We had a fabulous weekend in the White Mountains - myself camping with family and a very stinky Berlin - Matt hiking the Presidential Traverse. They summited 9 mountains in 2.5 days. Not bad if you ask me.

I foolishly decided to leave my camera at home so it wouldn’t get damaged… or wind up smelling like dirty camp dog. But the White Mountains are so breathtaking, which I always seem to forget until I go back. I give New Hampshire a lot of flack after growing up there, but I have to take it all back after a 15 minute hike to a boiling river unspoiled and barren even on a holiday weekend.

My love of place is strong, albeit not as strong as other people I know. But I have really connected with some places I have been/lived, and out of them all, New England still takes the cake. We live in a green city, a historical city, and a place of significant cultural relevance. Drive one way for a half an hour and you’re at the beach. Drive another direction for an hour and you’re in the middle of lush farmland. Drive a few hours north and you’re at some of the most beautiful, most hiked mountains in the US. Go ahead and read all about it in Yankee Magazine.

But I think what I love the most in New England are these crazy people. These people who are stingy and private about their economic status. These people who are outrageously liberal yet go to New Hampshire on the weekends to shop tax-free and hunt. New England has some of the best universities and has always been known as an intellectual hub. But it’s a place where lobstermen are lauded, perhaps even more than senators. I think I love this place so much because of it’s glaring contradictions. Do you understand me all the better now?

They say that people in New England are rude because of seasonal effective disorder. I disagree. I think we’re rude for the same reason Iceland was named as such. Because we sort of want to protect this place and keep it a secret.

This entry was posted on Monday, July 7th, 2008 at 3:57 pm and is filed under Holidays, Opinionatrix, Stuff I Love. You can subscribe to any responses to this entry through the RSS feed. Don't be shy! Go ahead and leave a response, or trackback from your own site.