French777 Member Username: French777
Post Number: 255 Registered: 10-2006
| Posted on Monday, October 29, 2007 - 4:36 pm: | |
There is all this talk about "How far Michigan has fallen" but what about the Positives. Well we don't have a scary drought problem like the Southeast. |
Johnlodge Member Username: Johnlodge
Post Number: 3306 Registered: 10-2003
| Posted on Monday, October 29, 2007 - 4:36 pm: | |
I like snow. |
Lostlegumes Member Username: Lostlegumes
Post Number: 4 Registered: 09-2007
| Posted on Monday, October 29, 2007 - 4:47 pm: | |
There were some MRSA cases that came back positive. Does that count? |
Umcs Member Username: Umcs
Post Number: 342 Registered: 06-2007
| Posted on Monday, October 29, 2007 - 4:47 pm: | |
Cheap housing stock and CoL. |
Oldredfordette Member Username: Oldredfordette
Post Number: 3067 Registered: 02-2004
| Posted on Monday, October 29, 2007 - 4:49 pm: | |
It's very beautiful here. Except in February, but mostly because I'm sick of winter by then. |
Johnlodge Member Username: Johnlodge
Post Number: 3307 Registered: 10-2003
| Posted on Monday, October 29, 2007 - 4:51 pm: | |
For me it's March. UCH March. Maybe I should get into college basketball. |
Jjw Member Username: Jjw
Post Number: 494 Registered: 10-2005
| Posted on Monday, October 29, 2007 - 4:52 pm: | |
Michigan positives: All that water and those shorelines. That foreign neighbor across the way. Those two peninsulas. Great universities. Trees and more trees. I always thought Detroiters had a great sense of humor. Them dunes up north and those Porcupines and pasties in the UP. Those beautiful bridges and a ferry to Wisconsin. All of them islands in the lakes (Isle Royale, Mackinac, Belle--even with the paved lot and way to many others to mention.) Lots of diversity among its citizens. Great biking and hiking and camping and swimming. Those were off the top of my head--I am sure there are more. |
Crystal Member Username: Crystal
Post Number: 47 Registered: 05-2007
| Posted on Monday, October 29, 2007 - 4:53 pm: | |
Abundant fresh drinking water. DWSD is one of the best, if not the best, in the country. Relatively few natural disasters. Few wildfires, tornadoes, or earthquakes, zero hurricanes. Abundant and diverse wildlife, including over 400 species of birds. Crop diversity. Michigan is #1 for blueberries and #3 for apples. |
Ray1936 Member Username: Ray1936
Post Number: 2153 Registered: 01-2005
| Posted on Monday, October 29, 2007 - 4:55 pm: | |
Compared to ten years ago, Michigan has done a superb job of rebuilding the freeways and major roads, especially in SE Michigan. I know it's been a headache for those of you in the area, but this once-a-year visitor can see the difference. Much needed but well done. |
Jt1 Member Username: Jt1
Post Number: 10610 Registered: 10-2003
| Posted on Monday, October 29, 2007 - 4:57 pm: | |
quote:Compared to ten years ago, Michigan has done a superb job of rebuilding the freeways and major roads, especially in SE Michigan. I know it's been a headache for those of you in the area, but this once-a-year visitor can see the difference. Much needed but well done. Credit to Granholm for her fix it first policy. |
Mackinaw Member Username: Mackinaw
Post Number: 3877 Registered: 02-2005
| Posted on Monday, October 29, 2007 - 5:13 pm: | |
I'd take crumbling highways in exchange for better cities. I love how 94 from Romulus through Dearborn was the first to be fixed, and not only fixed, but we put special paint jobs on our bridges, re-shaped the embankments into nice, rolling slopes (see the area west of Telegraph), and built that thing over Telegraph to make people imagine that they're crossing some significant, non-existant waterway or valley or something. Clearly, non-Michiganders are impressed by our roads. That's what matters when you visit a place... What we have is beautiful freshwater bodies, and some very scenic landscapes (many natural wonders and large tracts of protected areas) and towns up north that are unfortunately reachable only by car (you can get to scenic New England and resort areas like Long Island by rail, but we've basically removed our rails to Mackinac and west Michigan.) We have four seasons and little severe weather. We have the amazing UP. We have culture and entertainment venues that stack up well against the rest of the country. Downtown Detroit rarely matched for entertainment options. The same goes for our sports franchises. There's a public university that brings in thousands of out of staters/foreigners every year. A few other institutions are also respected enough to bring in students from outside the US. And there's Detroit, which means little/nothing to most people these days, but will hopefully be considered more of an asset within a decade or two. |
Jjw Member Username: Jjw
Post Number: 495 Registered: 10-2005
