"First" impressions

First impressions can be telling.  I say "first" because I have actually been to Wisconsin a handful of times (1 cross country road trip with the family, 2 Wildlife Society conferences, and a job interview), which is rather surprising since it's not exactly on the way to anything, nor is it adjacent to the states I have frequented for my 30 years.  Not to mention, the University of Wisconsin Badgers are a great rival of my Penn State Nittany Lions...

Hating on U of Wisconsin @ PSU, circa 2004

So after 3 weeks in WI (nearly one of which was in WY, to be fair), here are my first impressions. Disclaimer: I am seriously generalizing (and perhaps exaggerating) a little here.



1.  They like to drive fast on rough roads.

I was wondering how the driving scene might unfold.  I learned to drive in a high density, aggressive atmosphere.  There was no room for mistakes as a new driver, and people were not afraid to tell you did something wrong (or just simply ticked them off for some unapparent reason).  I also have experience driving in some really rural areas in Pennsylvania and Virginia.  Green Bay has a population of ~100,000 plus a few surrounding villages that function as mini suburbs (e.g., we live in Howard, pop. ~18,000).  It's not a very large city (in fact, the smallest city with an NFL football team- more to come on that later).  The surrounding area is largely rural farmland.  I was interested to see how WI drivers took to their roads.

Surprisingly, they drive really fast.  Not aggressively, like NJ drivers.  They just want to move fast- 55 MPH means about 70.  35 means about 50.  I am not a slow driver, but they are blowing around me leaving me in the dust (my VA license plates probably do not help in this situation).  This becomes an even greater feat when you realize how badly the roads are impacted by winter (I am assuming).  The roads in Green Bay are full of cracks, potholes, and craters, but they just blow right over them.  Not to mention, there are no vehicle inspections in the state, so many vehicles are completely rusted out (again, from winter, I am assuming) and falling apart.  This (presumably) winter wear and tear doesn't bode well for my 18 month old car...at least it will be garage-kept now!


2.  They love their Green Bay Packers and Friday Night Fish Fry.

I knew this in advance, of course, but I like it.  I can identify with loving your team and LIVING it in your daily life.  Walmart is full of GBP t-shirt-wearing people (and a whole room of merchandise, should you need to add to your collection), cars are stickered and license-plated out, kids have GBP backpacks and sneakers...and its only July.  In fact, you have an up-close-and-personal view of Lambeau Field from the city's shopping mall.  It doesn't matter what month of the year it is, or whether it's football season or not, you love your team, win or lose.  I can relate to that, and since I am NFL-unaffiliated, I am happy to jump on the bandwagon (more to come on this!).  I might even get to bring some high school colors back out again since green and yellow clothing is suddenly "in" again (Go Pioneers!).

And who could resist a Friday Night Fish Fry at Titletown Brewing Company on the Fox River while watching the Milwaukee Brewers game?

Delicious perch fish fry platter at Titletown Brewing Co., Green Bay

3.  It's all about beer, cheese, and processed meats.

I have never seen anything like it.  The grocery stores have a whole aisles and sometimes whole sections dedicated to these three food/beverage groups.  You have hundreds of choices of cheese, produced right here in Wisconsin.  Would you like, shredded, block, string, flavored curds, sliced, cubed....you name it, they got it.  Buffalo cheese curds?  Black pepper shallot garlic?  Absolutely.  Don't you dare pick up that "ordinary" Kraft or Sargento.  By the way, if you don't know what a cheese curd is (you should, shame on you), it is chunks of extremely fresh cheese.  When you eat a good curd, it's supposed to squeak against your teeth (true story, oddly interesting).  In addition to the diverse cheese selection, we can also get Wisconsin cream cheese, sour cream, butter, and milk.

The processed meat selection is amazing- hundreds of brands and flavors of gourmet hot dogs, bratwursts, summer sausages, etc.  During one trip, I bought mushroom swiss bratwurst patties.  I just had to try them (they were really good on the grill!).  I haven't been to McDonalds yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if they serve a bratwurst sandwich and/or fried cheese curds!

Beer deserves its own blog sometime in the future, but needless to say, a number of varieties and brands are produced right here.  I even had a Leine's (Leinenkugel for us Easterners) ON TAP at a baseball game!  At least 5 microbreweries right here in Green Bay, so we have a lot of work to do.  Not to mention, we also have a couple wineries on the list to check out.

The processed meats aisle at Piggly Wiggly

4.  That accent.  Don't cha know?

I haven't mastered my authentic imitation yet (I'm working on it), but it's definitely distinct.  A little Fargo (the movie), a little Canadian, lots of high inflection.  I was telling someone the other day that it always sounds like Upper Midwesterners are quite chipper, despite what they might be saying to you.  The "oooh" sound is drawn out and inflected up.  E.g., "Minnesoooohta, toooh.  Don't cha know?"  I don't think it's hard to understand, but I have noticed less comprehension of OUR "accent" so far (Scott claims we do not have an accent, and the people here say we do).  Not sure how this dialect will mesh with my Yankee Southern dialect....(Scott doesn't have an accent, remember?).

Wikipedia (weak source, I know) has an enlightening and very confusing description of Upper Midwest American English.


5.  Tons of farm fresh produce.

Wisconsin is known as "America's Dairyland" as printed on our new license plates once we acquire them.  So, no surprise about the dairy products...but there's more!  We visited the Madison farmers market last weekend during a trip down for Scott's work and to pick up some of his things he had stored at a friend's place there on the trip up.  The farmers market was set up around the capital building downtown, and it was huge.  They had absolutely everything you could imagine- lots of farm fresh produce, honey, syrup, berries, breads, CHEESE (the fried cheese samples were excellent!), and so much more.  We bought lettuce, broccoli, and yellow (green) beans for a total of $3...all delicious!  Good produce has been available in many of the places I have lived, but you don't get this scale of production and variety in the Appalachian Mountains.  I already have gotten pretty darn close to creating an entire meal with beverage and condiments that is almost entirely from Wisconsin.  Looking forward to checking out the Green Bay farmers market sometime soon.

State capital, Madison, WI

We have also heard about some fantastic cherries in our neighboring county.  Door County is the peninsula in between Green Bay and Lake Michigan and apparently very famous for its picturesque coastlines, quaint lakeshore towns, and "Cape Cod-like" atmosphere.  Hopefully we'll get to visit soon!

Apparently this blog turned out to be mostly about food...very different and tasty up here in Wisconsin!