Any less populated areas left in SE Michigan???

[snoopygirlmi]

Compared to a lot of places in the Metro area - yes, they are rural.

After you get out of downtown Northville and off Haggerty, it's pretty rural. There are plenty of farms and parks in the area. Maybury State Park comes to mind.

South Lyon, the main drag where all the shopping is only about 2 miles long.

My standard is that you have to drive to Brighton, Wixom, or Ann Arbor to get to Meijer or Target. Novi or Ann Arbor for Mall shopping. Lyon Township has a few big box stores up by 96, but for the most part, it's country. It's really not built up - at all. The main drag in South Lyon includes a John Deere supply shop and mostly mom and pop shops. John Deere stores only set up where there's a market.

Culturally, it's rural. (The gun magazine "Recoil" is proudly presented along with the Cosmo, People and TV Guide at the front by the cash registers of one of the local grocery stores)

Milford, once you get out of the downtown area, it's rural. It's actually quite surprising to me how rural northern Ann Arbor is because people tend to think of Ann Arbor as U of M and/or the downtown area.

Also, it's been a long time since I've seen a lot of horse farms (or farms) in one area. Not since I lived in Eastern Kalamazoo County when I was a kid, so I know what country looks like.

Granted, it's not Alaska - where you might have to fly a plane from Anchorage or Fairbanks to get to your destination - (because there aren't roads to get directly there) rural, but compared to most of Detroit Metro, it's very rural. My son loves it when he sees the big tractors out on the roads. Nope, don't recall seeing tractors when we lived in SCS or Sterling Heights or Royal Oak.

A lot of four way lights and stop signs - not enough traffic for 'real traffic lights'. A lot of two lane roads and major roads being a mixture of paved and dirt. I like to pretend that I still live in the city, but it's really hard to keep pretending when my TV antenna doesn't get the basic stations that I could get in Canton, even PBS (which is just up the road on Grand River) is a challenge some days. (We gave up our cable awhile ago.)

It is what it is.

[Cliffie]

Enormous sections of downtown Detroit are returning to forest -- literally -- with deer and raccoons roaming the streets. Prices are never going to be lower. For the cost of one of those high-end suburban Oakland County properties you can buy 20 vacant lots, raze or upgrade the houses on them, plant trees or maybe crops, and have your own little fiefdom.

[brodie734]

there are a number of horse farms in far western Plymouth, off of M-14.

Ann Arbor really is a land of contrasts... the downtown/U-M core that we all know, the residential areas south and east of it that more or less resemble anywhere in Metro Detroit, the northern and western rural areas. It's barely a cohesive city.

[MS313]

Originally Posted by Cliffie

Enormous sections of downtown Detroit are returning to forest -- literally -- with deer and raccoons roaming the streets. Prices are never going to be lower. For the cost of one of those high-end suburban Oakland County properties you can buy 20 vacant lots, raze or upgrade the houses on them, plant trees or maybe crops, and have your own little fiefdom.

Lol what are you talking about? did you just say downtown Detroit is rural? The most urban part of the state?

[313 TUxedo]

Originally Posted by snoopygirlmi

<snip>
I like to pretend that I still live in the city, but it's really hard to keep pretending when my TV antenna doesn't get the basic stations that I could get in Canton, even PBS (which is just up the road on Grand River) is a challenge some days. (We gave up our cable awhile ago.)

It is what it is.

Detroit Public TV/WTVS/56/PBS has their office and studio in Wixom, but their digital OTA TV signal (which, BTW, actually is sent out over channel 43) is transmitted from Oak Park.

I don't know where you are, but you should be able to get WTVS as far out as Howell with a modest outdoor antenna (indoor antennas, at any distance, are a gamble as far as digital TV is concerned. In a living room, the issue is multipath, not distance).

Feel free to PM me if you have any questions.