| Posted on Monday, October 29, 2007 - 6:21 pm: | |
<------Not impressed with the highways |
Ray1936 Member Username: Ray1936
Post Number: 2154 Registered: 01-2005
| Posted on Monday, October 29, 2007 - 6:44 pm: | |
Nuts, Jjw, I think the highways are fine. And Michigan has abundant and plentiful rest areas that are clean. Try finding a rest area in New Mexico or Nevada. Nearest bush is about it. |
Jjw Member Username: Jjw
Post Number: 496 Registered: 10-2005
| Posted on Monday, October 29, 2007 - 7:09 pm: | |
<------ prefers bushes. I agree with you. I think the freeways are fine. I am just not impressed by them. They are highways like everywhere else. |
Patrick Member Username: Patrick
Post Number: 5089 Registered: 10-2003
| Posted on Monday, October 29, 2007 - 8:09 pm: | |
The people of Michigan. |
Rrl Member Username: Rrl
Post Number: 922 Registered: 12-2003
| Posted on Monday, October 29, 2007 - 8:13 pm: | |
Mackinac Island. While it may be a little on the cheesy side with all the t-shirt and fudge shops, there really is no other place like it on the planet. Love waking up to the clip-clop of the horse drawn conveyances. |
Evelethcdenver Member Username: Evelethcdenver
Post Number: 113 Registered: 02-2004
| Posted on Monday, October 29, 2007 - 8:19 pm: | |
Michigan has a lot of unique restaurants/eateries that you don't see anywhere else. Everything here in Denver is a chain. I will take a coney island any day of the week over the crap out here. |
Thecarl Member Username: Thecarl
Post Number: 1094 Registered: 04-2005
| Posted on Monday, October 29, 2007 - 8:49 pm: | |
evelethcdenver, everything in denver is a chain? be fair now! denver is full of unique, high-quality dining, shopping, entertainment, and cultural attractions. ever been to the samba room? that is the cuban restaurant with which i compare all others. (edit: switched first and second sentences.) (Message edited by thecarl on October 29, 2007) |
Jimaz Member Username: Jimaz
Post Number: 3651 Registered: 12-2005
| Posted on Monday, October 29, 2007 - 9:02 pm: | |
In a nutshell (oversimplifying), I'd say the top positives of Michigan are the people, the nature (parks, conservation ethic, etc.) and the history, in that order. Michigan may be suffering from an undeserved inferiority complex but economic issues come and go. Among the things that last, Michigan has more uniquely attractive features than any other state, IMHO. Ever notice how Michigan has the most identifiable outline of the U.S. states in Google Earth (even moreso than Florida)? |
Jerome81 Member Username: Jerome81
Post Number: 1645 Registered: 11-2003
| Posted on Monday, October 29, 2007 - 11:29 pm: | |
I haven't lived in Michigan since 1987 (except about 5 months over the past 4 years). However, i still have aunts and uncles and grandparents (mostly on the west side, but some in Detroit too). Now that I'm in Chicago, i get back a lot more than when I lived in CA. I find Michigan (at least the places I visit) a WONDERFUL place. I spend time in Holland with my grandparents and love that little town. Downtown is quaint and cute, with fun shopping and places to grab a coffee. Coming from Chicago it feels like it is worlds away, though i can be there in 2.5hours. I LOVE the lakes. Always amazed to look out at those huge bodies of water. Any of them. They remind me of my childhood. I love the outdoors. Fantastic camping, boating, and fishing. The change in seasons is wonderful. When i lived in Idaho, we got similar weather, but for some reason it wasn't the same. Guess, maybe again, it reminds me of childhood. The leaves in the fall. The cold winters (especially on the snowy west side), Christmases, humid summer days when you know it is summer and people are out and about, big midwest thunderstorms. LOVE all that. Mackinac Island. Haven't been there in 15 years, but still remember it as a youngster. Spent time in the UP. Lake Superior and the serenity of it all. Whitefish point. Tahquamenon Falls. Amazing places that feel like few places I've ever been. I'd love to spend more time up north again. Never been to Traverse City. Or the NW side of the LP. I'd like to get way up there, by Houghton, and hopefully someday spend some time at Isle Royale. That is one of the things I have on my "to do" list for someday in the future. And I know people here are really rippin on the govt lately, but I gotta say I find Michigan a very very reasonable state, law wise. No death penalty, something like 150 years. I find that right (at least for me). They were cutting edge on auto safety with seatbelts and helmet laws. And the bottle deposit! How freakin brilliant is that idea?! I'm still amazed so few other places do it, and the ones that do don't really encourage recycling like Michigan's does. I applaud citizens for raising their gas taxes to fund the improved roads. I