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It's so awesome that we are opposites because it gives us both amazing opportunity to learn things we might not have otherwise figured out! I'm curious what kind of business you're looking to open here. Strangely enough, I'm a business owner as well (not sure if I mentioned hat already, sorry if I repeated!) so o have a lot of insight into that. It would help me to know what kind of things you're looking to do.
Some people might drink the water here. It really depends how picky you are. We personally don't condone having flouride in drinking water, and there is in the township where we live, so we just choose to avoid it altogether. As for the weather here again, this is not your average snow. We get far more than everyone else. Again, a lot of people like this. For me it's just OVERKILL. And unfortunately I have major seasonal mental issues when I don't see the sun. There is little in the winter here.
We have been debating South Carolina for a move. We really want to be near the coast, but somewhere affordable. I don't want to be too far inland because of the heat. Basically, I want to live somewhere where I can be outside most of the year. Here, you have to stay inside because it's too cold (sometimes not even permitted out due to the risk of frostbite on exposed skin!) but I also don't want to relocate somewhere that I would be forced to stay inside due to heat as well. I don't think I would be so sensitive to humidity as we also have some humid Summers up here due to the lake being right be us. But we're looking for balance.
IF we chose Florida, which would probably only be because of my sister who also wants to relocate away from here, it would only be near the gulf coast or panhandle area. We don't want to be completely disconnected from the rest of the country, and I don't want the unbearable heat and animal aspect from inland. We're really leaning towards looking elsewhere than FL, but I want to ask questions from numerous areas to get an idea.
This is one of the hardest things I have ever had to decide and I don't know that I was ever feel 100% before just going and doing it.
We should really stay connected though! We can help each other out!
I completely agree - it takes ALL kinds in this world. Especially when it comes to comfort levels in extreme temps (hot OR cold).
As far as business goes, we currently run a housecleaning service (working mostly in Gainesville...home of the University of Florida Gators) and believe it or not, people in G-ville HAPPILY pay us $50/hour to clean their homes. The competition charges around $100/hour! Needless to say, we stay pretty busy. Especially in move out/move in season (when the college students graduate/enroll).
As I've told others in the U.P., we realize we wouldn't be able to do that business up there because the majority of people there simply don't have the money to pay people to clean their homes. Also, from what I could gather in the two times I lived in Escanaba, most Yoopers aren't nearly as lazy (no offense to Southerners, because I am one! lol) as people down here. It's just not a great demographic for a housecleaning service up there.
Now, I've been talking some with Granite Stater (and a couple other people with experience living in the U.P.) and we are kind of leaning more towards the Marquette area now. Simply because they have a better economy, a little less crime, and it's at least a little closer to Mackinac Island (which has TONS of gift shops), and we feel it would be better for my side business. I make photo crystals (Chroma Crystals, if you'd like to Google it) that range in price from $25-30 to upwards of $80-100 each.
I think THAT would be a fairly successful business up there. Most people can easily afford one of the cheaper ones and many people would even be willing to go all out and buy one (or more) of the larger, more expensive ones for a special occasion. They make great gifts of all kinds (weddings, anniversaries, birthdays, awards, pets, vacations, etc.) and as I said, there is such a wide variety of price ranges that they're affordable for just about ANY budget.
My wife is also strongly considering running an in-home daycare up there. She's actually talked to a few other moms near Marquette and they have assured her that there is a dire need for such services in the area.
In addition to those things, we have also considered opening a restaurant on the old base at K.I. Sawyer. From everything we've been told, there is currently no restaurants there and the closest is roughly 18 miles away. I have managerial experience working in restaurants, and I used to work at Aramark at a prison here in Florida. I was responsible for feeding 5,000 inmates 3 meals a day. I literally worked 16-20 hours a day, at times for a couple months straight WITHOUT a day off. It was before I was married and had three kids! Lol
We have also been told that there is a strong need for snow plowing services at the old base. I have absolutely ZERO experience doing that, but how hard can it be? LOL
I'm completely with you on the whole not drinking water with fluoride thing. We pretty much always drink bottled water, regardless of where we're at. I was mostly concerned with having to smell it every time we wash our hands or get a shower.
