Glad to see Michigan getting some attention in a good way! More things to like: no alligators or 15-foot pythons or "Palmetto bugs", hundreds of beautiful lakes and rivers in addition to the magnificent great lakes surrounding us, incredibly beautiful spring and fall, and global warming is taking care of the hard winter thing too! The beaches along Lake Michigan are the equal of any beaches anywhere on the planet. I moved back here from Florida and never have regretted it.
1
I have just driven the state from Grand Rapids to Marquette and back twice in the past 10 days. It's spring, the sun was out, the lakes were sparkling. Having done a fair amount of traveling in my life, I can honestly say it's one of the most beautiful places on earth. Of course, I am biased, but I relate to so much of what the author says. Except for the Petoskey stones. I've never gotten the attachment to those, although I know many who have.
This little piece fails to really highlight the jaw dropping beauty of the Great Lakes. Having grown up in Michigan, it wasn't until I moved to the East Coast that I realized that most people fail to understand how vast and big they are because they are "lakes." (and much like the author's mother, I'm not sure I want everyone to know!) One of my favorite stories was that of a friend, taking a group of east coasters to Sleeping Bear Dunes, and after that long, hot hike up the dunes, telling me about their faces as they saw for the first time that beautiful view of Lake Michigan from the top. They were shocked, and kept calling it the ocean, couldn't believe such a thing existed in the middle of the country. It never occurred to me as a kid that I was missing out on anything by not being on the coast because we had our own "3rd coast" right there.
I haven't lived in Michigan for 15 years, and yet it has imprinted on my heart for reasons even I cannot fully understand. I visit every summer, and find a sense of peace and contentment in Michigan that I have never found elsewhere. Long live the Mitten!
I haven't lived in Michigan for 15 years, and yet it has imprinted on my heart for reasons even I cannot fully understand. I visit every summer, and find a sense of peace and contentment in Michigan that I have never found elsewhere. Long live the Mitten!
2
I'm sure Michigan is wonderful, however, I would not equate lakefront property to "coastline".
1
I've lived in Michigan since I was 3 (except for 2 years elsewhere) and that makes it, (Let's see - 75 minus 3, carry the 12 and subtract another 2), SEVENTY YEARS!! And I wouldn't think of leaving.
True - the roads are an agonizing embarrassment, but the winters are mild compared to Minnesota and the change of seasons is something to be looked forward to every year. I, too, love this state - - sometimes more or less than others.
One small correction: I have learned we are NOT the only state with "hand geography". The right hand - with thumb and forefinger extended and the back facing you represents none other than ALASKA!! The index finger represents the Aleutian Island chain, the thumb a somewhat oversized panhandle, and the back of the hand represents the rest of the largest state. Anchorage sits roughly at the knuckle of the index finger.
Holding the left hand up to represent Michigan and the right to represent Alaska (at the same time) is NOT permitted - - as that would make Alaska appear to be no larger than our lower peninsula!!
True - the roads are an agonizing embarrassment, but the winters are mild compared to Minnesota and the change of seasons is something to be looked forward to every year. I, too, love this state - - sometimes more or less than others.
One small correction: I have learned we are NOT the only state with "hand geography". The right hand - with thumb and forefinger extended and the back facing you represents none other than ALASKA!! The index finger represents the Aleutian Island chain, the thumb a somewhat oversized panhandle, and the back of the hand represents the rest of the largest state. Anchorage sits roughly at the knuckle of the index finger.
Holding the left hand up to represent Michigan and the right to represent Alaska (at the same time) is NOT permitted - - as that would make Alaska appear to be no larger than our lower peninsula!!
2
I love Michigan so much, and this is a great piece so share with doubters. We're in California now, but my heart is in Michigan. Anticipating a fall not spent in Michigan is scary!
3
VIBRANCY , INNOVATION , DETERMINATION and GRIT ----the Detroit experience will leave you believing in a Soulful place where opportunity is bursting from it's seams and all are welcome!
Detroit area is in a booming rebirth with investors that have come from all over the world , nationally and locally to reinvent our incredible city ! Google Dan Gilbert and learn about transformation of our grand city !
In fact if you come to our city on a weekend night , expect to sit in traffic with the crowds that are seeking fine dining, sports, music , a spectacular view of the Ambassador Bridge over our bustling river populated with freighters, with a backdrop of our neighboring country , Canada... Detroit has a gorgeous Riverfront walkway that showcases cultural and seasonal celebrations . During the Winter, grab your ice skates and have a whirl on the famed Campus Martius area Ice Rink ! The city is now installing a Que one rail car to transport folks in addition to the People Mover that circles the city with hop off stops taking the riders to innovative shopping areas , one of a kind eateries as well as booming businesses ,and cultural events. Check out the State of the art technological advancements thriving in this Automotive megatroplois!
Detroit area is in a booming rebirth with investors that have come from all over the world , nationally and locally to reinvent our incredible city ! Google Dan Gilbert and learn about transformation of our grand city !
In fact if you come to our city on a weekend night , expect to sit in traffic with the crowds that are seeking fine dining, sports, music , a spectacular view of the Ambassador Bridge over our bustling river populated with freighters, with a backdrop of our neighboring country , Canada... Detroit has a gorgeous Riverfront walkway that showcases cultural and seasonal celebrations . During the Winter, grab your ice skates and have a whirl on the famed Campus Martius area Ice Rink ! The city is now installing a Que one rail car to transport folks in addition to the People Mover that circles the city with hop off stops taking the riders to innovative shopping areas , one of a kind eateries as well as booming businesses ,and cultural events. Check out the State of the art technological advancements thriving in this Automotive megatroplois!
I spent the first 17 years of my life as a full-time Michigander (southeast Michigan, north of Detroit) and then was unwillingly shipped off to boarding school in a different state, and I've never spent more than a summer at home in the 7 years since. With each year out of Michigan, I become more adamant that it's the greatest state in the union (with Ohio being the worst), and I'll tell anyone who asks all the reasons why (reasons that were so elegantly described in this essay). I am immensely proud of my Michigan roots, and I maintain my childhood dream of one day buying a house in Lelanau or on Walloon or Torch Lake with my brother, where we'll spend our summers with our growing families. Despite all the nostalgia, love, and fondness I feel for my home state, though, I know I'll never move back - a painful admission from a stubborn Michigan-loyal. For all Michigan has to offer, it still lacks the many offerings of non-peninsula states: ease of interstate travel proves to be critical in fostering diverse, ever-changing cultures, opinions, and ideals. One of the best things about Michigan - its familiarity - is sadly why I don't see a future for myself there.
I sent this article to my boyfriend, and his response was "Lol, so much Michigan hubris." (And good, because I don't want my beloved Mackinac Island to be flooded with east coasters anyway!)
I sent this article to my boyfriend, and his response was "Lol, so much Michigan hubris." (And good, because I don't want my beloved Mackinac Island to be flooded with east coasters anyway!)
2
As a little kid in Detroit, I was taught that the lower peninsula was the right hand of God, palm toward you, and the U.P. was the left hand, with thumb upraised. And this was in the days before "Under God," was added—by a Michigan Congressman!—to the national anthem.
I continue to be amazed by the number of people I know who are, like me, from the state. Two even live right here in my building.
This June I'm going back again, to visit my brother, who lives in Ypsilanti (rhymes with "vigilante."
And I still drink Vernor's, but have to order it on-line.
I continue to be amazed by the number of people I know who are, like me, from the state. Two even live right here in my building.
This June I'm going back again, to visit my brother, who lives in Ypsilanti (rhymes with "vigilante."
And I still drink Vernor's, but have to order it on-line.
2
Although not a native, it is easy for me to say that the best years of my adult life (and the best years of my son's childhood) were spent in southwest MI. Yes, there really is a Kalamazoo. I seriously consider retiring there - lake effect snow is not an issue (I grew up in Buffalo). The summers in Michigan are heavenly. The springs and autumns are beautiful, if late and early, respectively. The people are kind and sincere. What's not to like?
5
Upnorth (northern Michigan) as it is known to us (former "downstaters") is utopia. We have had 5 generations come to this wonderland in both winter and summer. Fortunately as the 3rd generation we live upnorth full-time. If you've not been here you are missing out. But as the author's mother has pointed out, don't stay too long.
2
Don't forget you can use your left hand to show the Upper Peninsula. The entire state at once on your two hands!
2
This sweet essay pretty much captures what it's like to grow up in Michigan (Traverse City, not far from the author) and then leave, and then rediscover how very special life was in a place you used to call home. I have a Petoskey stone on my desk in my home office - a few thousand miles away in Northern California - and it is one of my prized possessions; not for its intrinsic value, but for all the warm memories it evokes.
4
The Petoskey Stone part got me too, a native Michigander. I still try and go visit Michigan every fall especially during Art Prize, one of the best Art exhibitions/events I have ever attended. And don't get me started on the Meier Sculpture Gardens in Grand Rapids, one of the best I have ever seen! And the West Michigan beaches....sigh...
1
I spent some part of every summer for 30 years in Charlevoix searching for Petoskey stones. I never found one. Not one. I remain embittered and confused. I ended up having to buy them from an alley rock shop in Petoskey. Now, in my 40's, the fact that my partner will neither wear nor let me wear my lifetime collection of Petoskey stone jewelry perplexes me. But, all of my shelves and desks are littered with Petoskey stone pen holders, paper weights and polished discs. As a Chicagoan, I've since transferred my allegiance to Southwest Michigan. Beautiful, but not as. And, no Petoskey stones. Thank you for your article.
3
Try behind the big grocery store across from Bayview in Petoskey. Also at the Petoskey state park.
In the summer (which begins around June 15) there is no better place than the west coast of Michigan, from New Buffalo all the way up to Northport. The best month is actually September, after the crowds are gone and the weather is still good.
1
Michigan is "the only state with hand-based cartography"? Evidently you're not familiar with a neighboring state called Wisconsin. In Wisconsin's case, the hand provides a complete map of the state . . . Michigan's is complete only if a bird roosts on the middle finger.
2
lovely.
1
Exactly. Michigan born and bred and now New Jersey based for over 15 years, I'm still dumbstruck when asked why I keep showing my hand when place I grew up. You nailed this one- thank you.
2
As a Jersey native who went to Michigan State and reluctantly returned, all I can say is "Go Green!" That, and if you spill Faygo Redpop, wipe it up *immediately*.
8
As an ex-pat, I also dream of the many days on I spent on her lakes and rivers. A beautiful state blessed with decent, hard working people. It also has the best cherries and peaches on the Lake Michigan side. And yes I know I spelled Cheboygan wrong. (It's a joke- Che boy agen).
2
state motto "If you seek a pleasant peninsula, look about you."
3
Moved here 20 years ago -Ann Arborites live in a bubble and have no concept or clue about people who exist outside their rarified air--The weather is horrible for at least six months of the year, the roads are terrible, the town and gown divide continues to widen, and heaven forbid if one does not fit within the Ann Arbor political echo chamber --I look forward to the day when I can retire and leave this overrated city .......
3
On that blessed day, may you and your neighbors all rejoice.
30
You need to get out of Ann Arbor.
2
Go farther north!
1
Everyone thinks the place they grew up in is special (just like it is nice everywhere in April). However, speaking as someone who the closest they got to Michigan was a plane change in Detroit, you have made me want to visit (in the summer, of course).
