We've lived in enough sections of the USA to discover that each region has its own peculiarities that go way beyond the "Cowboy" reputation of Texas or the laid back reputation of the West coast. I have loved living in New Hampshire for the past four months, and one of the delights beyond the temperatures and the scenery has been the state's wonderful little peculiarities. Here are the ones that have struck me:
1) Topping the list: How can you help but love a state that puts up a historical marker to an alien abduction. Here's Betty and Barney Hill's 15 minutes of fame. (Note: This is less than 10 miles from our house up here.) They had a 'conference' and an unveiling of this marker just a few weeks ago.
2) Our favorite New Hampshire word: "SHORE". No, not an ocean or river edge; it's what the natives up here reply when you ask for something:
Example - "Can I have some extra napkins?"
"Shore".
3) Most unusual drink I've encountered: a staple of 19th century New Hampshire : SWITCHEL
It's the soft drink of hay making season. You just mix vinegar, molasses, ginger and honey. Be sure to chill it in the brook. (There are no creeks up here - only brooks. Up the brook without a paddle just doesn't have the same ring to it, does it?) We live close to the Skoocumchuck Brook - great name, don't you think?
4) A close runner up in the drink category is Birch Beer. This is a local product that tastes like flat root beer - I think it's an acquired taste. I did wonder if it is made from tree bark and sugar, but no one knows.
5) Thinking about strange drinks makes me think about the food up here. No Mexican food. Now, don't get me wrong, they have Mexican Restaurants - at least that's what the signs say, but I've had a spicier taste just standing in the salsa aisle of a Texas grocery store. I'm going to go berserk for Tex-Mex when I hit Texas. I'm having withdrawal.
6) Another food item that was definitely an also ran up here are "corn dogs". First, it took the fair food vendor 3 tries to even produce a corn dog, and then it could only be charitably be called a 'corn dog second'.
7) On the smooth side: Lots of maple stuff, and it's so delish! The obsession with maple in both New Hampshire and Vermont goes way, way beyond syrup. Speaking of which: Did you know there are a zillion 'grades' of syrup each of which are used for different purposes. I'm sure there must be one grade that you just bathe in. My favorite maple items: Number One: MAPLE COTTON CANDY. It has absolutely spoiled me for the pink sugar variety. Number One: MAPLE WALNUT ICE CREAM. (No, I didn't make a mistake - it's a tie.) Oh, and let me just mention in passing Maine Wild Blueberry Juice because we have loved drinking it. I have also enjoyed Lobster Rolls which are really, really hard to get outside of New England - unless you go to Nova Scotia. Finishing up the food/drink section here: There's only one place in 50 miles of Franconia that serves fountain Dr. Pepper. Sometimes we just eat at the Littleton Diner just so I can have a DP fix.
8) We live outside a 'village'. There is some set of mystery numbers that delineate a village from a town, but we haven't been able to discover what those numbers are. Anywho, Franconia is a village. It has 900 people. Being part of a village has some quirks: First, we freeze our garbage. Our chalet has no disposal, and no trash pick up; therefore, we make a weekly trip to the 'transfer station' - the New Hampshire equivalent of 'dump'. (Trash control = bear control up here.) In Franconia we have "The Business that Does Everything". Yes, it's an actual establishment that dog sits, makes copies, sells locally made cosmetics, and local dog food. It is the UPS pick-up location, and sends out your dry cleaning to Concord as well as notarizes your documents, rents computer time, and does about 15 other things - all under one roof! It's really hard to make a living up here. You have to admire the ingenuity of the woman who owns this.
9) County Fairs: I'm becoming an expert at the country fair. I loved the fairs in Washington, and I've always loved the cadillac of fairs: the Texas State Fair. Some of my most vivid memories as a kid involved the Tulsa State Fair - where I first fell in love with cotton candy. NH fairs have their own twists: Female lumberjack contests, an emphasis on vegetables (especially the giant variety), and scarecrow contests.
10) New Hampshire has many claims to fame, but one I particularly like is their distinction of having the largest legislature in the United States (bigger even than the US Congress). Considering NH is ranked 42nd in state population, these people pretty much each have their own personal state legislator. Another fun fact: The giant legislature is still meeting in the oldest continually operating state house in the USA. NH also has one president to their credit: the 14th - Franklin Pierce - (1853-57), but they should disown him - he's widely considered by historians to be one of the worst presidents ever. They should have just stuck with Daniel Webster, another famous New Hampshire native. Having lived up here even briefly, I can tell you that these people are political animals, and I feel pretty comfortable letting them winnow out the Presidential candidates for the rest of us.
11) Another New Hampshire peculiarity is its granite. It contains some chemical that melts the granite when it comes in contact with water - a pretty easily come by commodity up here. That melting granite is responsible for a granite formation that fell off one of the White Mountains in 2003. The vanished formation is still called "The Old Man of the Mountain". One day it was there, and poof, the next day gone - crashed several hundred feet down the mountain due to the melting granite. This was a NH icon, and all their highway signs have this profile as part of the sign. The New Hampshire solution: Build a monument to the formation that no longer exists for tourists to visit. Don't laugh, I've been there.
12) And thank heaven for tourists or New Hampshire would be empty. Especially the White Mountain region which is about 1/3rd of the state. There are no 'cities' in New Hampshire. There doesn't seem to be any industry other than tourism, and in the mountains there's certainly not much farming. I have to admire the way they have maximized their one big resource: SNOW. (220 inches last winter right here where we are living.) We are perched at the base of one of the biggest ski resorts in New England (Bode Miller's home mountain). Snow = gold in New Hampshire. The other tourist gold comes in colors of red, orange and yellow. We have never seen such an autumn. The 'fall foliage' of New England so touted everywhere lived up to the hype. I only took about 300 pictures of leaves. They were so exquisite that I couldn't help myself.
13) I can't leave New Hampshire without exposing the Moose Conspiracy. There are about 10,000 fictitious moose in New Hampshire. We've been here for four months and thus far, the only thing we have seen are the evidences of the conspiracy which was formed to convince tourists that there are actually moose up here for the viewing. They even have 'moose tours' ($28 per person to see people dressed in moose costumes at a distance). There are signs everywhere: Flashing ones - SLOW: Moose next 5 miles. Yellow diamond - Moose Crossing. and my favorite: Brake for Moose - IT COULD SAVE YOUR LIFE. Take my word for it: THERE ARE NO MOOSE IN NEW HAMPSHIRE
While this blog has been tongue in cheek (and hopefully a little funny), New Hampshire has been a delight. How can you not like a place where you get up every morning and look out over a changing mountain view, surrounded by hundreds of beautiful trees, rushing streams, and magnificent sunsets. I've fallen a little bit in love with the White Mountains. New Hampshirians are not morose grumps who walk around sayint "Yup", but friendly, gregarious and pleasant. I'm also ready to LEAVE before we get some real snow. There's a taste of snow showers coming a couple of days, and that's all I want - just a taste. Texas here we come.
