Yes, they still have those, Amy. Drive through mini mart for beer, milk, cigarettes. Tiny places with a drive up window on each side.

Wisconsin is pretty much completely red. When I was a kid, there were about 21 bars in my home town and I think three grocery stores.

I think Milwaukee has the most bars per capita in the US (not sure if that ranking still holds). I know that there are LOTS of bars in this small town of 24K people. So many that there is no way I'll ever know them all. Wisconsin has a VERY strong lobby in the Tavern Association and it's why the DUI laws are some of the most lenient in the country. I think it's safe to say there are less than a dozen grocery stores in the area--and that includes Wal-Mart.

Blue laws are strange here, too, though. We can't buy beer and alcohol in the grocery stores--they have to be completely separate. Several groceries have liquor stores attached and most alcohol can be purchased 24/7. At least I remember buying tequila and rum on a Sunday morning. Our closest convenience store/gas station combo has a HUGE beer cave.

msbelle I am glad you can vent, and that mac is out of the house now. You have the patience, of, well, a good mom.

NYS has no wine in grocery stores, just wine product. I think right now it is mostly because the liquor stores don't want to be put out of business by grocery stores, especilaly in suburbia. In "the city" there are WAY more liquor stores than grocery stores, unless you count corner stores which basically sell chips, beer, coffee and the occasional canned good for a million dollars..

in NC wine and beer can be sold after noon on Sundays. So you can leave church and swing by the Piggly Wiggly to nab a 6-pack.

Maybe the lawmakers just didn't want folks to be drunk during the sermon.

We have 4 titanium sporks. You could easily spork out an eye with one. However, it would need to be deliberate, accidental sporking might be harder

btw last night and today, I have cleared all my shows off the DVR.

I think my big activity for the afternoon may be a shower.

NYS has no wine in grocery stores, just wine product.

You can sell wine in a grocery store IF the wine section has its own separate entrance, but in the city at least, space is such a premium that the net effect is no wine in grocery stores. (When Whole Foods first opened in Columbus Circle, they had a wine store, but because they're in the basement there was no way for them to build in a separate entrance so they had to close it down. TJ's has a separate wine store about two doors down from the regular grocery store.)

It's so nice out, and I haven't done anything with my day yet, so I'm thinking about walking to my parents' for dinner. It's like 5 miles, but I could bail out early and get on a bus or something.

I should open a window, thanks for reminding me, Jesse.

In AK, the liquor/beer/wine has to be separate, which leads to a lot of partitioned 7-11s and such. But, booze can be sold until at least midnight every day, and maybe longer. I don't remember. Bars stay open untol whenever the city tells them to shut down, which is currently 3:30 a.m. in Fairbanks. Used to be 5 a.m. Good times.

In MSP, liquor stores close at 8 p.m. M-Th, 10 p.m. Fri-Sat, and don't open at all on Sundays. You can buy 3.2 beer at the grocery or convenience stores at pretty much anytime, IIRC. Bars can now close at 2 a.m., when it used to be 1 a.m.

When I lived in Springfield, IL, there were a few drive-through liquor stores. I boggled.

Neither of my parents were big drinkers as I was growing up. I blame my peers for my hard-and-fast love of alcohol. Yes.