An Appalachian Emigrant: The Upper Peninsula after all these years

Fifteen years ago, we met in the hall on the third floor of the Taylor Building, as we started our freshman year at BYU. Emily was from Southern California, and I was ostensibly from Maine, but with a suspiciously Southern Appalachian accent. We became great friends, more so after we survived the dorms and the ~~promises~~ threats that we would get married within the year. Then we rode a Greyhound together from Provo, Utah to Augusta, Maine to visit my family after Freshman year. Four days and three nights we drove through state after state, doing jump-n-jacks in behind the bushes when the bus stopped at Burger King, seeing the world through different eyes, especially in NYC at 4am.

We lived together in cheapest holes you could find on the south side of campus with our friends Julia and Jennie. We got awesome campus jobs together, I was a custodian, and Emily worked at Taco Bell. We took bird classes and math classes. We didn't date very much. We made a meal schedule, we would choose a Christmas tree every year and decorate it with York Peppermint Patties we would hang on a string. We visited Emily's Grandma Spanish Fork, and her family in So Cal.

Then we went on missions together to Uruguay, Italy and Croatia. We came back and lived together until Emily got married. Now, 10 years later, we live close together. Emily lives in Wisconsin and for the summer is in northern Wisconsin. She and her husband are house-sitting a wonderful home on a pond and invited us to stay for a few days. I ventured up with the four kiddos. I had lots of fun with the kids, and most especially talking with Emily for hours on in while we chased and played with children.

Here are some of the highlights.

There is one highlight that has no pictures. I looked out the window our last day there, and saw that the van door had been left open. I immediately remembered the 6 raccoons I had seen the night before peering in the window at me from the porch, scavenging for scraps. Sure enough, they cleaned my car our. The only remnants were the mint chewing gum, which they tried but didn't like. They loved my bag of almonds, the crackers they gently pulled out of the box, ate, and then tucked the empty bag in the side of my door. They even open (rather roughly), the side compartment that had Madeline's licorice and ate the entire bag. When we got back, I cleaned my car quite intimately.