[M1monster]

Lived in Sterling hts my entire life untill 3 years ago. i also worked at Gm and let me tell you when Gm decides to make cuts the whole state suffers.
Michigan is to dependant on the auto industry, When i left i hated it. It was all i have ever known, However now that im gone i really have no desire to ever go back (other than to visit family) i now live in wisconsin and am currently moving To south carolina, Both states are a heck of alot cheaper than michigan.

[jimdhen]

Thanks for all the feedback, my wife and I love to travel and eat out when we can. So we're a couple with no kids <currently> and would be interested in what are the fun things to see within say a 2 hour drive of Sterling Heights?. How is Port Austin? Port Huron? As far as restaurants, we love Capital Grille and Andiamo's so far. Any suggestions? Where's the best burgers? Ribs?

I enjoyed reading all the posts, but the klan one got removed too quickly. Darn, and we could have driven around in my General Lee car.

Every state has its issues. Go read how many textile jobs SC has lost in the past 10 years. That was the 'auto' industry to them, and when it went overseas, SC struggled. If you would have told people in GA in 1996 what the state would look like a decade later no one would have believed you. I saw an article online today about some MI companies doing work for the new space program that used to be doing work for the Big 3. Stay nimble and shake the Bitterness. Life is way too short. And I must say that the long post is the most emotion I've seen about Mackinac. For the record I didn't say MI was a better tourist spot than any place in the South - I just was comparing it to GA. GA is nice, just not much to do here once you've been to Savannah. We love TN too! And we did our house hunt in January & February - it was like 5 degrees or something. My face froze.

I thought my tax portion would have been the most controversial, not the tourism. Too funny.

[scottmi65]

Originally Posted by fasdlfkjasdfj

Arkansas and Missouri has much more beautiful land, No SNOW,Branson has millions of people visit and return every year and hundreds of shows from Andy Williams to the Osmond's.
South Carolina has as beautiful if not more so coast line. Charleston SC has more history by far.
Branson this summer was bumper to bumper on 76. If you did not know the alt. routs you were screwed to get around fast.
Myrtle beach was and is bumper to bumper and had more things to do in one week than Michigan has all summer.
In Charleston all you have to do is go visit the hunley and you can see and touch more history than all of Michigan put together.
I am glad you like Michigan it has some natural beauty, I am 5 generation Michigan born, But there are places in this country that have more beauty, the mountains of Arkansas,KY,TN, Michigan has nothing on.

Great Andy Williams AND the Osmonds!!!!!!!! Where do I get in line for the tickets! But first I will stop by the Mystery Spot and on my way to Myrtle sitting in bumper to bumper traffic I can buy a "South of the Border" t-shirt for $20.00.
I lived in Charleston for six years and have seen the heritage there. It is cool but visiting the Hunley and saying it is more history than ALL of MI is a bit of a stretch.
Just my opinion like everyone else's.

[chrisanddani]

We are in the same boat you are. My husband was transfered from MGM Las Vegas to MGM Detroit. A little different industry but quite a difference in living location. We moved to Northville in the first part of July after living in a hotel in Farmiington Hills for two months. So far we have loved being here. Every weekend we go out and venture to new places that pepke tell us about and we have discovered quite a few gems. I'm originally from a small island off the coast of California so I'm quite familiar with the "tourist" destination lifestyle but when we visited Mackinak Island it was beautful and very quaint and we enjoyed it very much.

So far, I agree with you on all points made. We could have made this a miserable tranfer but you look for the things that are going to make you happy and you find them. As for the jobs, I went out looking for a job and on the first interview I was hired on the spot. It's all about attitude and what you really want, and how bad do you want it.

So glad to hear that someone else is enjoying their new home and seeing things in a brighter light.

[magellan]

Great post jimdhen! It's interesting to see a side-by-side comparison.

It's interesting the little trolls that pop their heads out when anything remotely positive is said about Michigan. South Carolina has more coastline than Michigan???!!! Haha!!

