Twelve New Things

As much as I have complained about it at times, I think it's time I tackle a new list. So --

Twelve Things I Like About Wisconsin

1. The fall colors.
'Nuff said.

2. The moderate summers.
Rapid City has a tendency to hit 110°F every summer. Here? I think I've seen maybe five days that hit over 90°F. The humidity can get to you, but it keeps the temperature down so things stay bearable.

3. Fresh cranberries.
Until I moved here, I had never had cranberries that had never been frozen and/or canned. Now I'm afraid I'll never be able to go back. I'm finding more and more uses for them; fall is harvest time, and after Christmas I'll have to wait again until next year before I can indulge.

4. Fresh apples.
Another one -- wow. There are enough local orchards to keep all of the grocery stores stocked with apples in more varieties than I knew existed.

5. Fresh cheese curds.
If you don't know what I'm talking about, you should visit Wisconsin just to try them. Cheese curds are the first form of cheese, when it's just a few hours old and hasn't been preserved beyond reason. You know they're fresh if they squeak between your teeth. Even I, who can only handle small amounts of dairy, can eat a bunch of cheese curds without trouble. (It's that preservativeless thing.)

It's such an important part of Wisconsin culture and so immediately ingrained that I also have a dairy where I stop every time I go to Sioux Falls. People take their cheese seriously around here.

[There are also deep-fried cheese curds, but I can't add those to my list. Too much pain and agony for me related to those.]

6. Fantastic beer.
It's true -- I became a beer drinker after I moved here. Until my senior year of college when we made beer as part of an extracurricular biochemical engineering project, I never liked the stuff. I slowly started to drink it after that -- and then I moved to Wisconsin, where brewing is an art form. There are microbreweries in most of the medium-sized towns, and those are the sources I recommend.

7. Trees on minor terrain.
I grew up on a huge flat prairie. While I loved it (particularly the sunsets, which really can't be beat), I adore the forest that is Wisconsin. Rolling hills and trees ... Awesome.

8. Snow.
I love snow. And I love living where it actually falls -- and stays put for more than a few days.

9. Shoreline.
This was something new to me: natural lakeside views. Wow. Lake Superior is, well, superior, and there's also Lake Michigan -- but there are thousands of smaller lakes all over the state as well. Like the one in the middle of Wausau. Never a shortage of beach.

10. Gung-ho sports fans.
Right, so this is a curse sometimes, but for the most part it amuses me so much that it's okay. I come from a state with no professional sports teams at all and no college teams of particular note. Now I live amongst Packer, Badger, and Brewer fans. It's a shift.

11. The attitude.
Part laid-back, part blue-collar, and part hippie -- it's unique. There's the usual Midwest work ethic mixed with something else that I really can't place ... And it's great.

12. The proximity to everything.
Within a matter of a five or less hours, I could be kayaking in the Boundary Waters, shopping in downtown Chicago, eating in downtown Minneapolis, lost in the woods, or on a ferry in the middle of Lake Michigan. Everything feels like it's in easy reach.

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I guess you could say that my new state of residence has grown on me in the last 20 months. There are more, less specific things out there, but that's a pretty good start!