4
As a "downstater" during the week and an up north cottage weekender I fully understand mitten love of the entire mitten. You are clearly an up north snob that doesn't understand all that this beautiful best state in the US has to offer. Detroit is not a burned out mess with a hollowed out auto industry. From Detroit to Northport and EVERYTHING in between we have much to be proud of. I invite you to break out of your Northport bubble and travel a bit and write a more well rounded article if you're going to sing the praises of the beautiful place Michiganders call HOME!
18
Being a former resident of the City of Detroit, I am always excited to read anything highlighting my city or state. Unfortunately, after reading the writer's description of Detroit as a fault of the state (and Detroit, the only U.S. city with an annual holiday dedicated to looting and fires.) and reading ANOTHER misrepresentation of a horrific situation (devils night - an annual holiday? REALLY??!!). However, that interpretation has helped to strengthen my perseverance to continue promoting the good of Detroit and not focus on the ignorance of individuals like the writer of this NYT article.
4
You're introducing him at age six and he's gong to think of it as "home"? Delusional.
1
Nice article but one fact in your sidebar is wrong. In the U.P., we refer to residents living in the lower peninsula as "trolls" - living under the bridge!
5
Thanks for the wonderful column.
2
Michigan is the gem of our country!
3
My life mission is to visit every public access of every lake in Michigan. A simple hobby is mine.
6
Nice to read an article about the state that I was born and raised in. I still didn't like the pot shot about Devil's Night: it is tired and old. Now, if they can fix the Flint water and the racial issues that ruin an otherwise underrated state.
5
The Detroit comment was crude, rude and false.
4
Living in the "Land of Delight" winter is long, skies often grey, and the natives not that friendly. Detroit is third world for the most part, and Flint? Think about what lead did to Nero's brain. Summer visit if you must (rent a place, buy stuff, eat out and tip well), but for heaven's sake don't move here.
1
Since you live in Leelanau I will assume that you have posted your comments in order to discourage a permafudge* influx. I personally promise that when I visit I will be inoffensive and not disruptive. Well done!
* permafudge: visitors from the south are called "fudgies," because of the fine Mackinac Island fudge that they purchase. Visitors from the south who move in permanently are called "Permafudge."
* permafudge: visitors from the south are called "fudgies," because of the fine Mackinac Island fudge that they purchase. Visitors from the south who move in permanently are called "Permafudge."
2
Why are you describing your fellow American citizens in Detroit, most of whom likely have ancestors who arrived in this nation before yours, as "third world"?
BTW RE: Speak like a Michigander:
Pasty: A meat pie
Pop: Soda (see: Faygo)
Euchre: A card game similar to Pinochle
Hate to burst your insular bubble BUT
* Pasty: A meat pie - that is from Cornwall - ya know on the UK island off France. Name for that food is used in PA, western Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky and southern Ohio (think Cornwall - mines - migrants from Cornwall to work in the mines back in the 19th and early 20th centuries)
* Pop: Soda (see: Faygo) - uh no that is not sui generis to Michigan. word 'pop' is used in Ohio, Pennsylvania (western 3/4s except for Pittsburgh), West Virginia......
* Euchre: A card game similar to Pinochle - again not some Michigan thing. Played by my grandparents and great-grandparents generation in NY, PA, OH and the mid-Atlantic state
What is specific to Michigan is the bizarre idea that it comes up with anything special and unique
Pasty: A meat pie
Pop: Soda (see: Faygo)
Euchre: A card game similar to Pinochle
Hate to burst your insular bubble BUT
* Pasty: A meat pie - that is from Cornwall - ya know on the UK island off France. Name for that food is used in PA, western Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky and southern Ohio (think Cornwall - mines - migrants from Cornwall to work in the mines back in the 19th and early 20th centuries)
* Pop: Soda (see: Faygo) - uh no that is not sui generis to Michigan. word 'pop' is used in Ohio, Pennsylvania (western 3/4s except for Pittsburgh), West Virginia......
* Euchre: A card game similar to Pinochle - again not some Michigan thing. Played by my grandparents and great-grandparents generation in NY, PA, OH and the mid-Atlantic state
What is specific to Michigan is the bizarre idea that it comes up with anything special and unique
2
You are so right! When I read those things, I thought Ohio too! Also, we drink "pop," all the way out here in Oklahoma!
Being from Michigan I can tell this writer is from Northern Michigan based on his outdated and slanderous views on Detroit. Most of the folks up there (especially on the Western side) have a habitual fear of Detroit that once was well earned, but now betrays people who haven't seen it in years. I'm afraid this author is one of those people that still holds onto this old narrative of decay and crime. I've lived next to Detroit for 46 years. I've seen it at its most despairing. Now it's as if I have moved to a new city, full of progress, new people, great food and new energy. I invite this author to come to Detroit and actually see it.
27
Grew up in Ft Wayne, IN when Detroit right before the auto industry went to hell and when crime was starting to blight its powerhouse reputation. So pleased to see it bouncing back after a rough and ugly slump. Whenever Detroit comes up in Convo, I praise its bounce back and people are stunned to learn it hasn't totally burned down yet. Would love to live in Detroit for a few years before settling back in Indiana.
Re "Growing up, I was vaguely aware that a world existed outside Michigan, but I assumed it was all variations on Canada." I know you're being humorous, however, there really is more than a bit of that attitude and, combined with the relative isolation of living on 2 peninsulas, it seems that Michiganders travel to the other states at lower rates than Americans living elsewhere. The resulting decreased level of knowledge about how other places are and how others may do things has hurt Michigan's economy and culture. Michigan would end up doing better if a lot of people would travel out of the state, get to know other places, and return.
4
Niche.com, a website that evaluates and ranks cities, their neighborhoods and school systems, named Ann Arbor as "the best to live in throughout the United States." Its hub is the University of Michigan (the city probably wouldn't exist without it), which offers a lot to residents -- cultural events, great libraries, a spectacular medical system (perhaps one of the best in the world), a renowned art fair, a fantastic transportation system, lots (maybe too many) good restaurants and on and on. The city itself has a lot to offer. It's become a mini Silicon Valley or sorts. And lot of people live here and commute to jobs in Detroit. BUT... although students from here from all over the world for a great education, then promptly leave -- for more opportunity, better weather, a younger populace... Indeed, Ann Arbor is losing its charm, there's an increasing number of empty store fronts, the colorful street people who made the city interesting have mostly vanished, the roads are pretty bad, the summers and winters can be brutal (although the last ones weren't bad). Ann Arbor's a great place to live. I think it's also a great place to remember -- I understand why many folks and businesses are leaving. The rest of Michigan? Like any other state, it has its good point and bad points. If you must live in Michigan, A2 probably is the place to be.
I would suggest M22.
1
At this moment in my life I have an odd sense of displacement. Growing up in Detroit and Kauai I find it hard to reconcile moving away from either. I love and miss them both, struggling with a sense that I turned my back to my roots. My family is from both places, and after high school it was all I could do to get out of Michigan. I met my wife in NY however, so there is that. She couldn't understand why I didn't have a southern accent. She's not geographically challenged, New Yorkers are funny in that they think there's NY and then there's every where else. Michigan has always been the home of dualities and opposing states of being. Inner city and suburbs. City and Farms. Detroit taught me what white flight was and race relations, and gave me pasty's and swimming the Detroit River off Belle Isle. I can look back now on border crossing into Windsor to drink in clubs at 19, no passport or a pat down. Urban exploring (before that became a thing) in the giant Uniroyal Factory on Jefferson. Had they left it, they could have converted it to high end lofts. That limbo and flux of gritty and bucolic, upper peninsula camping and the Mystery Spot, to Lafayette Coney Island and the cliche of tourist trap ideology that is Greek Town. Where else can could you go see a ballet at the Fisher Theatre in the 70's in the heart of the ghetto. I never went to look for Petosky stones. But one day I'll find myself there and will make a point of searching for the lost fossil of my own history.
6
I spent many wonderful summers on Lake Michigan near Northport at a friend's cottage on Gills Pier Road. Do you remember the summer alewives carcasses littered the beach? Even then it was a magical place, further enhanced by the best cherries on the planet. Lovely piece. Thank you.
Thanks for writing this. My grandparents lived outside of Alpena (Robert's Cove on the map OR near the pointer finger of your hand) and my childhood memories are lined with with Petosky stones!
2
A native Detroiter, I completely agree: Michigan is so beautiful and bountiful. BTW, I always use both hands, one above and perpendicular to other, illustrating the upper and lower peninsula.
4
I will end up back in Michigan eventually, but the ascension of punitive Tea Party legislators in state government diminishes some enthusiasm. Still, there is much to love, protect and work towards. Go Blue — it applies to politics as much as my Wolverines!
13
that piece was a nostalgic love letter to himself- advocating continuation of a cycle of provincial privilege- a particularly insidious kind of privilege to me having just visited my Michigan town: while overwhelmed with small-town churchy love, I also saw the entrenched paranoid distrust of outsiders and others- at which Michiganders excel- they assume the world gives a care and their assumptions are based on all the wrong reasons- like petoskey stones- Michigan is a capitalist battle ground with lots and lots of casualties-
3
Many years ago as tourists in NYC telling locals we were from Detroit elicited respectful distance. As tourists in Hawaii telling locals that we were from Michigan which looked much like their locale with everything so green, with water all around and substitute pine trees for palm trees elicited disbelief. Because they believed it is always cold and snowy in Michigan they didn't know it could rival Hawaii's beauty but it does.
7
I vacated Michigan when I was 13. In those days, Dad always said Michiganders were the best drivers. I could see then and having driven in most states east of the mighty Mississippi River, he was correct by a long shot.
4
Been back in recent years? Those "best drivers" you remember must all have passed on, or something. Michigan, an appealing place to ride bikes and go for long, wonderful walks seems to have an unusually high incidence of cars - driven by drivers - that hit bicyclists and pedestrians, often with horrific outcome. In other words, I think Michigan drivers are scary - and bad - and bad drivers on really bad roads are a bad combination.(the uber Republican anti-gummit crowd in Lansing seems to think that fixing roads is a privilege that taxpayer do not deserve!) Now throw in the more recent trend towards extolling beer and wine drinking at every corner and every turn and a love of legislating higher and higher speed limits, that makes bad drivers and bad roads downright terrifying. Signs like "beer and ammo" at gas station stops say it all. Oh, and then there are the gazillion leaping deer all over the highways...!!
2
Did you mention Interlochen Fine Arts Camp where many musicians and other artists who became well known developed their talents early on? It is a most beautiful place.
10
Hi Eric --
Loved your article and I am lucky enough to say I still live here and love it. Come back more often! Come tour the Detroit Public Library on one of our Art and Architectural tours and ride the new Q-Line! Our coastlines are marvelous and our State is bigger than outsiders can imagine and full of magic. Thanks loads for giving a thumbs up to Michigan. But, psssst....keep it on the low down!
Loved your article and I am lucky enough to say I still live here and love it. Come back more often! Come tour the Detroit Public Library on one of our Art and Architectural tours and ride the new Q-Line! Our coastlines are marvelous and our State is bigger than outsiders can imagine and full of magic. Thanks loads for giving a thumbs up to Michigan. But, psssst....keep it on the low down!
1
There are some other gems you forgot to mention:
The Detroit Institute of Arts -- one of the top encyclopedic collections in the country.
