My Top 5 New England Quirks

When I moved to New Hampshire 6 years ago, it was a bit of a culture shock for me. I had spent 20 years growing up in Anchorage and knew it like the back of my hand. Moving to a smaller town on the opposite coast of what I was used to was quite the adjustment. It took a little time, but I grew to love it. I also love lists, so here are my top 5 favorite New England quirks:

1. Iced coffee: all day, every day
Listen, I get the need for caffeine. Anchorage has the 2nd highest number of coffee shops/huts per capita in the US. I love coffee, but I typically would only buy it in the morning or while catching up with a friend, and I usually only drank it hot. I moved to New Hampshire and quickly realized that iced coffee (usually from Dunkin Donuts!) was as common as an afternoon fountain soda or cup of tea. I didn’t get it at first, but then I started getting iced coffee in the morning during the summer, which turned into a mid-day iced coffee to get over the lunch time hump at work, and before I knew it I was drinking iced coffee in the middle of winter. It’s much more refreshing than I expected. I get it now and I am in full support of iced coffee; all day, everyday.

​2. The New England Patriots are like a religion
And Tom Brady is their leader. I became a Patriots fan in high school before moving to the east coast. I had met my husband who like most New Englanders, was a die-hard Patriots fan. I started following football along with him right at the beginning of the Brady/Belichick era. If you’re from here, you know the Cinderella story – 6th round draft pick turned 5-time Super Bowl Champion. I can’t explain to you the dead silence I sat through in 2008 when Brady tore his ACL in the first game. If you want to make a Pats fan angry, try bringing up deflate-gate one more time. Or better yet, attempt to convince them that Tom Brady is not the GOAT. It won’t end well for you.

The crowd at Gillette Stadium for training camp, 2017

​3. Doggie Daycare
I had never heard of doggie daycare until I moved to New Hampshire. I knew people would board their dogs when necessary while on vacation, but taking their dog to day care while they were at work? The doggie daycares here even post pictures of your dog throughout the day on Facebook or their websites so you can check in on them. I have coworkers that spend as much on doggie daycare a week as I do on my children’s daycare. It’s so bizarre and yet I kind of love the idea of it. Like I said, I already spend a ton on daycare for my kids so I can’t really swing a day care bill for the dog too but I love that it’s such a dog friendly state! Every now and then my coworker will show me photos of her snotty, drooly, happy boxer at daycare and it’s hard not to smile about how adorable the concept is.
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4. Whoopie Pies
If you’ve never had a whoopie pie, you’re missing out. It’s basically like a cake sandwich. 2 cake like cookies with frosting in between. You can get all different varieties from basic chocolate and vanilla, to pumpkin, red velvet, lemon.. you name it, there’s a whoopie for it. I love all desserts so this was a great new addition for me. And I adore the old story behind the name which apparently came to be because wives would pack whoopie pies in their husband’s lunches for work and they would open their lunch boxes, see the little pies inside and yell, “whoopie!!” out of excitement. Legit? I’m not sure, but I love it anyway.

​5. Trick or Treat times
Each town in New Hampshire has it’s own set trick or treat time. Sometimes it’s not even on Halloween – a lot of times our trick or treat time is the day before Halloween. Where I grew up, Halloween was a free for all. I’d get together with my friends and we’d start trick or treating as soon as it was even a little dark and we’d keep going until our curfew or people started turning us away. At first I didn’t get it but actually, it’s great as an adult to know when to expect kids to be in the neighborhood trick or treating (and when it will stop!), and then it could be pretty awesome as a kid to go town hopping to get to maximize your candy haul!