a love letter to wisconsin

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wisconsin capitol in autumn, Lady Wisconsin, moving Forward.

I don’t know how else to put this. It’s not you. It’s me. It’s really, really me. I’ve never met a state like you, and I’ve been to almost all of them. You are truly beautiful, in not only your appearance, but your people, your ways, your Beer. You’ve taught me so much in these 33 years we’ve been together. You’ve taught me how to appreciate cold, snowy winters and good IPA’s. You’ve taught me how to love the Brewers and be a true fan through the good times and the bad. Mostly bad. Like really, really bad. You’ve taught me to look forward to the smell of manure in the breeze, silos on the horizon and the color red in your barns, the Badgers and burning autumn leaves. You’ve taught me everything is better with cheese. And that if you can eat it, you can fry it. Even candy.

I will never forget the hundreds of miles of countryside we’ve bicycled together, the rolling farmlands washing all my worries away. Or the endless weekend road trips you inspired me to take. And the rainbow of colors your little peninsula proudly radiates in October. Oh, and the Beer. I don’t care what anyone else says. Not only do you make great Beer, you come up with creative excuses for your people to frequently consume it, and that my friend, is a gift. A gift, I tell you!

Remember when I made you my Valentine? That 14th day of February I committed myself to you forever. We will literally never part. And while the pain of your outline on my ribcage made me want to punch you in the face, in the end, it just made our relationship stronger. When the artist asked me if there was a special reason, I just blinked at him. Like you need an explanation.

Thank you for your intense thunderstorms, aromatic lilac bushes, clear lakes, quiet forests, and your beautiful bovines. I am super into those cows. Thank you for your football fans and the drunk college students who basically put me through school via their way-too-easily-influenced-by-boobs cash money tips. Thank you for Milwaukee. Thank you for La Crosse. Thank you for Wausau, Minoqua, Mercer, Florence, Superior, Hayward, Door County, Eau Claire, Chetek, Rice Lake, Cadott, Rhinelander, Conover, Mineral Point, and every small town I have ever joined you for a Beer. You are so beautiful, you don’t even know it. Have you ever wondered why everyone from the southern border state owns vacation homes on your lake shores? Why those FIBs drive up eight hours every weekend to escape into your luscious forest and lake-filled arms? Because you’re the best.

Just like Minnesota has their Nice, you have Wisconsin Love. On Wednesday, when a Tornado bartender I had never met overheard it was my last Tornado Late Night meal of delicious scallops and my beloved only-Tornado-can-make-it-this-good wedge salad, he swiped his own credit card with his employee discount, signed the receipt and put it in front of me. I love you because those are the kind of people who live within your ridiculously awesomely shaped border.

That old schoolyard taunt, “if you love it so much why don’t you marry it?” could never work on me. Because I would. I would marry you and have millions of your babies, and watch as they slowly invaded Illinois and Ohio and Indiana, three of the worst states ever. Eventually the whole country would be one giant Kowalski-Wisconsin, not so commonly referred to as Heaven.

Other people, non-Wisconsinites, they just don’t understand. When they ask me where I am from, they say it’s no wonder I am leaving you, what with all the cold, the snow, the “midwesterness,” the people…all of the things I adore about you. Every stereotype out there about people from Wisconsin (for a fairly accurate verbal tour, Sh*t Wisconsinites Say pretty much sums it up): we fry everything, put cheese on everything, we’re drunk all of the time, our phenomenal accent, the cows, it’s true! It’s all true! And it’s spectacular. And for 33 years, I couldn’t have painted a prettier picture. 

But it’s time. I’ve known this for a while, and I think you feel it too.

Just know this: it doesn’t matter where my mail gets delivered. You will always be my home.

P.S. Please don’t get mad at me if I eventually move to Minnesota. My sole purpose is to spread Wisconsin love, I swear.

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wisconsin farm
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capitol building, madison, wisconsin
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wisconsin summer sunrise
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up north in october, conover, wisconsin
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wisconsin art
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great taste of the midwest, the best wisconsin beer festival, with some made in wisconsin gals
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wisconsin summer tent
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those beautiful wisconsin barns
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my bicycle next to a wisconsin tree, next to a wisconsin lake
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on wisconsin
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wisconsin farmland
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the terrace…madison, wisconsin
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one of the 8 million festivals we gather for the sole purpose of having a good time with our friend, beer.

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126 thoughts on “a love letter to wisconsin”

  1. Nice letter to Wisconsin! I moved away 5 years ago to the great state of North Carolina. I do get strange looks when I ask where the bubbler is, why people aren’t celebrating St Nicks Day or Sweetest Day! All things that are Wisconsin still stick out in my head and make me smile. I miss my Uncle’s UFO bar on Long Lake, I miss going to all the different festivals down on the lake front in Milwaukee, most of all I miss my friends and family! But I sure love North Carolina too.

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  2. Cheeseheads UNITE!
    I am a Colorado transplant and there is a huge difference in culture and people. I wrote about it not too long ago. Wisconsin people are the friendliest and most down to earth. I miss that part about the state, but not the weather!

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  18. I too am from Wisconsin. Born and bred. I have been away from that great state for almost 30 years, except for visits back to family. But I am still a Wisconsin daughter. Great post and though we may leave Wisconsin, we never stop loving it! 🙂

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  22. LOVE THIS!! I am an implant from Minnesota – and my favorite line that sums up my thoughts exactly was, “Just like Minnesota has their Nice, you have Wisconsin Love.” Midwest Power! We’re lucky people. If everyone doesn’t fall in love with Wisconsin reading this – the pictures should do the trick. Great post!

