When making the trip over to lower Michigan to start my new college life, I didn't think the culture would be much different. I moved directly east across the lake from my hometown in Wisconsin to a great city called Midland, Michigan. (Near Bay City and Saginaw or two hours north of Detroit for those of you who are still lost.) So here as I am about to finish my first year at college in the dreaded home state of the Lions, and I thought I'd write you a letter to remind everyone there's no place like Wisconsin.
Dear Wisconsin, I recently got asked what defines your home state and thankfully I was one of the last to answer in the class. There was one other Wisconsin native in the class and he like all Wisconsin lovers said "Our world class cheese." So by the time it made it around to me I figured it out, Pride is what defines Wisconsin. With my professor giving me a funny look I expanded my answer. If you are from Wisconsin, you take pride in anything and everything. When asked about the Packers, the Brewers or our cheese, anyone from Wisconsin takes pride and says "We...." I don't know about you. However, I have no influence on how the Packers play. Take a moment and think about Green Bay. Currently, there are just over 104,000 residents yet on any game day Sunday not only are the 80,750 stadium seats filled, thousands of more Cheeseheads can be found tailgating in the parking lot or at one of the adjacent houses or bars. I don't even like football yet every Game Day Sunday I watch to see how "our" team is doing.
We are the Margaritaville of the North, except instead of saying Margaritaville we use the term "Up North" as an excuse to drink. Wisconsin is like every other state's alcoholic uncle who everyone loves. Unlike in Michigan when we refer to The Big Three, we are probably talking about Miller, leinenkugel, and PBR. Most everyone's drink of choice when going out every Friday for a fish fry is an Old Fashion or one of our craft beers. Remember. "Whatever the weather it's always five o'clock when we're together #drinkwisconsibly"
We like our music... Summerfest, Country USA (CUSA), Life fest, Bluegrass festival, Rock Fest, Polka Fest, Jazz Fest and who can forget Hodag are just a few of the large music festivals in our state. Don't forget to check out any bar and grill on the weekends as they too will have a band playing.
Did you know that other states don't play cribbage, rummy or even I hope you are sitting down for this Sheepshead! (Sheep-head if your north of Green Bay) Card games are a Wisconsin tradition so everyone in your family better know how to play seeing how a game can break out at anytime.
Unlike those awful Viking fans to the west, we are the land of 15,000 lakes. Giving us some of the best boating and snowmobiling in the world. Evinrude vs. Mercury or Ski-doo vs. Polaris vs. Arctic Cat is the equivalent of Ford vs. Chevy to some. Our lakes and rivers provide year-round entertainment thanks to Waterski shows, Paddle boat tours, boat races, the nonstop fishing, Cross-country skiing, snowshoeing and Ice cave tours.
Being that we have winter for what seems like eight months a year. If you need a break from all the amazing outdoors of Wisconsin. Instead of flying to a tropical vacation we built our own. Wisconsin Dells is the water park Capitol of the World. From an indoor beach to army duck rides, the Dells has it all! Take Disney Land, Universal, and a Wisconsin casino to combine them all to create arguably one of the coolest family-friendly tourist towns in all of the US. Nearly
When not in green and gold, camo and blaze orange are our colors. (Even in church) The third Saturday of November is a statewide holiday, Whether your hunt or not everyone goes to deer camp. Over the weekend, you have nearly 900,000 hungover hunters looking for da turdy point buck making Wisconsin the 4th largest army in the world with The Village People singing our national anthem.
You knew I was going to get to it eventually. Our cheese. Anyone from Wisconsin can tell you that nothing tastes better then headed to your local cheese factory and getting the fresh warm squeaky cheese curds right after they pull them from the vat. At any time, at least four different types of cheese reside in one's household. We are famous for bringing cheese plates to every event. Of course with your choice of either Townhouse or Ritz crackers and some summer sausage you either bought from the local Kwik Trip or made from venison from last years deer hunt.
We are excellent at pronouncing words like Ashwaubenon, Eau Claire (the town), Fond du Lac, Iola, Weyauwega, Waukesha, Kaukauna, Oconomowoc, and Milwaukee. Not to mention we can spell them all without any problem. And seriously people, a water fountain is that thing that shoots out water in the middle of the park. A bubbler is a cool refrigerated water source on walls that you can drink from.
In all Wisconsin is the cheese curds of states. Something everyone loves yet you can never seem to have enough of. Yes, we are your cheese eating, gun owning, band loving, hard working, sports addicted, polka dancing, gambling addicted drunk Uncle of a State who may be a tad overweight. We are the ones who have the most fun no matter what time of year. Wisconsin isn't a state; it's a lifestyle everyone must experience. So thank you Wisconsin for being such an amazing environment to grow up in, see you in two weeks!