Honestly, I have never been to a beach in South Carolina (such as Myrtle Beach), but I have lived in Clemson (yeah, I have lived in a LOT of places) and I loved it. But it was nearly as hot as it is in Florida. Coastal areas definitely tend to be much cooler in the summer months. Especially with the sea breeze. You would probably have to be VERY near a beach, though. If you're a mile or more from a beach, don't expect much of a difference in temps from areas that are a hundred miles from the ocean.
If it were ME, I would either make sure it's directly on the beach somewhere in the South, or I would shoot for an entirely different region (of the South) altogether. I've told my wife that if we were to stay in the South, it would be in Northern Kentucky. Possibly somewhere in Northern West Virginia or extremely Northern Tennessee. I've also lived right in the heart of downtown Nashville and it was incredibly beautiful. We even got a decent amount of snow the year I lived there. I will always remember the latest into the year that they ever got snow, because it was on my mother's birthday, April 4th.
If you have ANY questions at all about living in the South, just ask. I've pretty much lived (or at least spent considerable time) in nearly every Southern state in America, at one time or another.
And I have no doubt I will be able to think of another dozen (or more!) questions about life in the great white North!
Hi, Gator Guy! Sorry this is so late in coming...I haven't been on this site in so long, but I got a message and thought I'd check in Honestly, where I came from in Illinois, we couldn't drink the water. Up here, it's cold, crisp, and clear -- I notice no smell or bad taste whatsoever. To clarify, I live in the township, and I'm not sure if the water in the city has this problem, but I've never noticed it in public places, for example. Also, Bethany's right...(she lives right down the road from us)-- Verizon is the only cell service you want up here. Sprint, AT &T, none of them work. And be aware there are dead zones no matter what service you use (like at the falls). Personally, I don't want to be bothered when I'm out in the wilderness anyway;D Heating bills are tougher...it depends on where your house is and what source of heat you have -- propane, wood burning, or electric. I think we pay a little more in the winter than we did down in Illinois; but it makes up for it in the summers...We only ran our air conditioner once last year, and a lot of houses don't even have central air. You can open up the windows and get a nice breeze many days
I'm sorry Bethany hates it here...I didn't grow up here and we never had 200 inches of snow in Illinois, but that was one of the things that we looked forward to (ironically, we were originally going to go to Florida). Yes, it's very snowy. If you know that ahead of time and you're prepared for it, then it isn't a big surprise. One of the things I admire most about Yoopers is the fact that they're survivors -- a foot of snow? Who cares? Same old, same old...and I like it a whole heck of a lot better than ice, to tell you the truth. What I've found is you just have to think ahead. Take the road slow. Yes, you might end up in a ditch on the side of the road, but fifteen people will stop and help you get out. You wear layers most of the year - long underwear is a must in the deep winter, along with snow pants, boots, and gloves (they require them at the school). And, my kids embraced it! My sons started skiing, we snowshoe, and there's an awesome tubing hill at Mt. Zion. Personally, I was tired of the heat and humidity of Illinois, too, and I wanted summers where I could go outside without having to use an inhaler to breath. Up here, I haven't had near the problem with allergies that I did down there. The air is actually clean Not to mention there aren't many places in the south you can see the Northern Lights fly across the top of your house
I'm basing my experience on the fact that we came from such a horrible place. Many of the locals here don't realize how very lucky they are to live in a safe, clean town. Compared to the other places I've lived, Ironwood is one of the cleanest. The city commission has a blight control panel (I'd never even heard of that before moving here). I've met people that were born and raised here that leave and come back after spending some time in the world because they wanted to raise their kids somewhere safe. I've also heard the locals complain about the schools, but compared to Illinois, the Ironwood schools are top notch. Their teachers are wonderful, and compared to the place we came from, they are farther ahead in their curriculum for sure. It took my kids two months to catch up when we moved here, and they are being offered a lot more classes than my kids got in Illinois. Last year, my daughter graduated at the top of her class and got a scholarship to Michigan Tech University, one of the toughest schools in the Midwest. My son is a Freshman, and he's accelerated at a Junior level in Math and English. Not only that, I love my kids being in the same school. My 8 year old sees his big brother in the hall all the time, and he loves it.