The Detroit Symphony -- one of the top five or six orchestras with absolutely the finest performance space.
The Michigan Philharmonic -- winner of many prestigious awards for programming new and adventurous music, led by the one of the top female conductor.
Three fine research universities and many other excellent institutions including the Center for Creative Studies considered the best industrial/automotive design school in the country.
Music, art, education, and research flourish in Michigan (with little or no help from the state government).
The Detroit Institute of Arts -- one of the top encyclopedic collections in the country.
The Detroit Symphony -- one of the top five or six orchestras with absolutely the finest performance space.
The Michigan Philharmonic -- winner of many prestigious awards for programming new and adventurous music, led by the one of the top female conductor.
Three fine research universities and many other excellent institutions including the Center for Creative Studies considered the best industrial/automotive design school in the country.
Music, art, education, and research flourish in Michigan (with little or no help from the state government).
14
Gentle correction: It's College for Creative Studies, not sure when they changed it from Center for Creative Studies.
We should all embrace and love the places where we are from, they are unique and special to us as individuals. I think as you get older you generate a new affinity of where you are from, what makes you what you have become and realisation those roots are important. Great article. Beautiful ending.
3
Huge threats to Michigan are environmental exploiters in league with political profiteers. Nestle, Enbridge, Big Oil/Gas are given easy access to Michigan's natural resources: Enbridge pipelines and oil spills, including an aged monster under the Straits of Mackinac! Nestle taking ancient Michigan waters at an astounding rate of gallons per minute, putting it into plastic bottles, selling it back to Michiganders and others as Ice Mountain including to Flint! Michigan water into plastic bottles to sell leaving plastic for infinite pollution=insanity. Many of us participate in a boycott of Nestle and "Nestle Waters" bottled water. They are sticking their giant straws into the Earth's dwindling clean waters around the world, to privatize water and profit from it. There is the horror of big industrial surface mines that turn beautiful landscapes into moonscapes, deep, deep digs of destruction. Most are for frack-sand, required for fracking. It is a horror to see the wonderful "mitten" turned into a moonscape by those takers, exploiters. Right-wing oligarchs in Michigan see the environment as commodity for their greed. My family deeply loves Michigan but there is a very disturbing side to what is going on that gets masked behind the "Pure Michigan" campaign.
16
As an exiled Michigander living in Washington State, I love reading these. One comment - even the UPpers can use their hand to show where they live/lived. The key is to hold your left hand sideways.
4
I rock my M22 license plate with pride. Even got an M22 sticker for my laptop. Can't wait to go back.
The writer is a western Michigander. Maybe 20% of the population and an unsettling mix of summer lakefront homes of rich Chicagoans and people so religiously fundamental in thought that they cannot accept the idea of evolution. A broad generalization but my experience when there supports it. Lovely beaches for sure. I try to go there every summer.
All he could manage is a nasty dig at Detroit, but as a native Detroiter I can say that the SE section of the state not only has most of the people, but for most of my life we supported those guys west with our taxes. I bet the suburbs still pitch in a large portion, Wouldn't kill them to realize that.
It is lovely here in the SE too. Urban is urban, but green everywhere and lakes and rivers are us. And if I want to swim in a big lake it is not that far to Lakeport, and Huron.
All he could manage is a nasty dig at Detroit, but as a native Detroiter I can say that the SE section of the state not only has most of the people, but for most of my life we supported those guys west with our taxes. I bet the suburbs still pitch in a large portion, Wouldn't kill them to realize that.
It is lovely here in the SE too. Urban is urban, but green everywhere and lakes and rivers are us. And if I want to swim in a big lake it is not that far to Lakeport, and Huron.
7
The east side of the state, and the southeast areas, have many beautiful places to be - Drummond Island and Alpena come to mind, but the state - all points on the compass - has many problems, most of them elected to office and thus self-inflicted. No state more beautiful with more magnificent natural resources has iinvited more snakes and scorpions into the "nest" and then allowed them to do what snakes and scorpions do. Michigan. as a gem of a geographical/geological place on the planet, deserves much better than the elected haters of government and haters of taxpayers provide in Lansing.
8
Politics are an issue, of course, everywhere but especially in what outsiders call the rust belt. That is up to the vote of the residents. I hope they get tired of the nonsense soon.
It doesn't change how beautiful the place is. Even in near suburban Detroit there is a lake across the street, private of course but my kids went there, a branch of the northern rouge river runs through my sub, and four miles north and a mile west there is a public boat launch on a public lake. You might learn to like snow,though. I do.
It doesn't change how beautiful the place is. Even in near suburban Detroit there is a lake across the street, private of course but my kids went there, a branch of the northern rouge river runs through my sub, and four miles north and a mile west there is a public boat launch on a public lake. You might learn to like snow,though. I do.
I have known quite a few Michiganders in my time, mostly in Los Angeles where I used to live and here in Chicago, and not one of them ever disparaged their native state. They loved it and were proud of its beauty. Even the people from Detroit loved that city passionately. Now that I've seen more of Michigan, I can understand their feelings. It's the Maine of the Midwest.
11
Great piece. I'm proud to have been born in Detroit, and Leland is my favorite place on the planet.
Small nitpick: Euchre is nothing like Pinochle. Pinochle is a point game and Euchre is a trick game. It's closer to a miniaturized form of Bridge.
Small nitpick: Euchre is nothing like Pinochle. Pinochle is a point game and Euchre is a trick game. It's closer to a miniaturized form of Bridge.
12 years ago, I met a man at a house party in the San Fernando Valley of LA. He was from Washington DC and was hitting on me pretty hard. About to walk back to my friends, he threw a last ditch effort and asked me where I was from. "A tiny town in northern Michigan," I told him. "You won't know it." He pressed. "It's called Petoskey," I said. Smiling, he pulled a polished Petoskey Stone out of his pocket and held it up to me. He got my phone number, and we gave out polished Petoskey Stones as wedding favors. We take our son back there as often as we can.
15
Even after decades elsewhere, I still think about Michigan many times a day, and have dreams of the Bridge if I have stayed away too long. Still, I remained composed as I read this article, until I came upon your post. You and your husband know what it means to identify with a special place; may your son be as fortunate.
4
This was LOL funny for me and my husband, hearing me came in from another room. I am the foreign (Australian) wife whose husband loves his home town, Middletown (Three Mile Island) near Harrisburg (described Trump as a "war zone"). Our version of future wives being perplexed was noticing in his revised version of "The Will" that he had bequeathed his elephant collection to me. We lived in Tasmania for nine years in the eighties and he gradually convinced the children the streets of Middletown were paved with gold. We ended up in the house he grew up in. Our children have made homes in Mexico City, Cleveland and two live locally. All good.
Love this and your mom is right, so lets keep the secret. Michigan, Meechigan, Mich-again, again and again.
9
Thank you, Eric, for this light paean to Michigan. There are indeed, dreary, flat and ugly parts of the Mitten State, but that's true of any state (except maybe that "island in the middle of the Pacific"). But Lake Michigan, Lake Superior, and instead of Mackinac Island fudge, how about that Bridge? Beautiful, and an astonishing feat of engineering. The Soo Locks. Tahquamenon Falls. The Porcupine Mountains. And instead of knocking Michael Moore, people should thank him for his acclaimed Traverse City Film Festival. I could go on, and we all have our favorite little known spot, but is there any southeastern Michigander who hasn't felt the stress disappear as the hit mid-state, heading north (or west) for vacation? I don't really care what others think, it's their loss.
I love Petoskey stones. I'll take that necklace if it's still unwanted!
I love Petoskey stones. I'll take that necklace if it's still unwanted!
45
Ah, the going "Up North" feeling. It's the best.
8
I feel the same way about Petoskey stones (and Michigan). They are more precious to me than any gem stone could be. Petoskey stones are home.
Every time I go to a beach, I automatically start searching for Petoskeys. There's nothing better than seeing the pattern on a stone in the water.
"Found a Petoskey!"
Michigan does have everything we need.
Thank you for this.
Every time I go to a beach, I automatically start searching for Petoskeys. There's nothing better than seeing the pattern on a stone in the water.
"Found a Petoskey!"
Michigan does have everything we need.
Thank you for this.
22
Have you ever found yourself somewhere else looking down in the water for Petoskey stones? Like the ocean? Merely out of habit? LOL! It happens to me all the time.
"We’re also the only state with hand-based cartography. You can hold up an open palm, point to exactly where you live in Michigan — as long as you live on the Lower Peninsula — and be immediately understood." Whenever I do this some other state, to show where I live, they are initially puzzled and then a big grin breaks out. But the author is incorrect, in that one can demonstrate the UP ( Upper Peninsula for the uninformed) by holding one's left hand palm up, fingers overlapping to a point and the thumb akimbo to represent the Keweenaw Peninsula. not quite as elegant as the Mitten but still fairly accurate. Love my state, hate the Governor and legislature, but love my state. Si Quaeris Peninsulam Amoenam Circumspice.
33
Michigander here. Petoskeys aren't UGLY, they're just subtle. I remember the pearly greys, the concentric ruffle cells in the beehive pattern, evidence of an ancient world. Right there under our feet.
More than once I have watched someone holding a Petosky or trilobite or crinold fossil when the light comes on, they realize that their world of highways, grocery stores and lawn mowing was once an ocean filled with exotic life forms.
Sure, Michigan spawned Timothy McVeigh and gun-obsessed survivalists, poised to be anti-government terrorists. But she also gave us Stevie Wonder, Gilda Radner & Lily Tomlin, Minoru Yamasaki the architect of the World Trade Towers, painter Frederick Church, Charles Lindberg, co-founder of Google Larry Page, not to mention Gibson guitars, Ford, Chrysler, Dodge, Chevrolet who were all people who left a mark on the auto business. Then there's Malcolm X, Rosa Parks & Sojourner Truth, Thomas Edison, Iggy Pop, Nate Silver, Jonas Salk, Elmore Leonard, Robert Frost and you, and me. Good things grow in Michgan soil - there's something (besides PCBs) in the water.
More than once I have watched someone holding a Petosky or trilobite or crinold fossil when the light comes on, they realize that their world of highways, grocery stores and lawn mowing was once an ocean filled with exotic life forms.
Sure, Michigan spawned Timothy McVeigh and gun-obsessed survivalists, poised to be anti-government terrorists. But she also gave us Stevie Wonder, Gilda Radner & Lily Tomlin, Minoru Yamasaki the architect of the World Trade Towers, painter Frederick Church, Charles Lindberg, co-founder of Google Larry Page, not to mention Gibson guitars, Ford, Chrysler, Dodge, Chevrolet who were all people who left a mark on the auto business. Then there's Malcolm X, Rosa Parks & Sojourner Truth, Thomas Edison, Iggy Pop, Nate Silver, Jonas Salk, Elmore Leonard, Robert Frost and you, and me. Good things grow in Michgan soil - there's something (besides PCBs) in the water.
35
Don't forget Madonna!
1
check out lelandreport.com Great shots of N. Michigan
The key phrase of this well-written ode to the Great Lake State: "I don’t live in Michigan anymore, but..."
Nobody loves Michigan more than the thousands (millions?) who had a happy childhood there and then moved away. And a summer home or rental is a great way to get a reminder of the good old days without dealing with the extremist right-wing legislature, the forgotten cities like Flint, or the simmering racial tension that permeates the state.
