Is Michigan and Detroit really that bad? (Allen Park, Caro: 2010, credit card)

[Coldjensens]

Originally Posted by gwinn_raptor

Bluefly: great post. Sorry i had seemed so harsh in my post. I was born and raised in Michigan. I just dont care for all the things you listed there.

Listening to poetry, symphony orchestra, theatre performances arent my cup of tea.

I am more of an outdoors sunny weather type of guy. My wife and I love four wheeling and riding sand dunes (which is why we want to go southwest, california has 165,000 acres of dunes open to atv's, arizona has 65,000 acres of designated dune/sand riding area, and michigan has 5,000 acres of dunes). We also love swimming, walking, and bike riding. Those are our top things to do for rec activities.

Thats my reason for wanting to leave, i feel like i wait around during winter to go like heck in spring and summer. I feel like i am missing out on half of my life...(ie: winter months) We aren't skiers or snowboarders. We like snowmobiling but its so expensive we cannot afford it anymore.

I thought i would extend my posting so i didn't come across as such a "basher" or "hater". That wasn't my reason for posting at all.

Get out get out get out. Go now. You cannot live like that. What do you do for a living? I lived in CA for 18 years. It is unlikely, but possible that I know someone in your field who can help you find a job.

You will have to reduce your standard of living (very expensive there) and get used to sitting in traffic, but you will love the weather and the palm trees (at least at first). Although you will undoubtedly have a much smaller house and yard, you will spend more time outdoors. OUr hose had a tiny dining room and kitchen so we ate outside as often as not.

The area where you can ride on the beach (forget the name for some reason. We camped there a few times), is not near any population centers. However it is really neat. Not the large Dunes like we have here, but still really cool. I think that you can drive in the surf too, but many that is prohibited. I enjoyed the MIchigan dunes more, but then maybe that is becuase of the people that I was with at each place.

The best weather is in San Diego. North LA county would be the closest to the dunes for you. You could liv ein the INalnd empire and be close to teh desert, a lot of people ride in the sand out there (ever seen a sand rail race?) The problem withthe inland empire is that it gets really super hot (110 +) and smoggy in the summer. However it is more affordable.


Swimming is pretty much in pools unless you are an extremely strong swimmer and can swim in the ocean out past the surf (my wife used to do that, sometimes dolphins swam with her. I am not a good enough swimmer for that). The lakes and rivers are pretty much sand and gravel or concrete. No swimming there.

Loads of bike riding opportunities. I used to ride my bike to work. Really good mountain biking opportunities too.

I really do nto know much about Arizona otehr than it is really hot and lots of old people live there. But I know Southern California pretty well, so if that is where you are plannign to go, I may be able to help some.

I know how awful it is to live somewhere that you feel like you are losing half your life. I grew up in Michigan and felt the way you do. Moved to California for 18 years and then moved back. Now I love it here, but then I could not wait to leave.

After a while the appeal waned for me and I like it as well here now as there, maybe better, but for a time, it was marvelous. The absolute number one best part - not the weather, not the moutains or beaches or desert, not the crowds, - - - NO MOSQUITOES (or at least not enough of them to notice).

[gwinn_raptor]

I also get depression very bad in the winter months. So bad the past couple years that it has lasted quite far into the summer months.

More and more recently i have noticed that i am a different person when the sun is shining outside. The doctor also says that the saratonin (sp?) in the brain is triggered and released by sunlight......something along these lines. I am very happy when I am outside doing things and when the sun is shining.

I understand i will have to reduce my standard of living a bit for a while to get adjusted to the cost of living difference. The thought of it being "too hot" to go outside in June & July is still better than the though of sitting inside my house freezing to death from October until May. I know there are positives to both sides, but quality of life seems much better in a warm, sunny environment.

coldjensens: what are mosquitoes? Are those the things that are the size of chickadees up here that come out at dark and suck blood? hahaha. Definitely wouldn't hurt me if i never saw a mosquito again!

[YAZ]

I'm happy wherever I am. I love Michigan. I love Arizona too. I'm torn.

Winter in AZ is like paradise, but I loved it in Michigan when we had the REALLY heavy snow.