Hope this helps It's good to get a perspective from both people born and raised here and transfers that came from other places. We've been here 3 1/2 years now, and we wished we would have moved sooner. Good luck, and I hope this helps!
Yes, of course we're still here. We liked it well enough to buy a house. (In fact, we had your son in our soccer program a few years ago) We love it here because people have overall been pretty welcoming. I don't worry about being mugged on my own street here, nor do I have to worry about my purse being stolen out of my car -- in my own garage. I don't hear the constant whine of police sirens and six lanes of highway traffic (or any traffic for that matter) or trains rolling through town. I love the summers and the tons of things to do in the great outdoors, and even with 200 inches of snow, we love the winters. Autumn in the U.P. is absolutely spectacular. And, never have I seen so many year-round festivals in one region! Boring? We've been so busy here, we haven't done have the things we wanted to do. We had nothing to do down there...no snow, very few festivals, and summers where we were warned to keep our kids indoors because it was too dangerous for them to play outside. Flat land and stagnant lakes--people up here have no idea what real mosquitoes are...we lived near the Mississippi where you doused yourself in Deet hoping you didn't end up with cancer or something else (I'll give you the biting flies, however. Those things are pretty brutal) And finally, when we moved here, we were shocked at the low cost of living compared to where we lived -- and our town wasn't in a fancy suburb of Chicago or St. Louis. Overall, this has been a wonderful move Now if we could just sell our house in Illinois and finally close that chapter of our life, we could finally settle in to enjoy life in the U.P.
Gator Guy, I think you would probably have better luck with a restaurant in Marquette than out at K.I. Sawyer in Gwinn. College students love to eat out. I lived in Marquette when I was a student at NMU and the base was still an active air base. It was closed during the Clinton administration in the early 90's. I would have loved to have stayed in Marquette, but with the base closing and me graduating, I figured there would be a lack of jobs and as a poor broke student, it would be best for me to move on and seek my fortune elsewhere.
I am also originally from the Western U.P., born and raised there. The economy in that area is not so great. It was better in the 80's when there were more ski tourists and the last copper mine at White Pine was still open. Ironwood also has the highest water rates of the three towns of Bessemer, Wakefield and Ironwood in the Western U.P.
Another thing to keep in mind is the cost of health insurance if both of you are self-employed and paying for it on your own. There is only one provider on the exchange in the Ironwood area. So, due to lack of competition, be prepared to pay a lot more.
Send me a message or friend me if you have any questions. Maybe, I can answer some of them.
OP, if you are the outdoorsy, woodsy type? You will love it, no doubt about it. If you don't like cold (really cold) and snow the majority of the year, I would stay away. For those who love nature and being in it, skiing, hunting, fishing, camping, the U.P. is heaven, seriously. Marquette, which is close to Pictured Rocks, omg....so beautiful. So beautiful. The drive from the W. U.P. to Marquette is unreal, it's like you're just coming to the end of the world, you'll love it.
We lived in the U.P. for three years- very much enjoyed our time there, I was chomping at the bit to move there, my husband ended up liking it more than I did- we moved away due to health issues, and truth be told the winters were utterly brutal and went on forever. As I said, if you're an outdoorsy, winter-type, you will thrive.
For myself, the U.P. will be a place to vacation in the future, it just isn't more beautiful anywhere, in my opinion. But live there, after three winters? Nope, lol.
OP, if you are the outdoorsy, woodsy type? You will love it, no doubt about it. If you don't like cold (really cold) and snow the majority of the year, I would stay away. For those who love nature and being in it, skiing, hunting, fishing, camping, the U.P. is heaven, seriously. Marquette, which is close to Pictured Rocks, omg....so beautiful. So beautiful. The drive from the W. U.P. to Marquette is unreal, it's like you're just coming to the end of the world, you'll love it.