notice them. Thank you. Public universities. Is there a better system (for a better price) anywhere else in the country?! Really, when I think about it (and I'm not unbiased, everyone loves their home-states), Michigan is overall an absolutely wonderful wonderful place. Sure there are troubles, but in the end I have to believe the state will come out OK. Really the biggest weakness (besides the economy) is that the state has a very large city/metro, but it sure doesn't really give you much if you want that big city, glitz, glamor, bustle, crowded, big-city kinda feel. I love Detroit, but the city is horribly flawed. The rest of the state is amazing, I just wish Michigan could say it had a truly world-class city in Detroit. Where people would love to come experience the big-city, not see it as the state's biggest liability. But every place has its plusses and minuses. Michigan has far far more plusses than minuses in my book. There are so many worse places to live/spend time. I know I could be happy to spend a long part of my life in Michigan, should it ever end up that way (unlike say if I had to move to the south, or Phoenix or something). Be proud of it. You should be. (Message edited by Jerome81 on October 29, 2007) (Message edited by Jerome81 on October 29, 2007) |
Mackinaw Member Username: Mackinaw
Post Number: 3881 Registered: 02-2005
| Posted on Tuesday, October 30, 2007 - 3:05 am: | |
Sadly, Patrick, I have to disagree. There are thousands of wonderful people, but I think the prevailing attitudes in Michigan have a disproportionate amount of (various combinations of) negativity, forced politeness, ignorance, provincialism, and lack of energy compared to the country at large. Generalizations suck, and they don't apply to tons of people out there, but you have to look at our recent history and consider the attitudes that have led us to where we are. You look at the way we organize ourselves, segregate ourselves, and look down upon things that would be treasured in other places (like a fine city), and you have to conclude the elements of negativity, ignorance, and a lack of energy went into creating that situation. I can only help that the many elements of good that also exist here STAY in Michigan, and affect some positive change through energy of their own. Jerome81, what about California? I agree that our system is great, but we lack powerhouse private schools, and standout urban schools (as solid as WSU is). ----- Mackinac Island is awesome though. And so is snow...let's not forget it is a major money-maker for us. |
Danny Member Username: Danny
Post Number: 6736 Registered: 02-2004
| Posted on Tuesday, October 30, 2007 - 3:19 am: | |
Move to California and you will experience enviromental chaos. Move to Arizona and you will experience internal heat. Move to Florida and you will experience man eating reptiles and hurricanes and a spring drought wildfires. Move to North Carolina and you will experience a summer drought. Move to the great plains and you will experience tornados that will suck you away to neverland. But here in Michigan we have plenty of fresh clean water and beautiful forests everywhere. Please to Michigan and build your jobs here. |
Downtown_dave Member Username: Downtown_dave
Post Number: 210 Registered: 07-2005
| Posted on Tuesday, October 30, 2007 - 4:08 pm: | |
Just to add a little more fuel to the fire: saltwater corrodes everything it gets near (Florida, California); termites, fire ants, scorpions and their "friends" (Texas, Florida, elsewhere in the south); twisters, tornado alley,(Kansas, the Plains states); hurricanes and floods (New Orleans, Gulf states); water? what water? (Las Vegas, Atlanta, heck California, New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona, and other "seasonal drought" locations); extreme temperatures and humidity (see above - and add D.C., Annapolis, and other "tidewater communities" heading down the coast); traffic (east coast, west coast); housing costs (ditto); earthquakes, mud slides, volcanoes (OK, enough). If you seek pleasant peninsulas, look around you. |
Dds Member Username: Dds
Post Number: 424 Registered: 10-2006
| Posted on Tuesday, October 30, 2007 - 5:40 pm: | |
quote:If you seek pleasant peninsulas, look around you. Actually, it's Si Quaeris Peninsulam Amoenam Circumspice (Latin singular accusative) Which is translated "If you seek a pleasant peninsula, look about you." If we're going to flaunt it, might as well get it right. |
Cris Member Username: Cris
Post Number: 498 Registered: 10-2003
| Posted on Tuesday, October 30, 2007 - 7:14 pm: | |
Danny, that is the first time one of your posts has made me smile in a long time. In fact, this thread is the first one on DY that has made me smile in a long time!! Thanks |
Umcs Member Username: Umcs
Post Number: 348 Registered: 06-2007
