscar Mayer promotional car, one of six such vehicles nationwide, was trying to turn around in a private driveway and accidentally shifted into drive, according to the Associated Press. No one was hurt and the owners weren't home, which isn't to say they didn't have a massive shock at seeing their home turned into a bun.

Twelve Weinermobile drivers are chosen yearly from a pool of over a thousand applicants, but the job requirements don't specify that would-be hotdoggers know how to drive at all, let alone handle a 27-foot-long, 7000-pound fiberglass lunch. The Hotdoggers write on their official blog that they are back on the highway, which means homeowners in St. Louis should put down the portcullis before leaving for work.

This is the second recent Wienermobile accident to make the national news, following a 2008 mishap on a snowy highway in Pennsylvania (albeit, again, with no casualties). Ironically, former chairman Oscar G. Mayer (the grandson of the founder) died two weeks ago in Wisconsin at the age of 95. His main request for the funeral? No Wienermobile.

Related Stories:
· Wienermobile crashes into Racine County home [JS Online]
· Franks For Your Concern [Hotdogger Blog]
· The Troubling History of Wienermobile Traffic Incidents [Wizbang Pop]
· Retired chairman of Oscar Mayer Foods dead at 95 [Jaunted]

[Photo: JS Online]]]> egw 2009-07-20T13:59:21-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/6/30/14859/4525

Someday when the ozone layer has become more hole than layer, summer will be ruined for open-water activities like tubing, because the risk of skin cancer will be too great. So we'd best live it up while we're young and there is still SPF enough! That's a pretty dire way to characterize the best tubing spot in Wisconsin, but no man-made lazy river can compare to the Apple River's natural sloth.

The allure of this tributary of the St. Croix close to Minneapolis is passed around every summer among circles of would-be road-trippers. A few gentle rapids keep tubers moving along, and while the scenery isn't the greatest, the wide, slow rock of the Apple that once made it perfect to float logs downstream from virgin forests to busy sawmills attracts boaters from all over.

The tubing "scene" isn't for kids on the Apple -- online reports indicate a preponderance of casual nudity and beer cans -- but you can always placate them with a later-summer visit to Noah's Ark in Wisconsin Dells.

Related Stories:
· Summer Vacations With an Edge: Rockin' and Rapids [Jaunted]
· Dominica Rides Year Of The Pirate [Jaunted]
· More Active Travel: Rafting Coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: chris-williams]]]> egw 2009-06-30T14:58:58-05:00 Search Jaunted string http://www.jaunted.com/search/