Nobody loves Michigan more than the thousands (millions?) who had a happy childhood there and then moved away. And a summer home or rental is a great way to get a reminder of the good old days without dealing with the extremist right-wing legislature, the forgotten cities like Flint, or the simmering racial tension that permeates the state.
45
James, so true. The environmental recklessness, rapaciousness, is just heartbreaking - Enbridge pipelines (the Kalamzaoo oil spill was huge and got virtually no news coverage) and their pipeline under the magnificent Straits of Mackinac; Nestle taking of Michigan waters to put into plastic bottles to sell, and the horrific huge and destructive frack-sand mining operations that are industrial zones operating without zoning, with impunity. It is shocking what is being done TO Michigan. So the romantic views of the visitors, the tourists - notions which I also love - the rich or the transient cottage renters or family cabin legacy visitors - they need to protect what they claim to love and not just wax romantic about it. Michigan needs our love and our protection! It needs fighters like the heroes of Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation!
5
Ssshhh. You're supposed to keep Michigan a secret. Otherwise it will be overrun by refugees from the Jersey coast and Florida once global warming makes all that oceanfront property uninhabitable.
8
My daughter sent this article to me. She lives in NY, but was born and raised in Michigan, the Oakland County area, and spent every summer and spare moment as a child in northern Michigan. Her dad and I live here full time now, for the past three years. Said someone posted it on Facebook, she read it on the train, and almost started bawling. I read it and it brought tears to my eyes too. You nailed it, and in an eloquent, heartfelt way. This is a keeper, and one I will share. Pure Michigan. ✋
31
A nice piece overall. However, as a fellow Michigan expat I am disappointed that you felt the need to include a perfunctory dig at Detroit. If you love Michigan so much, perhaps invest some effort in getting to know the state south of M-72.
29
As a lifelong Michigander and Detroiter, I felt the same way. I love my city and my state, and have spent many happy days camping along its lakes and in its woods. Detroit has its struggles, but also has a lot of beauty and charm and wonderful neighborhoods and people. And, by the way, we haven't had a "devil's night in Detroit for over 20 years. It's now "Angels' Night" where thousands of residents come out to keep the city safe and quiet. That night has the lowest number of fires than any other night in the city. I think you need to discover the rest of your state.
10
not to speak east of M131, I think it is 131.
You know try SE Michigan, home to about 80% of the population. It is beautiful here too, and not a suburb of Chicago.
You know try SE Michigan, home to about 80% of the population. It is beautiful here too, and not a suburb of Chicago.
2
All your focus is on The Mitt, troll country. My wife and I journey to the real Michigan every year, The U.P. As far as we are concerned, the real Michigan only shows itself when we cross The Big Mac and we've entered Yooper country.
14
A guy named Spitznagel wins a gal's heart with a Petoskey necklace. Michigan men can do it all!
8
The prevailing winds blow east across Lake Michigan, piling up magnificent sand dunes on the Lower Peninsula's western shore and cooling it off in summer. Also, in the second half of the 20th CenturyMichigan probably had the highest blue collar standard of living in history, so the number of weekend homes on lakes is enormous.
10
How nice of Eric to say the woman (or man) his son will one day love. The cherry on the top of an already lovely piece, and a gracious and thoughtful gesture. His son is a lucky boy.
17
Nice job of summing up the feeling of those Leelenau summer days. Our family cabin is home to many Petoskey stones, collected over the years by many hands. Baltali created quite a stir when he moved in "down the road" a bit. And now I'm craving tart cherries and smoked fish from Fishtown. Thanks a lot, Eric.
14
Do not forget: some of the kindest, most generous people anywhere! It is always a pleasure to visit Michigan. Even the TSA agents at DTW are polite.
21
I grew up in Michigan and I'm sorry but I don't agree with you. If it's not cold, it's hot and humid. If it's not grey, it's cloudy. It's very flat, and unless you are near the shore, there's very little geographic diversity: no mountains, no deserts, no oceans. And there's not a tremendous amount of ethnic diversity either except in certain cities. Frankly it's a pretty boring place. But it does produce good apples (but not so good cars), and it has produced some interesting people, like the children's author Patricia Polacco and the activist filmmaker Michael Moore (but unfortunately also crazy Ted Nugent who I was dismayed to learn was allowed into the White House today).
5
You've been gone awhile Dan. Our diversity in NoMI has really grown. Our beauty needs no mountains, for we have hills and rivers and Lake Michigan is our own private ocean.
2
those of us who are here are glad that you left...
1
You just described 90% of the country. And yes we have no oceans, but our lakes are just as beautiful and salt and shark free.
I lived for 16 years in SF, and pretentious people like you are one of the things I certainly don't miss.
I lived for 16 years in SF, and pretentious people like you are one of the things I certainly don't miss.
9
Well done, sir. I can taste and smell my native Michigan now, even though I've lived in the northwest for 30-some years. I need a few Petoskey stones to polish and shine.
9
You refer to Michigan's "many charms," but mention far more of its detractions.
Say YES to Michigan!
It's frustrating to me, who grew up in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, to read an ode to the lower peninsula with nary a nod to the beautiful, remote UP. And then to have this ode refer to "Michiganders". Much as many people love this term, it is not correct. The correct term in Michiganians. We aren't geese.
8
Abraham Lincoln coined the term Michiganders as an insult to one of our congressmen.
Incorrect. Both terms are accepted for MI residents. And you think maybe he wrote about the Mitten because it's where he grew up and what he knows? Gee, novel concept.
1
Although I thought this debate had been settled in Michigan, your comment made me uncertain so I did a Wikipedia search and found a most interesting entry. Lazaro Vega posting here about Lincoln being the source of "Michigander" is apparently correct per the Wikipedia entry and it was pejorative for then Michigan governor Lewis Cass. The Wikipedia entry also says both terms are equally "correct" but that 58% of polled Michigan residents prefer "Michigander." So you may prefer "Michiganian" and 12% of polled Michigan residents agree with you, but it's just a preference, not a definitive done deal.
1
Okay let's talk about the REAL Leelanau County
* Most expensive county in the state for housing - median price $400000 - due to 2nd homeowners
* Those who live & work here can't afford to live indoors - median household income of those in the workforce is around $28-30K
*No real year round jobs except at $9 -12 an hour. Everything is summer seasonal at the same wages (Tourism economy)
* Sebelius (Obama's HHS Secretary) has a summer home here - and those who mow her lawn, clean the decks, clean the house, serve her food in restaurants, ring up her purchases etc can't afford housing on their own & live with family (home in the family for decades) or couch-surf
* Rest of the state calls Leelanau "Chicago Lite" - it is largely retirees
* Can't buy squat in the county - not pine pellet cat litter, not thread, not much other than touristy trinkets. 40-60 miles round trip to the large grocery. I SHIP IN most stuff & even the dog & cat food.
* It has lots of wineries, beaches, pine trees & deer (running out in the road) & 1,500,000 tourists clogging up an area with the infrastructure for 12000 & paying NYC prices for hotels & restaurants (nothing is "inexpensive" here)
* It has the most educated population in the state on a per capita basis (all those retirees from away)
Why live here? The beach - 40 miles of sugar sand beach, 500 ft high sand dunes & turquoise water.
ANd the only people I have ever seen hunting those stupid Petoskey stones are TOURISTS!
* Most expensive county in the state for housing - median price $400000 - due to 2nd homeowners
* Those who live & work here can't afford to live indoors - median household income of those in the workforce is around $28-30K
*No real year round jobs except at $9 -12 an hour. Everything is summer seasonal at the same wages (Tourism economy)
* Sebelius (Obama's HHS Secretary) has a summer home here - and those who mow her lawn, clean the decks, clean the house, serve her food in restaurants, ring up her purchases etc can't afford housing on their own & live with family (home in the family for decades) or couch-surf
* Rest of the state calls Leelanau "Chicago Lite" - it is largely retirees
* Can't buy squat in the county - not pine pellet cat litter, not thread, not much other than touristy trinkets. 40-60 miles round trip to the large grocery. I SHIP IN most stuff & even the dog & cat food.
* It has lots of wineries, beaches, pine trees & deer (running out in the road) & 1,500,000 tourists clogging up an area with the infrastructure for 12000 & paying NYC prices for hotels & restaurants (nothing is "inexpensive" here)
* It has the most educated population in the state on a per capita basis (all those retirees from away)
Why live here? The beach - 40 miles of sugar sand beach, 500 ft high sand dunes & turquoise water.
ANd the only people I have ever seen hunting those stupid Petoskey stones are TOURISTS!
13
Sorry, but Petoskey stones will forever be interesting to those of us who hail from Michigan. Fossils are cool, I'm grateful to Ann Arbor's public school *science* teachers and my father, for pointing them out along Lake Michigan's beaches.
3
Why Ann, you have completely left out the farms in Leelanau County. And if you look, you can find places to live.
Wow, why so angry ? If life is tough consider voting for some Democrats next election. It's very easy to find the proof that we used to have a much higher standard of living ( including income) when this state was run by the Democrats in both houses of the legislature. Dems haven't been in charge in over 30 years and it really shows, too. And, no, just having a Democrat for Gov. doesn't make MI a liberal or Democrat state. You want to better your life ?....change the party in charge in Lansing, it's as simple as that.
5
You mean everybody doesn't celebrate Devil's Night?
8
home sweet Michigan.
7
Hooray for Michigan! Lakes, woods, cabins, ponds, rivers, canoes, birds and bears and beavers and trout and frogs and crickets, ferries, freighters, locks, sailing, waterskiing and roasting marshmallows over a fire on the beach. People who aren't from Michigan have no idea what they're missing. I'm so happy to be from Michigan!
12
I've never heard the term "flatlanders" used to describe people in the lower peninsula. I always thought the Yoopers called us trolls. You know, because we live under the Mackinaw bridge?
Admittedly, I've discovered that an integral part of being a Michigander is arguing with other Michiganders about things that Michiganders say. I call it soda. Apparently this is offensive.
Admittedly, I've discovered that an integral part of being a Michigander is arguing with other Michiganders about things that Michiganders say. I call it soda. Apparently this is offensive.
6
Yes, trolls. And never soda; it's "pop" here - and we do take offense if you use foreign terms.
Actually, Michigan is not the only state with hand based cartography. It works for Texas too: right hand, index finger up (panhandle), thumb curled out and pointing west, last three fingers curled down.
4
I think you're trying way too hard to be a mitten state. WI tries to pull this stunt as well, but there will only ever be 1 true hand shaped state in the U.S. and that's good old MI !
3
Is it possible that Michigan could run out of Petoskey stones? I wonder about this every time I take another handful away to join the others sitting in bookcases, flower beds, stashed in the basement. Has anybody done the math on this? Will little children always have the thrill of finding their own? Maybe, fellow Michiganders, we might have to face facts and scour our houses and load up our cars for a "return your Petoskey stones" day.
7
I think it's actually against the law to take them, even though I don't know if it's enforced. A couple of years ago a man found a huge one and he had to relinquish it because it belongs to the State.
2
Say YES! to Spitznagel!
1
Read this while listening to angry waves out my window of Lake Huron. Chilly early spring dark night. We are a peninsula, here in Michigan. "Up North" has always been an expression of leaving lower Michigan and heading to a cooler part of this destination state. No one just passes thru to get to another state. Well worth any trip out of your way.
