We don't fit in here: my day trip to the land of cheese heads.

When I read that the US Collegiate Figure Skating Championships were coming to De Pere, WI, I knew I had to go watch. A 2 hour drive to watch a day of great skating would be well worth it, and my friend (and fellow skater) Katie was happy to go along for the ride.

When Amie (my supervisor and a De Pere native) heard that I'd be spending the day on her home turf, she recommended that we stop at Lambeau Field to visit the Packers Pro Shop. We didn't have to be at the rink until 1:00, so we left Madison with time to visit the historic football field.

Wow. That's really all I have to say.

Okay, I'll say a little more. I had never seen Green Bay Packers fans in their native environment. Even though it was just "family day" during Packers training camp, the entire venue was an intense sea of green and yellow. Katie and I felt very out of place in grey. I didn't dare utter the phrase, "I don't care about football," because I feared I would be attacked.

This was the line for temporary team spirit tattoos.
It wasn't even a game day.

Let me just get this out in the open: I have never been to an NFL football game, nor do I ever plan to go to one (Close your mouths! I'd rather spend the cash on major figure skating events... sorry, football fans).

The vibe was all Packers, all the time. Everyone wore green shirts had such a sense of pride in the team. Total strangers were sharing this common bond of Packers Pride, and it was unlike anything I had seen before. The city felt like one big family: one big spirited, beer-drinking, green and yellow family.

Once I settled into my culture shock, Katie and I explored the venue.

The Lambeau Field logo at one of the gates.

A lot of fans were posing with this statue, so I felt like it was the right thing to do.

I don't know why this buffalo was wearing a team jersey, but it seemed worthy of documentation.

The Packers logo (saw a huge one on the side of a house, too).

A view of the atrium.

And then, we arrived at the Packers Pro Shop. The fandom in here was overwhelming. If anyone needs to buy Packers clothing, toys, or home decor, this is clearly the place to go. The shop gets so busy that they have one door devoted to entrances, one door devoted to exits, and security guards directing the traffic.

A view of the shop.

And, well, you knew it was coming:

We found some cheese hats to wear! Finally, we were fitting in.

Now THAT was a true Wisconsin experience. It was definitely new for me to experience the Packers to this level of intensity, and I can only imagine how wild it gets on game day.

Daily sconnie fix: check. Then, we were off to the Nicolet Restaurant, followed by the competition at Cornerstone Community Ice Arena. Two skating competitions and a dog show were happening simultaneously at the venue (pretty hilarious that dogs and skaters competed in the same place). The event was great, and we saw a near-clean program from 2008 US Bronze Medalist, Stephen Carriere. Awesome day!

How I met Bucky the Badger.

It would be an understatement to say that my good friend Lauren has a good sense of humor. She's beyond hilarious and can make me laugh until I am truly nauseated, but it's totally worth it.

When Lauren (a fellow North Carolinian) heard that I was traveling to Wisconsin for the first time (for my job interview), she insisted that I take a picture of myself in a cheese hat. When I arrived at the Madison airport, I almost immediately saw a gift shop full of cheese hats. Jackpot.

My conversation with the gift shop cashier went as follows:

Me: "Hi. It's my first time in the state of Wisconsin and my friend asked for a photo of me wearing a cheese hat. Would you mind taking my picture?"

Cashier: "Sure, no problem. Why don't you stand next to Bucky the Badger."

Me: "Who is Bucky the Badger?"

Despite my love of anthropomorphism and alliteration, I had never heard of Bucky the Badger. It turns out that Bucky is the official mascot of the University of Wisconsin- Madison. I put on a cheese hat, picked up a cheese football, stood next to a shiny statue of Bucky, and smiled for my first ever photo op in Wisconsin. Here's to you, Lauren:

I later learned that Wisconsin is known as "The Badger State" because its coal miners in the 1800s found shelter in the holes that they dug in the ground, giving them the nickname "badgers." I have observed that Wisconsin nomenclature is often accompanied by the word "badger."