Copper Harbor Lighthouse

Copper Harbor Lighthouse

Are We Yoopers Yet?

Upper Peninsula      U.P.      Yooper

Yoopers are people from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.  Did you catch the key word in that sentence?  FROM! 

Mr. Cut Off is from Saginaw County, Michigan. 
Mrs. Cut Off is from Dane County, Wisconsin. 

We moved to the Upper Peninsula.  Therefore, we are not and never will be Yoopers.  Some of the locals told us that we needed to survive 2 or 3 U.P. winters. After that, we could consider ourselves "Yooper Wannabes."

Most people from this area are proud to wear the badge of Yooper.  Others are proud of their area, but they aren't fond of that term.

Mr. Cut Off is considered a Troll.  He's from "under da bridge." (Mackinac Bridge)
Mrs. Cut Off is considered a Cheesehead. (Wisconsin)

Generally speaking, Cheeseheads are thought of more highly than Trolls.  The locals are mostly Green Bay Packer fans instead of Detroit Lions fans.  Yes, we know we're in Michigan, but Wisconsin is much closer to us than lower Michigan!  

The vast majority of Yoopers we've encountered are honest, hard-working, family-oriented, friendly folks. Thus, we don't consider Yooper to be a derogatory term at all. In fact, we would be proud to call ourselves Yoopers had we been born here. Since we were born elsewhere, but have now survived multiple U.P. winters, we proudly refer to ourselves as Yooper Wannabes. 

We love the people, the land, and the way of life here in the Keweenaw; and we can't imagine ever living anywhere else again.

5 comments:

  1. Yup! That's right! You will never be a hooper, so sell everything and move back down. Yup, that's what I think you should do. God bless.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hey bunch: What's a "hooper?" Something to do with basketball?

      Delete
  2. Steve and Julie’s move to the Keweenaw is similar to the Smith’s recent move. While the Smiths only moved a few blocks from there original home, many similar things are the same.
    The new neighbors ask one of the Smith’s children how they liked their new home? Tommy said, “ We really like it.” Mike has his own room, my little sister now has her own room, and I no longer have to share a room with my brother Mike. Too bad for my Dad though, he still has to share a room with mom.
    Some things just never change.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Love Marty's very "moving" story. LOL

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. And. . . the best part is that Marty and his wife, Donna, now have the same U.P. zip code that we have! Yep, they moved up this year! Guess we started something!

      Delete