3
Say nice things about Detroit!
6
I'm another Michigander that found their way to Chicago about 30 years ago because face it.....Michigan, for all it's beauty and charm, isn't where the world wants to be, and to some degree, it's due to the type of attitude expressed by your Mother. Folks don't cotton particularly to outsiders. In Boston, folks want to know who your parents are, in Vermont they want to know how long your family has lived there, in LA they want to know what kind of car you drive, and in Michigan, they want to know why you're there and when are you going to leave. Michigan is a bizarrely insular and standoffish bit of real estate. Even the guy that wrote "Blue Highways" (we all remember that, yes?) who, upon arriving in Michigan, determined that the place was full of taciturnity.
Sure, there's plenty of nice folks because there's nice folks everywhere, but it's not a warm fuzzball of welcoming attitude. Detroit, where I spent the first 6 years of my life, is taking on a much better vibe and welcoming attitude because it's being colonized by adventurers. Upper Michigan, otoh, not so much.
Sure, there's plenty of nice folks because there's nice folks everywhere, but it's not a warm fuzzball of welcoming attitude. Detroit, where I spent the first 6 years of my life, is taking on a much better vibe and welcoming attitude because it's being colonized by adventurers. Upper Michigan, otoh, not so much.
13
Provincial attitudes are world wide!
What can I say. I was born in Greenvile home of Meijer Thrify Acres. I now live in Minnesota the next best midweastern state. My family reunions are centered around the Great Lakes. Ahh
"the only U.S. city with an annual holiday dedicated to looting and fires. "
Not sure if the author is referring to Devil's Night. This is the night before Halloween and until sometime in the late 1970's the occasion was observed by knocking over garbage cans in alleys and soaping up car windows. Then the festivities turned to burning abandoned houses. There was really no looting celebration aspect to it.
Now all the author has to do is blame the fires and looting on suburban Detroiters and he will have solidified his position at the Times.
Not sure if the author is referring to Devil's Night. This is the night before Halloween and until sometime in the late 1970's the occasion was observed by knocking over garbage cans in alleys and soaping up car windows. Then the festivities turned to burning abandoned houses. There was really no looting celebration aspect to it.
Now all the author has to do is blame the fires and looting on suburban Detroiters and he will have solidified his position at the Times.
1
Thank you for the lovely reminiscience about our lovely state. Your piece at once captured the beauty and serenity of summer at Lake Michigan and the sting of unshared memories of what makes it special. May your family experience the beauty of an applause-worthy Lake Michigan sunset together. If not a Petoskey stone then perhaps your wife would be more impressed by a Leland Blue.
5
Having lived in New York City, Los Angeles, Denver, and Chicago, I must say my favorite home is my current one--Ann Arbor, MI. It is beautiful, green, progressive, compact, clean, and, of course, flagship home to one of the world's great public universities, the University of Michigan. In this nightmare neo-fascist era of Trump and the end of American democracy, I'd be fine with building a moat (or a wall) and lowering the drawbridge only on occasion.
36
Go Blue, Lewis!
"It is beautiful, green, progressive, compact, clean,."
It's also overwhelmingly white with less than 8% African-American.
"I'd be fine with building a moat (or a wall) and lowering the drawbridge only on occasion."
No doubt you would.
It's also overwhelmingly white with less than 8% African-American.
"I'd be fine with building a moat (or a wall) and lowering the drawbridge only on occasion."
No doubt you would.
1
Drove through a Michigan snow storm today on my way back to WI, in the often ignored Keweenaw peninsula that doesn't worry about celebrity visits. They could never find it. (The State of MI puts it on the official tourist map at half size with small print.) No one in the Keweenaw took the snow seriously. Most pickups are already void of their plows. Oh, and a resident of the lower peninsula is not called a "flatlander" in the UP. They are trolls, as in "those who live under the bridge." Consult the Dictionary of American Regional English for that one.
6
Thanks for writing such a thoughtful and whimsical view on coming from Michigan. I am 5th generation and also grew up in Leelanau County. I was born in Northport, and then we moved to Suttons Bay. I now live in Traverse City, and am always a little dismayed by folks that just don't get the beauty and charm. I'm like your mom.... hoping too many outsiders don't move in....
7
One day on a warm summer morning i walked out of the front door of our rented cottage and across he road and down the steps and saw for the first time, Lake Michigan smooth as glass. I had never in all of my 13 years of life seen this beautiful expanse of water so calm. I walked back to the cottage, sat down on the toilet and lo and behold a pool of blood had passed from me to the water below. My first period. I was both scared and excited. Since then I have lived all over the states but now in old age, i live only a 45 mile minute drive to the lake. The lake for me represents both the beginning and the end. Calmness. The years between a wonderful turmoil of just living life as it usually is. Like the lake, high, angry, crashing, pounding waves, medium waves that we "surfed" in our inner tubes, the fog horn calling out, and the small waves where we let our babies squeal and toddle about. That lake in spite of having traveled and lived widely, will always be in my soul. It is the substance of my entire life.
3
I'm from Maine. I get it.
If you turn your right palm inwards, the thumb is my state.
I've spent time in Michigan, but not the UP. It's on my bucket list. But I love Detroit and Ann Arbor, happily tolerate Lansing and Grand Rapids. As a wine guy, I love Traverse City and your home peninsula, especially now that a few of the wines are somewhat drinkable.
And no mention of Jim Harrison????? Your state has a true Poet Laureate and it ain't Edgar Guest.
Dan Kravitz
If you turn your right palm inwards, the thumb is my state.
I've spent time in Michigan, but not the UP. It's on my bucket list. But I love Detroit and Ann Arbor, happily tolerate Lansing and Grand Rapids. As a wine guy, I love Traverse City and your home peninsula, especially now that a few of the wines are somewhat drinkable.
And no mention of Jim Harrison????? Your state has a true Poet Laureate and it ain't Edgar Guest.
Dan Kravitz
4
Sixty-eight years after the fact, i still hold up my hand and point out where I was born. It's a Michigan thing.
8
Thanks for the defense of our Great Lake state. You come from a beautiful part, although a little posh for someone like me from the Upper Peninsula. Batali, Bono, Edge, and their friends rarely make it to the U.P. You should know that we Yoopers can also use a hand trick to show where we're from. Here's how we do it. Hold up the palm face of the left hand. Turn the hand to the left to display it lengthwise. The end of the little finger is St. Ignace and the Straits of Mackinaw. The tip of the index finger is Sault Ste Marie. The extended fingers are the great forests of Paul Bunyan country. The thumb (pointing up) is the Keweenaw Peninsula -- the Copper Country. Marquette is at the top, Escanaba on the bottom, and the part that connects to the wrist is the western iron mining districts where I come from. I am also a Michigan expat who spends at least some time each summer enjoying the lakes and streams of home.
8
I lived in Bad Axe, center of the thumb. I tried your trick. Held up the palm face of the left hand. Turned the hand to the left to display it lengthwise. The result was upside-down UP and a wrist sprain. Like New England roadway verbal directions they never get you anywhere.
We DO NOT have a holiday dedicated to looting and fires. It used to have a rash of fires on Devil's Night, the night before Halloween. We have what we call now Angel's Night. Community leaders and volunteers patrol the streets, as do the police, Sheriff's office and State Police. We the people of Detroit said NO and with great outreach it's no worse than any other day of the year. I have lived my whole life in Detroit and I think things are getting better, no matter what people say. I stand with my neighbors to say Not Here, Never Again. Come visit and see.
34
What if I were to tell you of a place where lavender fields bloom, vineyards line winding roads, morel mushrooms wait for you in the woods, cute waterside villages dot the land, and summer festivals abound. Thinking maybe the South of France? Napa Valley? How about if I add towering white sand dunes that spill down into fresh azure water located only a few miles from numerous world-class golf and ski resorts and casinos.
Where is this magical land? Yep, it's Northwest Michigan, a beautiful region that I’ve been lucky enough to visit nearly every summer since I was born. (I don't go near there in the winter.) And yes, I have a Petoskey stone (I found it last year by Little Traverse Bay) that I wear as a pendant, and my husband now demands a Cornish pasty every time we visit up north. Eric Spitznagel, Mario Batali (and the Edge?) know what they're about.
Where is this magical land? Yep, it's Northwest Michigan, a beautiful region that I’ve been lucky enough to visit nearly every summer since I was born. (I don't go near there in the winter.) And yes, I have a Petoskey stone (I found it last year by Little Traverse Bay) that I wear as a pendant, and my husband now demands a Cornish pasty every time we visit up north. Eric Spitznagel, Mario Batali (and the Edge?) know what they're about.
7
The "vineyards lining winding roads" are the stuff of more profiteers. Madonna bought her father a vineyard in northern Michigan, and her brother is oft-reported in the Traverse City newspaper as homeless and miserable. The vineyards are much too much displacing the beautiful and bountiful orchards that were once the "icons" of Michigan - cherries, apples, peaches - and now it's increasingly vineyards and hops for wine and beer and the extolling of the drunken activities combined with an increased speed limit on the wrecked highways and you have trouble, my friends. Orchards and fields that produced the best foods in the world by small family farms and orchardists now produce booze and mansions for the rich.
1
Well, it is one of the few places where people can own the beach. I think you have overly romanticized Michigan. On my last trip I couldn't even walk the beach without homeowners shooing me into the water. I, too, went there as a child. I remember wonderful Inns and blueberry pancakes, yum. But I also rememebr years with no beaches due to errosion and the ale wives. These smelly fish covered beaches there for years. Michigan is okay, but if you live in Chicago you have a pretty nasty industrial drive to get there. Oh, well, it is just hardly a utopia. Go for it Bono.
Have to point out that, on the Great Lakes beaches in Michigan, the beach is in public trust up to the ordinary high water mark and you're free to walk there. It's something like having an easement over someone's property. That doesn't mean that some property owners don't know that or try to insist on a right to exclude that they don't actually have.
3
Depending on where in the "mitten" you reside, it can be painfully beautiful. Whether you're looking out upon its lakes that feel more like oceans or driving through swaths of unspoiled emerald forests to get to them, the state is nothing less than visually stunning. Even magical. Then there's Detroit, both a painful reminder that a chain is only as strong as its weakest link, but also of the fact that it was made weak by rank racism, white flight, and the shameless abandonment of the citizens that must eke out their lives in its ruins. However great Michigan once was or whatever its reputation could be again, the penalty of its original sin, which remains unrepented, will serve as an unshakable albatross about its neck. I wish her well.
7
That collage needs to include a Petoskey stone! ;-)
So, what two places in the northern hemisphere receive the most sunshine in the summer months? Ludington is one.
1
Actually the two cloudiest states in the U.S. are first, Washington state, and second, Michigan.
1
You mean the state that allowed its citizens to drink poisoned water? No thanks.
4
Yes the whole state, everyone here, got together and devised a plan to poison people. That's precisely how it went, the whole state is involved and nothing nice could possibly exist here. I see you're from Maryland, that means the state that allowed the Baltimore riots. You can stay there.
4
Thank you for highlighting Michigan, but I both concur and demur somewhat.
You can indeed make a "hand map" of the U.P., by holding your left hand sideways, palm facing you and your thumb bent outward. You have now depicted the Upper Peninsula, with the knuckle of your thumb representing the Keweenaw Waterway's division of the Keweenaw peninsula.