| Posted on Tuesday, October 30, 2007 - 7:59 pm: | |
Good micro-breweries all over the state and wineries up in Traverse City. Take that Napa! |
Kville Member Username: Kville
Post Number: 87 Registered: 04-2007
| Posted on Wednesday, October 31, 2007 - 5:16 am: | |
Wonderful! A forum with mostly positives about the city & state. I get really depressed reading through many of the others. Michigan - I love the water. People in other areas talk about the "lakes" in their area, things we from Michigan call ponds. The West is pretty, but when I get back east and see the green, I know where I want to continue to live. I think I spent 75% of my childhood playing in, boating on, and getting lost in the view on the Great Lakes. No place in the world like it. |
Downtown_dave Member Username: Downtown_dave
Post Number: 211 Registered: 07-2005
| Posted on Wednesday, October 31, 2007 - 8:34 am: | |
Dds - thanks for the Latin correction. Yes, I knew my version was "wrong," but it was the modernized version I was taught. Michigan has more than one peninsula - and DetroitYes has all the scholars. :-) |
The_ed Member Username: The_ed
Post Number: 488 Registered: 10-2007
| Posted on Wednesday, October 31, 2007 - 8:55 am: | |
I like the fishing. |
Vetalalumni Member Username: Vetalalumni
Post Number: 784 Registered: 05-2007
| Posted on Wednesday, October 31, 2007 - 9:25 am: | |
Sports, outdoors, music, and automobiles. Some of these features of Michigan have waned over the years. |
Gannon Member Username: Gannon
Post Number: 10830 Registered: 12-2003
| Posted on Wednesday, October 31, 2007 - 9:26 am: | |
I've driven through the state twice in the past three weeks. There ARE more rest areas per mile driven in Michigan, which actually is a sales feature to older driving travelers. The UP is just gorgeous...and it seems there is so much capacity built up for their seasonal rush business, snowmobiling, that is could be promoted regularly...benefitting the Lower as folks drive through on their way. After living in Los Angeles for a couple of years, I really came to love the change of seasons into winter...LA didn't vary much except for the hot fall Santa Ana winds and later gray winter rains. Michigan's seasons allow one to feel the cycles of the Earth much better...and I'd say there is as much benefit to vacationing on a plug of iron in the UP as there is on whatever is vibrating down in Taos, NM. Same with our plug of salt in Detroit, btw. There is some serious spiritual stuff happening for the mystic travellers and wanderers. I love the city, especially for the interweaved networks of influence that seem to be collaborating on many levels for the strong growth...and the strength OF the growth...of our hometown, in the face of seemingly insurmountable obstacles. Just had a talk with Doc down at The Buzz last night about a few things I'd been considering...and he let me know he had been working on the one already and was open to the other promotional idea for tourists. Detroit is going to rebound like nobody is expecting...there will be a time when restaurants serving locally grown aboriginal-organic legacy seedstock veggies and fruits (and free range critters fed such wonders) will be highly sought after, and we'll be the only city with a well-developed small-farmer co-operative system within the city limits, able to sustain when gasoline prices get out of hand. There is much to love about Michigan...I'm learning to enjoy living at either end of the dipole. There is a UP roost in my future...it's under my skin now...even if only part-time of the year. |
Missnmich Member Username: Missnmich
Post Number: 623 Registered: 11-2004
| Posted on Wednesday, October 31, 2007 - 10:02 am: | |
I love the look of the small towns and villages. In much of the South, small towns do not have the charm, nor are they as well kept as small towns in Michigan. And the University system is amazing. While accolades are given to the University of Michigan, many states would be lucky to have Michigan State as their flagship school. Still missing Michigan ... |
Miss_cleo Member Username: Miss_cleo
Post Number: 942 Registered: 05-2005
| Posted on Wednesday, October 31, 2007 - 10:16 am: | |
Sports, outdoors, music, and automobiles. Some of these features of Michigan have waned over the years. ------------------------------ --------------- The outdoors in Michigan can never wan. |
Danny Member Username: Danny
Post Number: 6741 Registered: 02-2004
| Posted on Wednesday, October 31, 2007 - 10:21 am: | |
Dds, The latin word CIRCVMSPICE meaning look AROUND you. Look for the root word "Circvm" like circle going around. LINGVA LATINA VTILIS ET GAVDVIM! |
Detroitbill Member Username: Detroitbill
Post Number: 365 Registered: 09-2006
| Posted on Wednesday, October 31, 2007 - 12:02 pm: | |
