Homesick 3

Today Aaron made hotel reservations for his trip to San Diego. Let me re-emphasize: HIS trip to San Diego. This breaks my heart so much I can't even talk about it on Facebook. I've lived in Milwaukee for nearly 3 years now. I have not been "home" in that entire time and I am homesick. There. I said it.

Before I rant, let me emphasize that I love, love, love it here in MKE. The population is diverse, the restaurants are good, there are tons of things to do year-round. The winters aren't really that bad as long as you know your limits, and you still get 3 other seasons that more than make up for the cold and inclement weather. Having said that, I've found myself saying, "In California, we ... " and "Back in San Diego we used to ... " a lot lately. Way to make people grow tired of your conversation. So I'm just going to get it all out here.

1. I miss my family. I want to go to Oregon and see my sister and her family more than anything. My parents and in-laws are in South/Central California, my closest friends are in Seattle and San Diego, but my cousin/best friend is near San Francisco. It's almost not worth going unless I get to see everyone.

2. Winter sucks with a toddler. I know this will improve in two months, especially once we move into a better place. I could really use some shorts and Birks weather.

In general, I don't miss San Diego's monotonous weather. I like that we're exposing LG to all four seasons. But dressing him for San Diego would be soooo much easier. There, if I underestimated the temperature by ten degrees it wouldn't be a big deal -- oh dear, I have to keep a pair of pants or a sweater in the diaper bag in case it's 59 degrees instead of 69. But if it's 15 instead of 25? We like to walk instead of drive so we're pretty adventurous and, I like to think, well-suited to this climate. But it would be nice if I didn't have to worry about his baby-soft cheeks getting chapped from sub-zero winds.

3. Food. I want In n Out, fish tacos, a California Burrito, Thai food, and my favorite sushi restaurant. There's also a deep-dish pizza place in San Diego that's way better than any of the famous places in Chicago.

4. The beach. I want to show my son the Pacific Ocean. I want to jump waves with him, prowl the tide pools, and dig for sand crabs. OK, he's probably too young for most of that, but it'd be fun to introduce him to everything.

5. The zoo. There's a reason the San Diego Zoo is world-famous. 'Nuff said.

Homesick 2

Wisconsin is different from California in these ways:

1. When you're the Californian, people tell you how rude most Californians are, but that you're different. I think these people all had some horrible vacation in L.A.
   
2. People ask if you've lived through a real winter before and when you haven't (like us), they seem filled with a secret glee. Then they feel bad and tell you that it's not really that bad.
   
3. There are more bugs.
4. At every restaurant there's one black fly that buzzes around Aaron (I tell him it's because he's so sweet).
5. You can't buy alcohol at a grocery store after 9 p.m.
6. The "Happy Cows are from California" commercials are still shown, but they only mention California milk, not cheese -- don't mess with Wisconsonites and their cheese (justifiably -- it's awesome).
7. You can find cheese curds just about everywhere (yum).
8. Fruit grows everywhere! I can take a walk along the lake and find chokecherries and berry bushes! And I don't mean the citrus trees you often find in people's yards in California -- these grow wild! It reminds me of the wild blackberry bushes that grow anywhere and everywhere in the Pacific Northwest.
   
9. There's no ocean, but Lake Michigan is really cool. But I keep getting my directions mixed up because the water is East of us instead of West.
10. Tailgating is worse here -- and I don't mean the kind where you party in the parking lot before (or during) a sporting event. I mean the cars-acting-like-gravy-train horses kind of tailgating. Don't get me wrong, I know that Californians are aggressive drivers. I've done my share of the "You're going too slow" kind of tailgating. But in Wisconsin, it's like people take comfort from being 3 feet behind you. There are even signs on the freeways reminding people not to do it. You would think that drivers would be more cautious in a place with so much snow and ice, but no. Before we got our Wisconsin license plates I thought it might be that mild harassment that Californians sometimes get when traveling out of state -- a la Oregon's "Keep Moving, Stranger" program (see William Least Heat-Moon's Blue Highways for more information). But it has not changed since we got our WI plates.

Homesick 1

We haven't been homesick since we got here because we've been so busy. There's just too much to do and learn about Milwaukee. However, right now I have the biggest craving for mahi-mahi tacos and the chips and salsa at En Fuego. Some friends introduced us to it years ago, and we started taking visitors there, then going for a walk on the beach after dinner, and then driving home along Torrey Pines beach. The service isn't always consistent, but the food is always good. If they're serving the tomatilla-broth posada as their soup of the day, have a cup for me!

UPDATE: As a surprise last night, Aaron came home and said he was taking me out for Mexican food. We found a delicious Oaxacan restauran named Cempazuchi. It was delicious. I was really craving some chips and salsa and they served us two kinds: one roasted tomato and the other was mole-based! Both were awesome, but the roasted tomato one really satiated my craving.