I would not trade Lake Michigan for any body of water in the world.
Detroit is "in the midst of a resurgence," according to Forbes and as witnessed by those of us who go there regularly.
Tim Allen didn't move to Michigan as an adult; he grew up here from about the age of 11 and to all appearances is "smitten with the mitten." In addition to him, Michigan has been heart and home to many famous and varied people, including Jack White, who is from Detroit and who recently bought a home in Kalamazoo. Kalamazoo, in turn, is home to Bell's Brewery, which brews one of the most popular IPAs in America now, Two Hearted Ale, which happens to share its name with a story by another lover of our beautiful state, Ernest Hemingway.
You can indeed make a "hand map" of the U.P., by holding your left hand sideways, palm facing you and your thumb bent outward. You have now depicted the Upper Peninsula, with the knuckle of your thumb representing the Keweenaw Waterway's division of the Keweenaw peninsula.
I would not trade Lake Michigan for any body of water in the world.
Detroit is "in the midst of a resurgence," according to Forbes and as witnessed by those of us who go there regularly.
Tim Allen didn't move to Michigan as an adult; he grew up here from about the age of 11 and to all appearances is "smitten with the mitten." In addition to him, Michigan has been heart and home to many famous and varied people, including Jack White, who is from Detroit and who recently bought a home in Kalamazoo. Kalamazoo, in turn, is home to Bell's Brewery, which brews one of the most popular IPAs in America now, Two Hearted Ale, which happens to share its name with a story by another lover of our beautiful state, Ernest Hemingway.
5
It's not a reference to the name of a story. The story is in reference to a Michigan river, the Two-Hearted River in the U.P. Hemingway's family, from Oak Park, Illinois, had a summer place at Walloon Lake, Michigan where he spent summers for some 20-plus years as a boy and young man.
The place Jack White bought in Kalamazoo, per Mlive online paper, is not his home but he is going to use it as a studio. It was designed by modernist architect George Nelson whose work White is said to admire.
When it comes to all the new beers, as you say Bells is based in Kalamazoo but is also in Grand Rapids (Comstock Park) like the also very popular Founders Beer and others; Grand Rapids is re-designing itself from Furniture City to Beer City.
The place Jack White bought in Kalamazoo, per Mlive online paper, is not his home but he is going to use it as a studio. It was designed by modernist architect George Nelson whose work White is said to admire.
When it comes to all the new beers, as you say Bells is based in Kalamazoo but is also in Grand Rapids (Comstock Park) like the also very popular Founders Beer and others; Grand Rapids is re-designing itself from Furniture City to Beer City.
Well said, Eric. We Michiganders have a "love / hate" relationship with our reputation in the outside world. On one hand, it clearly keeps away the hordes of developers who have previously destroyed places like Cape Cod, Florida and Southern California. (Spend a few hours in Ft. Meyers or Hyannisport on a busy day...and you'll know what I mean.)
On the other hand, it hurts to think that so many Americans think we are a burned-out wasteland exemplified by (certain sections of) Detroit. Do they know that Michigan has mountains, magnificent national parks / national lakeshores, enormous forests, 11,000 lakes and a thriving independent theater culture? Do they know that the Petoskey area you mention is one of the premier retirement venues in America? Do they know that Michigan has more pleasure boats, islands, golf courses, lighthouses and even engineers per capita than any other state? Do they realize that one-fifth of all the fresh water on EARTH is in the Great Lakes -- in fact more than 90% of America's fresh water? Do they understand that Michigan is the largest state by total area east of the Mississippi?
Nah...they don't. And perhaps that's just as well. It just means more Petoskey Stones and pristine beaches for us. Not such a bad trade after all. ;- )
On the other hand, it hurts to think that so many Americans think we are a burned-out wasteland exemplified by (certain sections of) Detroit. Do they know that Michigan has mountains, magnificent national parks / national lakeshores, enormous forests, 11,000 lakes and a thriving independent theater culture? Do they know that the Petoskey area you mention is one of the premier retirement venues in America? Do they know that Michigan has more pleasure boats, islands, golf courses, lighthouses and even engineers per capita than any other state? Do they realize that one-fifth of all the fresh water on EARTH is in the Great Lakes -- in fact more than 90% of America's fresh water? Do they understand that Michigan is the largest state by total area east of the Mississippi?
Nah...they don't. And perhaps that's just as well. It just means more Petoskey Stones and pristine beaches for us. Not such a bad trade after all. ;- )
9
I love Michigan! I watched my little ones bury each other in sand on a beach near Whitehall, I took my mother on our last summer weekend together to a small resort in Berrien County, and last summer I watched my granddaughters scramble up the big dune at Sleeping Bear. So much to love: cherry pie, biking the Apple Cider Century, the remains of old Tiger Stadium and the Diego Rivera work at Detroit Institute of Art, Motown and Tyree Guyton, and, always the Great Lakes. And somewhere,, if I spend enough time rummaging around, I'll find my old Petoskey stone ring.
6
Take your kid to a Detroit Tiger's game and eat a coney dog. You can not really love this state if you do not embrace the Paris of southeast Michigan.
2
I stopped reading when I got to this cheap shot: "Detroit, the only U.S. city with an annual holiday dedicated to looting and fires." Might as well make my own cheap shot: typical comment from an up-stater. His shot is not only cheap, it's way out of date. But maybe Michigan is frozen in time for him.
25
You must not be from Michigan because that's how pretty much all suburbanites outside of Detroit view Detroit.
Devil's Night hasn't been an issue for some time, although you might argue that every night is Devil's Night here.
Having said that, our statistics for gun crimes pale in comparison to those of Chicago.
Having said that, our statistics for gun crimes pale in comparison to those of Chicago.
1
And they are wrong. Devil's Night hasn't been a thing for quite some time now. Spitznagel should know that or his editor should. It's akin to someone in Michigan thinking that Times Square looks like it did in the seventies.
1
Shhhhh.
Advertise the world-class virtues of the M-22 environs as a vacation destination and tourists will overrun the place.
Let's just keep the crystal clear waters, towering dunes, lonely beaches, wineries, breweries, and [whisper] cideries between us...
Advertise the world-class virtues of the M-22 environs as a vacation destination and tourists will overrun the place.
Let's just keep the crystal clear waters, towering dunes, lonely beaches, wineries, breweries, and [whisper] cideries between us...
5
I gave my son's future inlaws,on our first meeting, Petoskey stones and a book explaining the phenomenon. Carried them to California. They were genuinely thrilled.
1
I remember when the sculptor Claes Oldenberg, commissioned to do a piece for the state capitol in Lansing, noted the persistent references to hand-based geography, where Lansing is at the center of the palm. The resulting sculpture was a pun, Mitt-chigan, a giant wooden baseball mitt with Lansing as the ball. The city fathers were NOT amused, and refused the piece.
1
While I would never put down the attractions of the Lower Peninsula, the real beauty of the state is across the bridge and in the Upper Peninsula. Winter, summer, spring or fall, the UP has it all.
3
Growing up in northern Michigan, I can totally relate to what he says about Petoskey stones. I love them. When I show them to my friends in New Jersey, they're like, "oh yeah, nice rock" not realizing how many years it took to make that "rock." My father grew up in Leelanau County and I think it's the most beautiful place on earth.
2
"Detroit, then and now"
www.efn.org/~hkrieger/detroit.htm
www.efn.org/~hkrieger/detroit.htm
2
Fond memories of a rental cabin in Good Hart, hunting Petosky stones with my kids and the history of the crooked tree.
Nice piece, but the Devils' Night reference is pretty tired. And dated. http://www.mlive.com/news/detroit/index.ssf/2016/11/detroit_mayor_days_o...
5
"Despair-inducing" indeed. It's really great how natives talk up their state while living in more desirable places. I shouldn't have listened.
1
I was born in Michigan, raised in Michigan, and spent the first two decades of my life almost entirely in Michigan. As someone who will be relocating out of the state within the year, Spitznagel really hits the nail on the head here. There is nowhere else like Michigan, incredibly diverse and thoroughly beautiful. If you haven't been there, you just don't get it. And honestly? That's fine with us Michiganders. Thank you for this lovely tribute to a vastly underrated state!
5
I live in leelanau county and believe it is one the most beautiful places on earth. We treasure our Petoskey stone finds and don't want the Edge or any more 1%ers here. The Cancer Center of America's founder is building a 25,000 sq ft house on lake leelanau - gross. No more McMansion people necessary or wanted. Please visit but be nice.
6
You are spot on. Michigan is a very special place and we don't mind that most of the country doesn't know --'cause it keeps the crowds down1
3
Totally Agree Michigan is fantastic, but gotta say ... the Upper Peninsula is totally represented by hand cartography too ... just hold your left hand sideways, fingers pointed to your right with thumb on top. Now crook up that thumb to make it look like the Keweenaw, and you're good to go. With all the maps in the world totally forgetting the UP, we gotta make sure we give a show of hands. Otherwise, you can't put copper, iron, greenstone, (proper) pasties, and the solace of boreal silence on the list of needed items that Michigan provides :)
3
Eric, I get it. I now live in St. Paul, but born and raised in Ann Arbor and we went to a town just north of Traverse City every summer. The rolling hills, the miles of cherry trees, the first glimpse of Lake Michigan, the farm stands, the wonderful lake water,and the hunt for petosky stones. I have spent hundreds of happy hours searching for those stones. I did get my non-Michigan husband into the hunt too, until he beat me for all time by finding one the size of a small boulder. Which he proudly polished and which lives in our Minnesota home now. That area is a gorgeous part of the country.
6
Most people in Michigan live in the metro Detroit area, so beaches and Petoskey stones and small-town living aren't exactly something the majority of us Michiganders identify with, either. I went to Northern Michigan for the first time last summer -- it's a completely different world. I have way more in common with Chicagoans than people from Leelanau.
I have been around a bit both geographically and in age so when I say I was impressed by upper Michigan, I say it sincerely. Of course there is Mackinaw/Mackinac and the island associated with that name but it is very touristy unless you visit during the shoulder season. And there is, in fact, a Petoskey which is a little city far more cosmopolitan than its name would imply. But I especially liked the town of Harbor Springs with its gracious older homes on Lake Michigan.
2
I recall vividly the triumphant joy of finding a Petoskey stone as a child. I grew up visiting the shores of Michigan (from the inland city of Grand Rapids), and there was always some treasure we would hunt. I also recall searching for pieces of "sea glass" (not a naturally occurring stone, I know). We spent part of our summers in Escanaba, staying at kitchy motels on the northern shores of Lake Michigan. There, we would scour the beaches for interesting pieces of driftwood, the bark smoothed by years of tumbling around in the waves. As a Michigan native, I have a love for the shores of the Great Lakes that surpasses my appreciation for the coastal ocean beaches. These lakes are worth protecting.
3
Very nice piece. Rural Michigan is definitely a little-known gem. Had the pleasure of visiting Ludington last summer and taking the steam-powered car ferry across Lake Michigan to Wisconsin, and would recommend both the area and the boat trip.