I think Michigan is a wonderful state. Just drive around it from shore to shore, border to border, You have a well established metro area in Detroit which offers affordable living, diverse populations , culture and history, good professional sporting teams with state of the art facilities, a international border with a good size Canadian city 5 minutes away, abundant resources, a very well established infrastructure and some advanced educational institutions and some of the best research facilities for industry and medicine in the country. If you go to the westside you see some of these same elements, with great towns like Grand Rapids, Saugautuck, Kalamazoo and towns with great history and some farms offering the best in produce. Go North and it speaks for itself, beautiful inland lakes as well as the Great Lakes, lots of territory for skiing (both downhill and cross), hunting ( if so inclined) an award winning Golf courses. ( Gaylord golf "mecca" was awarded the 8th best in the nation.) There is an absolute wealth of small towns, many of whom have preserved their buildings and culture, A trip over the Mackinac Bridge takes you to some of the most lovely unsettled land, hiking areas and waterways today. We also have the four seasons, each bringing their own flavor to life. Many out of state visitors and some from Canada keep saying to me how much they enjoy Michigan and Detroit, constantly telling me they think some of our citizens are their own worst enemies.The more I travel the world and many cities I have to agree. |
Lmr Member Username: Lmr
Post Number: 109 Registered: 03-2007
| Posted on Friday, November 02, 2007 - 6:19 pm: | |
My husband is from Wyoming and he likes Michigan a lot more than Minnesota (so do I...now being from Detroit at least 6 generations back I may be biased but my husband has zero connection to Michigan). In his opinion Michigan has Isle Royale, biking around Mackinac Island, paczkis, pasties in the UP, Jellystone campgrounds, St. Julian wines, the car dealers (domestics, which is what we buy) actually have inventory to pick from, and if you live in Michigan, really, really affordable real estate. |
Detroitrise Member Username: Detroitrise
Post Number: 404 Registered: 09-2007
| Posted on Friday, November 02, 2007 - 7:10 pm: | |
WATER! |
Illwill Member Username: Illwill
Post Number: 99 Registered: 11-2003
| Posted on Friday, November 02, 2007 - 8:17 pm: | |
ANN ARBOR & DETROIT!! And most of the metro burbs. People here are pretty decent also. |
Ventura67 Member Username: Ventura67
Post Number: 161 Registered: 12-2003
| Posted on Friday, November 02, 2007 - 8:20 pm: | |
U. P. |
Ggores Member Username: Ggores
Post Number: 2 Registered: 10-2007
| Posted on Friday, November 02, 2007 - 8:46 pm: | |
michigan sucks. the best one can do is compare the catastrophe of other parts of the world? fresh water? beautiful landscape? sorry, but if your eyes have not opened yet to the fact that michigan has been trampled underfoot by notions of its once glorious past, then i am also sorry to be on the contrary side of things. i mean, wake up. for example, look no farther than lansing and the absolute idiocy of our elected officials. good grief. just what is anyone thinking who cannot see the truth. true, the only natural, heh, disaster we contend with is old man winter. the idea that michigan is what it used to be is mere propoganda. just go to www.michigan.gov and you can hear it all. all the b.s., that is. this is a hateful place, full of lazy fat americans, living in a state of paranoia, in a state of fear, and yet somehow taking consolation in the fact that we are not suffering as bad as others. move back to detroit and live again. and then talk about the positives. :-) hey, i'm just saying, ok? i love this place. |
Jrvass Member Username: Jrvass
Post Number: 287 Registered: 01-2007
| Posted on Friday, November 02, 2007 - 9:01 pm: | |
A little ray of sunshine, ain't you? |
Detroitrise Member Username: Detroitrise
Post Number: 405 Registered: 09-2007
| Posted on Friday, November 02, 2007 - 9:13 pm: | |
LOL Jrvass. Ggores uses "tough love" for Michigan. |
Hugo8100 Member Username: Hugo8100
Post Number: 43 Registered: 06-2006
| Posted on Friday, November 02, 2007 - 10:30 pm: | |
After moving to New England the only thing I'm missing so far is the surprising efficiency of the Michigan U-Turn and my ex-girlfriend. I tried to think of more, but that was it really. |
Detroitrise Member Username: Detroitrise
Post Number: 410 Registered: 09-2007
| Posted on Friday, November 02, 2007 - 10:35 pm: | |
Yeah, I've been everywhere and couldn't find anything like the Michigan U-Turn. All the streets in other cities are like Turnpikes! |
Detroithabitater Member Username: Detroithabitater
Post Number: 60 Registered: 10-2006
| Posted on Friday, November 02, 2007 - 10:51 pm: | |
The New Jersey jug-handle turn drives me nuts. |