Yeah, it gets hot here but I can get away with wearing shorts year 'round. But there's nuthin' like a beautiful summer day in Michigan.

I could go on and on.....

[gwinn_raptor]

where u from YAZ?

[YAZ]

Originally Posted by gwinn_raptor

where u from YAZ?

Born in the Soo, lived in Rudyard 'til I was sixteen.

Moved to Brighton, MI in 1981.

Moved to Phoenix, AZ in 2004.

[michigan83]

I am more of an outdoors sunny weather type of guy. My wife and I love four wheeling and riding sand dunes (which is why we want to go southwest, california has 165,000 acres of dunes open to atv's, arizona has 65,000 acres of designated dune/sand riding area, and michigan has 5,000 acres of dunes). We also love swimming, walking, and bike riding. Those are our top things to do for rec activities.

Hey, now... don't talk about Michigan's "only 5,000 acres of dunes" as if it's a negative. Silver Lake is the only place east of the Mississippi of its kind. Those dunes are awesome. And I don't care how big the dunes are in Arizona and California... they aren't as beautiful. Nothing like driving right down to Lake Michigan, or the view of the Lake from the top of test hill.

You make it sound like Michigan is the worst place for a dune junky, when it's probably one of the top 3 or 4 in the U.S. And no place is quite like Silver Lake.

[Bluefly]

I remember being surprised when my friends from east or west coastal states would take me to the dunes near their respective homes.

My first reaction would always be like, "Oh. Ours are much bigger in Michigan". I was surprised because common sense would suggest everything is bigger on the ocean, but boy do I love the Lake Michigan dunes.

[gwinn_raptor]

don't take it wrong michigan83. I love silver lake dunes also, make the trek down there every summer.
It pretty much is the only place in the midwest with sand dunes if i am correct......don't think I am hating!

Have you ever rode Glamis sand dunes? Imperial dunes? Gordons well? Glamis is the Mecca of ATV Duners.

[jmlowman]

Originally Posted by gwinn_raptor

I also get depression very bad in the winter months. So bad the past couple years that it has lasted quite far into the summer months.

More and more recently i have noticed that i am a different person when the sun is shining outside. The doctor also says that the saratonin (sp?) in the brain is triggered and released by sunlight......something along these lines. I am very happy when I am outside doing things and when the sun is shining.

I understand i will have to reduce my standard of living a bit for a while to get adjusted to the cost of living difference. The thought of it being "too hot" to go outside in June & July is still better than the though of sitting inside my house freezing to death from October until May. I know there are positives to both sides, but quality of life seems much better in a warm, sunny environment.

I'm not qualified to diagnose a medical condition, but it sounds like you may be affected by seasonal affective disorder (SAD). Here's a link:

seasonal affective disorder - Wiktionary

Note that there's no coincidence that the Swedish and Finnish have a word in their respective languages for it.

At least here in the Inland Empire area of SoCal, if it's July-early October and hotter than the inner circle of hell outdoors, you still have bright sunlight streaming into the house. You can also go places without waiting for the roads to be cleared and if you have a/c in your vehicle, you're probably going to someplace that also has a/c, so you don't also suffer from "cabin fever," for which I suspect that there is also a pathology.

Yet people who aren't originally from here complain about the lack of a four-season climate. I hate to tell them, but except for Hawaii and parts of CA, AZ and FL, the entire US has four seasons. I miss the snow around Thanksgiving and Christmas, but would be delusional if I didn't remember what January and February in Flint were like - bitter cold, bare trees and a gray sky like nuclear winter. The saying "too cold to snow" comes to mind. Not that I don't still love Michigan, but I've lived in warm or mild climates for too many years to be able to readjust to the winters there.

[JGatti]

Originally Posted by lovindfw

I moved here about a year ago and unfortunately, I hate it here (snow, unemployment, fake niceness, money hungry cities issuing tickets for nothing, etc). The first few months here all we ever heard was "Why did you move up here?" Now, my answer is that I made one of those stupid decisions. I've stopped taking my stupid pills now and am looking to leave.

Let me be the first to ask then. When are you leaving?