6
Thank you for sparking warm thoughts of my home state. Although I now live in New Mexico and have for 35 years, I relish my return visits to my home state and all that it has to offer, minus (and this is a big minus) Detroit, a place whose demise I lay at the feet of the corporations that became wealthy there, and so ignominiously economically gutted and pilfered. I will say though, on a recent visit, I was pleased to see the new zest of entrepreneurship revitalizing the city core. Long live Michigan and the terrific people who live there!
2
How many of the people writing here of their love for Michigan are writing from some place else, a place they've lived for decades? It seems that most are waxing nostalgic about Michigan. I do not mean that as criticism, only observation and I wonder why it is that a place that seems to evoke such love seems to do so from afar and in retrospect. I suspect it's because many people only know it as the summer vacation place of their childhoods and that evokes nostalgia. For those who live there and fight for its protection and improvements, it is more of a "tough love in the here and now" kind of romance.
I had to laugh the other day when BuzzFeed published a listicle about "what all people from the Midwest know to be true". I read it and of course understood all of the references (my personal favorite always being the word 'pop'), but when I scrolled down to the comments section I was surprised by how many self-professed Midwesterner's had absolutely no idea what the author was talking about. And I realized right away that, of course, she was from Michigan. We exemplify so many of the characteristics of the Midwest and yet also seem to defy just as many.
I assumed that to an outsider Michigan would likely be associated with Detroit and the various issues that have resulted from the decline of manufacturing, but I'm pretty disheartened to hear that the Flint Water Crisis is apparently also part of the general perception of our state. It's the same story every time - a Republican administration makes a decision in the name of 'cost-cutting' and the poor and underprivileged are the ones who have to bear the cross. This isn't unique to Michigan and I really hope that an outsider won't treat it as such.
All of that being said, come visit us! The coastline of the northwestern Lower Peninsula rivals ANY scenery you can find in the continental U.S. Just Google "michigan tunnel of trees" :)
I assumed that to an outsider Michigan would likely be associated with Detroit and the various issues that have resulted from the decline of manufacturing, but I'm pretty disheartened to hear that the Flint Water Crisis is apparently also part of the general perception of our state. It's the same story every time - a Republican administration makes a decision in the name of 'cost-cutting' and the poor and underprivileged are the ones who have to bear the cross. This isn't unique to Michigan and I really hope that an outsider won't treat it as such.
All of that being said, come visit us! The coastline of the northwestern Lower Peninsula rivals ANY scenery you can find in the continental U.S. Just Google "michigan tunnel of trees" :)
3
I am an adopted Michigander, having grown up in Chicagoland. I can, and do, point to places in Illinois on my hand, but I only started doing that after moving to Michigan. Recently, I bought a rock tumbler so I can polish Petoskey stones. In addition to the Great Lakes, we have thousands of small lakes, plus rivers, and trees. Michigan is truly a beautiful state and has lots of interesting history and culture. Every place has its problems and Michigan is no exception but I am so happy to be living here.
As perhaps one of the the rare fellow midwesterners to get "it" (and a former west coaster to boot), I must admit that Michigan is an absolute hidden gem of a place. The beaches are world class and the geography and topography otherworldly. Every time that the NYT publishes one of these articles I fear that my next camping trip there will be blighted by crowds. Thankfully, that hasn't happened yet.
7
The UP in MI is another place, an alternate unviverse. Enchanting, other worldly, but virtually unknown, even to most Michigan people. Its known for 300 inches of snow and Lake Superior blizzards, a place for adventure types. Wild sea kayaking, powder skiing, that sort. And old copper mines.
5
I absolutely love the U.P. It has a romantic "lost in time" aspect to it that is unique. Some have mentioned seeing the Aurora Borealis but I don't think anyone has mentioned the rare joy of a night sky where the absence of light pollution from streetlights and such allows one to see the night sky almost like being on a ship out at sea. We all love Lake Michigan, but ohmygoodness, Lake Superior is joy to my mind, even just in imagining it. What a GREAT lake!
1
Sitting here, drinking my coffee, watching the glow of the rising sun hit the lake and Sleeping Bear point. For forty years I have pinched myself every morning, wondering how I could be so lucky as to have this view and live in this most glorious spot. The sun will rise over the peninsula and set somewhere between the dunes and South Manitou Island, announcing the change of seasons as it traverses back and forth between the two. There aren't words to describe the restorative powers of this place in Michigan.
4
There's a really good Public TV Series on Michigan Travel called Michigan UTR (Under the Radar). I discovered it via my Roku here in NJ. It's been so interesting that we're actually planning a trip there for this summer or next.
3
Come and dine in the city of Detroit you will see a city on the ascent. We still have issues like other cities but our rate of growth and change rivals any city. If you want the city life at a price point you can afford come to Detroit. We still have to work through our issues with race and poverty but the difference between Detroit and other cities is we want to deal with and know it's the only way we can grow.
5
I drive a road in Michigan nearly every day that resembles "post-World War II Dresden," but I wouldn't trade it for all the Petoskeys in the state. This article is a well-written treasure- - the humor, the heart. I'm a transplant to Michigan, but have lived within a dozen of so miles of the shore of the Greatest Lake in the world for my entire life, and each day, each season, I love Michigan more completely. Would not consider living anywhere else.
Took my two sons back to climb up the Great Bear Sand Dunes and sent one back for a summer at Circle Pines center. The tulips of Holland and the manufacturer of Eames chairs along with a president who kept the peace. I have fond memories of Devils Night, Hudsons and Tiger stadium. I often tell friends that my hometown is capital of the world which it conquered with automobiles and mass production. We at least kept our communist murals and the DIA survived. I have very patient friends out side of the pleasant Peninsula. Go Tigers.
At one time, Michigan was arguably the most prosperous and self-sufficient state in the country. The collapse of the auto industry hit its economy very hard, but its beauty remains. Stunning beauty, and a sensibility in some ways more northeastern than midwestern, enriched by its history of international commerce and its great universities and cultural institutions. Detroit has been a rich and glorious city, and despite its travails, has again become an exciting place.
This appearance of this article in the NYT evokes mixed feelings for me. I am happy that this great state will be recognized by more people but not too many more, please. Like the North Fork.
This appearance of this article in the NYT evokes mixed feelings for me. I am happy that this great state will be recognized by more people but not too many more, please. Like the North Fork.
7
How I loved and admired Michigan, growing up in Ohio. I thought of it as our more beautiful, more progressive, smarter neighbor to the north. Now I live in Michigan, and after a few decades of deindustrialization and terrible public policy, I see that we are poorer and less educated than most other states, putting our natural beauty at risk, and willing to sacrifice the health of our most vulnerable citizens to save money. I miss the Michigan I idealized as a child and wish that we could somehow get it back.
35
Me too!
1
What an amateur! Your left hand held horizontally, thumb down, with the pinkie half-extended is the Upper Peninsula. Your right hand held vertically, thumb to the right, is the Lower.
I grew up in Lansing and have had similar experiences taking non Michiganders to various splendid beaches on Lake Michigan and Lake Superior (and still do though I now also live in Illinois). Astoundingly I'm now two hours closer to Copper Harbor than I was in Lansing.
Fortunately nobody's told Californians that it's suddenly fashionable to be there (I keep waiting for the axe to fall), because then, like everywhere from Portland to Vancouver, nobody could afford it within the week and the locals would be run out of town for being too Midwestern.
I grew up in Lansing and have had similar experiences taking non Michiganders to various splendid beaches on Lake Michigan and Lake Superior (and still do though I now also live in Illinois). Astoundingly I'm now two hours closer to Copper Harbor than I was in Lansing.
Fortunately nobody's told Californians that it's suddenly fashionable to be there (I keep waiting for the axe to fall), because then, like everywhere from Portland to Vancouver, nobody could afford it within the week and the locals would be run out of town for being too Midwestern.
1
I would propose you are have it a bit off in the state hand depiction. The left hand is held palm up with your thumb extended (Keweenaw) and your index and middle finger are straight, then fold the next two finger towards your palm. Move your right hand (also palm up) near the first knuckle of your index finger (enough to fit a virtual Mackinac) You now have a solid representation of the State.
I'm jealous on the travel time to the Keweenaw. Its a quicker drive to Upstate New York or West Virginia than Cooper Harbor from SE MI.
I'm jealous on the travel time to the Keweenaw. Its a quicker drive to Upstate New York or West Virginia than Cooper Harbor from SE MI.
1
Amen! We went back every summer we lived on the East Coast and were fortunate to settle into the summer paradise of "up north" Michigan a few years ago. The state is blessed with great beauty and people, despite the well-known problems.
The sentence in this article: "I don't live in Michigan anymore..." is self-evident.
"...hollowed-out auto industry..."?
Production, employment, sales are all either at or near record levels.
The reference to Devil's Night? Arson on that night is now nearly statistically indistinguishable from the rest of the year.
There was no need in this letter to denigrate Detroit.
"...hollowed-out auto industry..."?
Production, employment, sales are all either at or near record levels.
The reference to Devil's Night? Arson on that night is now nearly statistically indistinguishable from the rest of the year.
There was no need in this letter to denigrate Detroit.
Yes and yes to this. I too, sometimes worry about outsiders mobbing our state and buying up all the real estate.
I have a Petoskey stone paper towel holder, it is monstrous, a gift I had given to my father which came back to me after he died. Bought of course at a Michigan art fair. And let us not forget eating Petoskey stone candy!
I have a Petoskey stone paper towel holder, it is monstrous, a gift I had given to my father which came back to me after he died. Bought of course at a Michigan art fair. And let us not forget eating Petoskey stone candy!
1
I grew up in Michigan, live in Indiana now, and really related to the overall sentiment of my great home state seeping through the story. Thank you.
2
Eloquent description. Captures the childhood heart for their home state.
1
Thanks, Eric. Nice homage to my home state. After several decades in my sewing basket, my Petosky stone is now somewhere in my natural rock fountain here in the Southwest. The birds knocked it off the the top level, where it was so pretty in the water flow. I'm sure this unusual fossil will confuse some archeologist far in the future!
Lovely article. All of it true. And Nugent wouldn't be allowed in the state if I and my friends had anything to do with it.
9
Michigander, born and bread. What a great place! The various parts of the state are so different that you might never know you were bound by one border if you didn't know better. I moved away from home when I was 17 and a few years ago was musing about moving back to help my ailing father. A friend uttered one incredulous remark: "Why?!" I guess some people just don't get Michigan...but that's ok....leaves more open spaces and amazing places for the rest of us.
2
As one born and raised in Detroit, but having left Michigan for a career in California in 1973, I have many fond memories of my days spent at Higgins Lake, Mackinac Island, and playing pond hockey on a crisp, blue sky winter day. I return often to visit family and friends, and always enjoy my time there. I tell my California friends to go visit, that it's a beautiful State with much to see. Maybe no High Sierra, but the Porcupine Mountains or Brockway Mountain Drive deserve some attention. And the Great Lakes - truly great.
3
As a lifetime Michigander I do not feel this same level of naivety. While I recognize and appreciate the natural wonders the state offers I completely understand why people feel it is despair-inducing, because I often feel that way myself. This article presents a different, maybe more realistic picture of the state of affairs in Michigan: http://www.detroitnews.com/story/business/columnists/daniel-howes/2017/0...
