The Green Shirts are Coming!

A few weekends ago I took my second trip into New Hampshire and was once again surprised by its uncanny resemblance to “Up North” Wisconsin. Both are ridiculously close to Canada. Both have greasy restaurants wary of minorities and slow with food service. Replace “Moose” with “Deer” in a Deer X-ing sign, add antlers to deer paraphernalia, and you are definitely in New Hampshire. But don’t forget to exchange Wisconsin’s hunters and fishers with legitimate hikers and backpackers. They do have an extreme level of fitness and Volkswagen-like vitality to them that would not mesh well with the “sports” of Up North.

The most important parallel between the two, at least for that weekend, was family. Bartlett, New Hampshire hosted the Smith Family Reunion and a plethora of blue and green shirts dotted with a few red shirts took over the mountain. Bill, Dan, and I were the hit of the green shirts – so urban, young, and absolutely child-free – we brought Family Feud to a new level, consumed our share of wine, and mingled with all shirt colors late into the night. Thank you Grandma and Grandpa for making it all possible, and for not leaving us to fend for ourselves with the relatives we hadn’t seen in a decade.

While New Hampshire was a great opportunity to catch up with relatives in a woodsy setting, it was certainly not a true Up North experience. The lack of Bill’s cottage has exemplified the feeling of these months not being a true summer. Of course, absence of Park and Rec plays a huge part in that; Bill and I are having strange withdrawal symptoms. But not escaping to the boonies (and Boonie’s with a capital B) makes summer a little less summery. Bill and Katie’s stupid Deep Game, million of attempts to ski with only one ski, and fighting for a bed at night is definitely what summer is about. Well, and hours of Elimination, the Wacky Olympics, and brightly-colored Appleton shirts. What’s summer without a t-shirt screaming, “Have Fun Dude”?