Can anyone tell me about West Michigan?

[4WD Greg]

There are some beautiful areas long the Lake Michigan shore. Grand Rapids is the "capitol" of West Michigan.
The GR area is dominated politically by the Calvinists and their right wing politics. It's almost like a closed society where they sit around and bad mouth Detroit and the entire eastern half of the state.
Kalamazoo, on the other hand has more of a liberal culture, and one multi billionaire liberal has funded college educations for all of Kalamazoo's high school graduates. Expect that town to grow dramatically in the future.
The auto industry dominates everything from Lansing eastward, and 50% of the state's population lives in the tri-county Detroit area. When the nation slips into a recession, the first thing they do is stop buying cars, causing Detroit, and by extension, almost all of Michigan to slip into a near economic depression.
Those that try to blame local politicians for our economic problems don't know what the hell they're talking about.
The weather on the western side of Michigan is heavily affected by Lake Michigan. The air is much cooler on the lake shore than it is inland, and in the winter time, they get much heavier showfall than areas further inland.

[Stormgirl08]

People are a little mean! lol..I grew up in wyoming, MI. I moved out of state only to return. I am south of Grand Rapids. I grew up CRC. I am not a cold and nasty person. I think some of you must think the world is out to get you! lol..anywho..Gun lake is beautiful area. You can hunt, fish, jet ski, and in the winter there are snow trails. Its a really nice area. its about 45 min south of Grand Rapids. Also around Alaska, Caledonia, Middleville MI is the thornapple river. people go tubeing all the time in the summer. There is Campau Lake in Alto. Thats a really nice area. The winters are fun at first but when march comes I think we all have had enough. Sometimes the summers can get a bit humid. There is the "medical mile" which is making the job market go up for medical. Dont get me wrong..the job market is sucky. The governor is doing a terrible job. If you like Hockey we have the Grand Rapids Griffins, Indoor Football we have the Rampage, Baseball we have the west michigan whitecaps. all fun to go to. Van Andel has Good concerts with big named people. All in all i think southern Kent county is a great place to live. You get the small town feel, Grand Rapids is not too far away, you can do all the summer and winter sports. CHEER UP PEOPLE!