We relocated to MI from Boston a few years ago and have since met many a loyal Michigander. We had culture shock - the lack of snow plowing, the less-direct communication style, the dysfunctional state government and the sorry state of the public schools. But there are perks. Lake Superior is truly unbelievable. Our house cost less than our 1-bedroom Boston condo. Almost everyone seems to have a lake cottage somewhere. And going to the grocery store is no longer a fraught, only-the-strong-survive exercise. We aren't sold on the place yet but it's already feeling hard to imagine living in a coastal city again.
1
As a relatively new Michigander (3 years moved from NYC ) I get questioned all the time by NY friends and relatives as to why I moved here. My response: "Actually, I didn't intend to move. I was looking for parking in Brooklyn and this is the closest I found."
That keeps them quiet for a while.
That keeps them quiet for a while.
7
Thank you for this lovely note about our wonderful wonderland!!
Sometimes we do get a bad rap, but there is nothing like living in a state where you can be within 2- 3 hrs from any shore of one (or more) of the Great Lakes.
Let's hope that Congressional reps and Senators from any of the 8 states that touch upon one of the Great Lakes realizes that we need the millions that are in the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative to remain in the budget. It's currently all been cut.
Let's hope that Congressional reps and Senators from any of the 8 states that touch upon one of the Great Lakes realizes that we need the millions that are in the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative to remain in the budget. It's currently all been cut.
8
My Alma Mater is MSU in East Lansing. As a poor foreign student in the 70s, I had a scholarship from my country Brazil to do a Ph.D. in natural resource economics.
I have wonderful memories from my time in Michigan. I was treated with respect and kindness by the hard-working and good-humored people of the Great Lake State. Of course, the only downside is the Artic-type winter.
Michigan lives in my heart after almost three decades in DC and Buenos Aires working for the Inter-American Development Bank. Go Spartans!
I have wonderful memories from my time in Michigan. I was treated with respect and kindness by the hard-working and good-humored people of the Great Lake State. Of course, the only downside is the Artic-type winter.
Michigan lives in my heart after almost three decades in DC and Buenos Aires working for the Inter-American Development Bank. Go Spartans!
6
We grew up in Northern Michigan during the seventies. My favorite memories are of total freedom to be a kid and learning almost every winter sport. When winter lasts about seven months you adapt or you're home bound. We saw the Aurora Borealis, winter storms on Lake Superior, endless lakes and rivers, forests and wildlife. I agree with the author that it seemed like everything was there. Ethnic food; Authentic Italian, Finnish, German, Welsh (pasties=meat/potato pies) and Native American stews. We went to concerts, lectures, and museums and spent a ton of time at the library. When we finally left paradise for slightly better weather - we were asked if we had running water and flush toilets. My siblings and I would look at these folks with scorn - if they only knew how great it was and hopefully still is.
2
As a former "Michigander" as well, we still regularly return to Leelanau and try to make the annual Northport Dog Parade whenever possible. It remains amazing to me how unspoilt and unknown this part of the world remains. Mario Balti has been quoted (in this newspaper I believe) as finding the commute from Manhattan to Leelanau quicker and more relaxing than attempting to drive to the Hamptons on a Friday afternoon. It remains accessible and affordable. Out of reach for most day-trippers and with relatively few places to stay, you can quickly feel like a local.
Oh, I so get this. My family had a house on Grand Traverse Bay for over 50 years. When we were young, my mom used to send us out to the beach to find a Petoskey stone before dinner. She led us to believe that it was to "pay" for our dinner, but I later realized it was a way for the grown-ups to have a quiet cocktail hour without pesky children around. I still have a big jar full of the stones in my office, stored in distilled water so they look polished. And I have one in necklace, that I wear layered with my family heirloom diamond pendant, even though people ask me why I have a rock on a chain.
I've been on bicycle tours all over the world. Although I'm too old and weak to bike -- especially after being hit by cars right in my own neighborhood -- I'll always remember biking the Michigan coast, one of the most beautiful anywhere, with Great Lakes, unbelievably huge Dunes and Mackinac Island where vehicles other than bikes are banned. And above all, the most hospitable and friendly people in the US. Imagine cars stopping for cyclists and asking if they need help -- instead of cursing and trying to hit us.
5
This misses one of the greatest pleasures of Michigan.. Sailing the Great Lakes. from a Michigan novel I am finishing. Mackinac Island. "He remembered the island from long ago when his family had vacationed there. This Island between the lakes -- Lake Huron, Lake Michigan, and farther north, Superior. It was fitting that so much history came together at this freshwater junction which defined Michigan, just as Michigan defined his own small history.
The past was heavy and full at this intersection of lake and land where Indian canoes had traversed, where French, English, and Americans had all spent lives, or portions of lives... For adventure, for beauty, for profit, for trade, for control of a waterway that might lead to or be the Northwest passage. That mythic watery path to the Pacific, which calls throughout our nations early history, a ‘manifest destiny’, years before Mr. Greeley…it and the beaver trade were the reasons for the island fort, which rising from the bluffs above him, sat, like Gibraltar, in command of the surrounding freshwater sea.
The past was heavy and full at this intersection of lake and land where Indian canoes had traversed, where French, English, and Americans had all spent lives, or portions of lives... For adventure, for beauty, for profit, for trade, for control of a waterway that might lead to or be the Northwest passage. That mythic watery path to the Pacific, which calls throughout our nations early history, a ‘manifest destiny’, years before Mr. Greeley…it and the beaver trade were the reasons for the island fort, which rising from the bluffs above him, sat, like Gibraltar, in command of the surrounding freshwater sea.
That goodness Ted Nugent doesn't live here anymore. Now if we could just get rid of the whole DeVos clan....and get enough of an infrastructure and culture to
lure 20 somethings to live here. But with the CRC deeply embedded in west michigan, medical marijuana on the hit list from the the ALL republican government except Ann Arbor (where no one can actually afford to live) and young people fleeing the state, (something like 50% of college graduates leave-mostly to Chicago) and third world roads, we are a state of old white people. With a lot of beer pubs. That whole Gold Coast area where the author is from has gotten way to expensive to live in anymore. People who work in Petoskey or Harbor Springs can't actually live where they work anymore. And don't even get me started on gerrymandering, When my husband retires, we are out of here.
lure 20 somethings to live here. But with the CRC deeply embedded in west michigan, medical marijuana on the hit list from the the ALL republican government except Ann Arbor (where no one can actually afford to live) and young people fleeing the state, (something like 50% of college graduates leave-mostly to Chicago) and third world roads, we are a state of old white people. With a lot of beer pubs. That whole Gold Coast area where the author is from has gotten way to expensive to live in anymore. People who work in Petoskey or Harbor Springs can't actually live where they work anymore. And don't even get me started on gerrymandering, When my husband retires, we are out of here.
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As another Michigander who moved out of the state to pursue a career I am constantly reminded of how I miss it and at how much it haunts my subconscious. My high school cross-country team ran up and down the sand dunes of Ludington and I solo camped across Grand Isle (where my food fell from a bear pole one windy night, leading to my bean cans to exploding and an unintended two-day fast). In college, my friends and I camped at Bluegrass festivals and learned how to contra, swing, and line dance in beautiful wooden dance halls deep in the forest. My friends worked on Mackinaw Island during the summers and they formed a strange bohemian community that was fun to visit. My most centered and meditative days were on camping trips on islands in Lake Superior. Now I am in Arizona and I have a hard time explaining what it was like to grow up in Michigan; they can’t get over the snow part. I am thankful for my childhood there.
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I can relate to this one. I moved out to California for my career a little over a year ago. While I do love my new home, nothing compares to a Michigan summer or a Michigan fall for that matter. I have such a difficult time explaining the charm to people out here for the exact reason you stated: they can't get past the thought of snow. It's either that or they think of it as a "no-man's land" with nothing to do there. This also leads into a whole new discussion of trying to explain to others around here why I loved our lakes more than the ocean. I now graciously live within a five minute walk from the sea, but the Great Lakes (and our many inlands ones) will forever have my heart.
Thank you for your comment about my home state. I miss the deep blue of Lake Superior, the tall pines, and the deep outdoor woodsy smell. If it just wasn't so cold...
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As a life-long Michigander, I could not agree more. Thanks for the article!
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From Indiana, interning in Michigan this summer and was a summer camp counselor last summer. I really like Michigan and loved reading this :)
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Mr. Spitznagel put words to my mitten-covered heart. The 'Big Apple' is nice and crunchy but nothing tops the sweet cherries of Northern Michigan!
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Thanks for a lovely reminder of what makes Michigan home.
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I know what it's like to yearn for a place you once were so eager to leave. This touched me - thank you.
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Read the article from Eric S on living in and being from Michigan. I too am a proud, transplanted Michigander who misses all the beauty of my home state. It was nice to read an NYT article that was not filled with left wing propaganda, and just focused on a slice of life that many can relate with.
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I moved here in 88 and never expected to fall in love with Michigan. I love this state and it is truly home.
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Absolutely - right on!!!
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Michigan childhood memories: three day driving trip from Detroit all the way to the UP (upper pennisula) passing through taquanemon falls and Houghton to catch the 6 hour ferry to the state's only National Park-- Isle Royale, in the middle of Lake Superior. no cars but endless moose wolves fishing boating and scenic hiking. Pure Michigan !
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Nailed it. Thank you for writing this. Inexplicable but true.
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As a native Michigander, I appreciate the author's desire to bring the Mitten we know and love to the attention of those beyond our borders. I wish, however, he didn't so cavalierly dismiss one of the greatest parts of our state. To write Detroit off as a "fault" known best for Devil's Night (which, by the way, peaked in the 80s and has steadily declined ever since) does an incredible disservice to the city and, by extension, the state.
We all understand and acknowledge the incredible struggles the city has faced. We see the abandoned buildings and vacant lots. But we also see an incredible culture of resiliency, creativity and homegrown pride. We embrace the grittiness, because it makes us real. The chip on our shoulder, combined with a people who have always loved (and frequently excelled at) food, music, and creating, make it, quite frankly, one of the most exciting places to be. We love our city, warts and all, and we're certainly not the only ones. Just ask the people flooding in from LA, New York, Silicon Valley, and more.
Also, no one says "Flatlander." Our friends up north refer to us as trolls (since we live "under" the Mackinac Bridge and all). Oh, and Tim Allen grew up here.
We all understand and acknowledge the incredible struggles the city has faced. We see the abandoned buildings and vacant lots. But we also see an incredible culture of resiliency, creativity and homegrown pride. We embrace the grittiness, because it makes us real. The chip on our shoulder, combined with a people who have always loved (and frequently excelled at) food, music, and creating, make it, quite frankly, one of the most exciting places to be. We love our city, warts and all, and we're certainly not the only ones. Just ask the people flooding in from LA, New York, Silicon Valley, and more.
Also, no one says "Flatlander." Our friends up north refer to us as trolls (since we live "under" the Mackinac Bridge and all). Oh, and Tim Allen grew up here.
Correction - Tim Allen actually moved to Birmingham, MI with his Mom when he was 11. I would actually consider him to be a native of our great state. He also studied at CMU and WMU. His love for MI came long before he was famous.
This is pretty condescending to SE Michigan. Detroit's not all bad, and a large part of the north's economy is dependent on tourism from geographically lower parts of the state. That said, Northern Michigan is gorgeous, I just wish this piece didn't turn its nose up at Detroit. I've lived near Detroit and I've lived near Traverse City. Different regions of Michigan are beautiful for different reasons.
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