Here are the facts:

South Carolina coastline: 187 miles
Fast Facts: South Carolina Department of Parks, Recreation &

Michigan's coastline: 2147 miles (3052 miles if you add in island coastlines)
DEQ - Shorelines of the Great Lakes

In fact, I believe Michigan has more coastline than the entire Eastern seaboard, including S.C.. Michigan even has twice as much coastline as Florida.

Only Alaska has more coastline.

Anyway, as far as history goes, the formation of the Great Lakes by the retreat of glaciers around 13,000 - 12,000 B.C. pretty much blows away any old Civil War relics or forts IMO.

Arkansas and Missouri? Puh-lease. Branson draws 8 million visitors per year. Cabela's in Dundee alone draws almost that many people.

Anyway, I don't want this to come off too much as a "nananabooboo" post.

Welcome jimdhen and chrisanddani! Tell a friend.

[allbusiness]

Originally Posted by fasdlfkjasdfj

In Charleston all you have to do is go visit the hunley and you can see and touch more history than all of Michigan put together.

This is the most ignorant, self-centered line I have read on this board yet. Everything this person posts is negative.

The Hunley is very cool, and so is staying at a hotel made out of the original Citadel site as we did two years ago, but Michigan is full of history too!

Native Americans, fur trappers, Voyageurs, British and French occupation, the war of 1812, awesome maritime history, industrialization -- it goes on and on!

Every state in the nation has a fascinating history that stands on its own. Completely dismissing Michigan's tremendous history in an off hand way is just plain ingorant on this poster's part.

[khfar]

We could have made this a miserable tranfer but you look for the things that are going to make you happy and you find them.

This is so true. We've tried to venture out almost every weekend since we've been here. We have already made a trip to Chicago (SO fun), we did Niagara Falls last week, this past weekend we checked out the Detroit Zoo. We really want to go to Traverse City and Mackinac, but I think we'll save those for next summer. I am really looking forward to going to Frankenmuth soon, though.

You can either bury your head in the sand and believe what all the negative people say, or have a positive attitude and find all the fun, beautiful and exciting things that this area has to offer. It's nice to know that so many of us seem to be choosing the latter!

[magellan]

Originally Posted by khfar

This is so true. We've tried to venture out almost every weekend since we've been here. We have already made a trip to Chicago (SO fun), we did Niagara Falls last week, this past weekend we checked out the Detroit Zoo. We really want to go to Traverse City and Mackinac, but I think we'll save those for next summer. I am really looking forward to going to Frankenmuth soon, though.

You can either bury your head in the sand and believe what all the negative people say, or have a positive attitude and find all the fun, beautiful and exciting things that this area has to offer. It's nice to know that so many of us seem to be choosing the latter!

This is very true! I notice that our neighbors who are not from Michigan, especially a family two houses down from England, see more of Michigan every Summer than most of the locals have probably seen in their entire lives. They seem to appreciate the abundance of things to see more than the locals.

[tuebor]

For history buffs: This weekend (Aug. 24-25), there's going to be some kind of Pirate Festival on Pere Marquette beach in Muskegon. Reenactors will stage a pirate attack on an English military encampment on the beach. I hear a tall ship will be involved.

Ok, so this particular event won't be strictly historical. But history enthusiasts coming to MI might like to know that there is a fairly active community of reenactors in W. Michigan who do various events from time to time, like the encampment they had at Spring Lake earlier this summer. They seem to mostly focus on the colonial and Revolutionary War era, and they're usually pretty fussy about accuracy, altho they're loosening up a bit for the pirate thing.

This pirate event seems to be a joint endeavor of the reenactors and the Renaissance Faire crowd (the latter apparently has branched into pirate spoofery in the wake of recent pirate movies).

[LGOG]

All the opinions aside michigan leads the country in forclosures, I do not see this state truning around anytime soon.
I am watching as many states are doing the same thing but no where as bad as michigan, california is the second worst state for forclosures.
Michigan does not have the resources that cal. has to make a come back.
For every person that would like to live in michigan, there are 20 that do not.
There is a mass exit from places like michigan to the south.
SC,NC texas,arkansas,missouri, even florida is gaining every day. Michigan looses every day and there is nothing to stop the bleeding.