We lived in the U.P. for three years- very much enjoyed our time there, I was chomping at the bit to move there, my husband ended up liking it more than I did- we moved away due to health issues, and truth be told the winters were utterly brutal and went on forever. As I said, if you're an outdoorsy, winter-type, you will thrive.
For myself, the U.P. will be a place to vacation in the future, it just isn't more beautiful anywhere, in my opinion. But live there, after three winters? Nope, lol.
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As much as I LOVE Winter and lots of snow, even I could not live there...lol
But like you said, there may be no better place to vacation anywhere in the U.S
OP, if you are the outdoorsy, woodsy type? You will love it, no doubt about it. If you don't like cold (really cold) and snow the majority of the year, I would stay away. For those who love nature and being in it, skiing, hunting, fishing, camping, the U.P. is heaven, seriously. Marquette, which is close to Pictured Rocks, omg....so beautiful. So beautiful. The drive from the W. U.P. to Marquette is unreal, it's like you're just coming to the end of the world, you'll love it.
We lived in the U.P. for three years- very much enjoyed our time there, I was chomping at the bit to move there, my husband ended up liking it more than I did- we moved away due to health issues, and truth be told the winters were utterly brutal and went on forever. As I said, if you're an outdoorsy, winter-type, you will thrive.
For myself, the U.P. will be a place to vacation in the future, it just isn't more beautiful anywhere, in my opinion. But live there, after three winters? Nope, lol.
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I would love to know what type of health issues you developed there to make you move away. I am hoping to improve my allergies in the UP.
Well, I was in the area a couple days ago, trying to get to Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park. I gave up after two tries as the signage is so poor with multiple forks after the entrance road. Also, even with a very good trail map, it wasn't quite adequate enough with no cell phone service at all. I went to other lakes nearby and Lake Superior instead. A heads up to the tourism folks in Gogebic and Ontonagon Counties- better signage would increase tourism dollars coming into the area!
Lol I should change my user name I guess. I'm not sure about the pub, but Silver Road (?), the main drag in Hurley five minutes away has a ton of them! It's been about 15 years since I graduated from college--I think that's the last time I went bar hopping. It used to be the place all the miners went at night I guess. I forgot to mention the Ironwood Theatre....my daughter and I just went to a performance the other night, and it was a youthful group of guys that sing and do beat box, etc. It was actually really cool. It sounds like the UP is definitely the place for you....especially with all of the outdoors activities. We are anxiously waiting for spring and the opportunity to hike! Good luck with your plans!
Hi soontobeyooper! The forum wouldn't let me send a message for some reason so figured I would post here and perhaps you will see it. We are looking to move to Ironwood in the near future and after reading some of your posts about the town my wife asked if I could try to contract you. Hope to talk soon!
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Honestly, where I came from in Illinois, we couldn't drink the water. Up here, it's cold, crisp, and clear -- I notice no smell or bad taste whatsoever. To clarify, I live in the township, and I'm not sure if the water in the city has this problem, but I've never noticed it in public places, for example. Also, Bethany's right...(she lives right down the road from us)-- Verizon is the only cell service you want up here. Sprint, AT &T, none of them work. And be aware there are dead zones no matter what service you use (like at the falls). Personally, I don't want to be bothered when I'm out in the wilderness anyway;D Heating bills are tougher...it depends on where your house is and what source of heat you have -- propane, wood burning, or electric. I think we pay a little more in the winter than we did down in Illinois; but it makes up for it in the summers...We only ran our air conditioner once last year, and a lot of houses don't even have central air. You can open up the windows and get a nice breeze many days 
). Yes, it's very snowy. If you know that ahead of time and you're prepared for it, then it isn't a big surprise. One of the things I admire most about Yoopers is the fact that they're survivors -- a foot of snow? Who cares? Same old, same old...and I like it a whole heck of a lot better than ice, to tell you the truth