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  23. I must admit, I feel like you read my mind when you wrote this. I was born and raised in Tomah (near La Crosse) and lived there until I was 28 years old. Then I got married and my husband joined the Army, so we’ve been skipping around the country since 2007. My entire family still lives in the sacred land of beer and cheese, so I go back once a year to visit during the summer. There are certain things I miss, and others I don’t…but I will ALWAYS be a Cheesehead in my heart 🙂 Thanks for writing this!

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    1. Though I’ve yet to wear an actual piece of cheese on my head, I too, will always be a Cheesehead. Hey, I went to grad school in La Crosse and my sister in law is from Tomah! We may even know some of the same folks 🙂 I’m glad you still visit!

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  24. this particular blog has affected me and such a profound way it is wonderful to have search brilliantly displayed images I specifically love the messages. They say a picture is worth a thousand words these pictures I believe all worth the ten thousand words thank you ever so much 4 this wonderful contribution.

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  26. My family used to make an annual fall pilgrimage to Wyalusing State Park in lower Wisconsin to camp and see the colors change. There were just as many colors in our neighboring state but we didn’t have the limestone cliffs. I track my addiction to smoked cheddar back to the disgusting little tubes of processed cheese spread we were allowed to purchase as a treat in Prairie du Chien on our way down to watch the barges in the river locks. The rocks along the railroad tracks had tiny quartz crystals on them called druse that made them twinkle like diamonds. Everything smelled autumn-leaf-sweet. It was a bright segment in an otherwise horrific childhood.

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  28. It is a magical place. 🙂
    I recently came back from a trip up to Door County to photograph some winter scenes. I took a few selfies, one of which included me smiling in front of a bunch of ice formations. A friend commented “how can you be smiling in what looks like the arctic?” I thought how could you not? I felt like I really was in the arctic! How cool that my state has something so amazing to offer? Good luck to you on your new journey!

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    1. Thank you! When I left, Wisconsin was more arctic than the actual Arctic Circle is right now! A good 30 degrees warmer up here. I’ll have to check out Door County in the winter!

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  31. You know, I have really come to love Wisconsin in recent years. I’ve lived here nearly my entire life and for the longest time, thought it was just wrong. But it’s one of those things you need to grow old with and really learn the cracks and crevices of to appreciate. You need to explore the whole if it to appreciate the whole of it.

    Wonderfully beautiful post, thank you for it.

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    1. I hear you. You kind of have to take the good with the bad. I think what sealed my appreciation was traveling all over the country for my job, experiencing so many different state lifestyles and people. There really is no place like it.

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  32. Nice post. I feel a lot of the same thoughts for my home state, but I won’t go back there to live. I moved after 28 years and I have too much wanderlust to come back to stay. But there is no place like home.

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    1. Wisconsin is poorer and Finland is richer this day. You go girl and spread that Wisconsinite wisdom throughout the world.

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  38. I moved to Florida and all I do is talk to people about how much I love and miss Wisconsin and cannot wait to move back.

    There response is always but its so cold and the snow…

    I tell them just about everything in this letter makes the cold harsh winters worth every day.

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  42. So beautifully written, such lovely photos! This captures Wisconsin & it’s people perfectly. It is a wonderful place to live! Thanks for a great reminder of all of it’s treasures – especially as we await the Spring thaw.

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  43. From a fellow Wisconsite and blogger, I thank you for sharing this with the world!
    I live in Eagle River, WI. I’ve shared in the Log Cabin experience (they have the best cinnamon rolls around!), and I attend Nicolet College in Rhinelander.
    I love this place!
    Wisconsin Pride 🙂
    Cheers to you

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  47. Beautifully written, somehow you got inside my brain and expressed all of the things I feel about Wisco-land. I have been in the Pacific Northwest since 2009 and I am moving to Alaska this year, but I think about Wisconsin so much it really does hurt sometimes not to be there. Cheers on your writing and lovely photos, much appreciated by this Badger-in-exile.

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    1. The Pacific Northwest! Alaska! If you are going to leave Wisconsin, those are two fantastic places to go. Washington is a top choice for me right now, but I know the Midwest in me will beat that choice up before I get there.

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  49. That was a beautiful tribute to Wisconsin and Wisconites. Timing was a little late however as after returning from a week in the southern states I awoke on March 3 to see the temp outside was -28 degrees. I immediately began asking myself why I am here?
    I am mobile, I’m not a tree or building that must remain stationary. This must be my choice, of course, thats it. The problem was I drew a blank when trying to identify the qualities/benefits as to why I chose WI., esp when it appears that up here in the north, we have tied the coldest winter on record going back almost 100 years.

    That means it has been colder this year than when I was a youngster. After reading your letter to Wisconsin I felt much better. There it was, my little girl knew the answer to my question, Why did I choose to live in WI? I was Drunk when I made the decision to return home after my time in the service, 42 yrs ago. Thats it! Finally I can sleep peacefully again, Thanks Tosha.

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    1. It’s no coincidence Wisconsin is known for its drinking habits. When I was in Iceland last winter, I asked how they survived the long, dark winters, that’s 20 hours of darkness a day, without going insane. “We drink!” they said. “A lot.”

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