Aspirations of Moving to Michigan (HELP!) (Grand Rapids, Ann Arbor: military, budget, vacation)

[hockeygal22]

I am from Kalamazoo and though I no longer live there (relocated to Ypsilanti for school) I have to agree with cardwellave. It is a nice area (parts of it) and there is plenty to do in and around the area. You are also only an hour away from Lake Michigan and can make a nice weekend trip out of visiting South Haven or Muskegon (home to Michigan Adventure's which is a nice, pretty cheap theme park--admission price includes water park and theme park). There are also places to bike Fort Custer Park (not sure if that's the exact name) has some nice mountain bike areas. There are also a lot of places to camp around the state so if you are interested in camping you can live in a more urban area for the culture and better job market and camp for a weekend. From Kalamazoo the UP is around 5+ hours but is worth the drive (especially in the fall with all the colors).

Despite the hardships of Michigan's economy and the desire for many to leave because of this factor, Michigan is really a wonderful place to live. I like it almost all year long--but by January you will be ready for spring! The winters can be cold and long, it gets dark early and during the winter there are many gray days. Another thing to be aware of--when it is not winter it is CONSTRUCTION SEASON!! This is the time of year when the roads are torn up and traffic is being detoured. Michigan's weather can change in a matter of minutes, there have been many times when it is sunny and warm and then it is cold and rainy, but you get used to it.

I grew up in a the outskirts of Kalamazoo near Comstock/Galesburg in farming area and I loved it! On clear winter nights I can walk outside and see millions of stars stretching endlessly above and breathe in the crispest and freshest air that I long for when I make the visit home. The fresh snow on the ground when all is quite makes one feel refreshed and alive and young again. In the fall the colors are brilliant from cool yellows to trees ablaze with red and I cannot even begin to describe the smell of fall (my favorite season). In spring the birds come home and sing their songs to the world while the flowers push through the fertile soil. You will never know how many different shades of green there are until you see a Michigan forest. I highly recommend this wonderful state to anyone who is looking for a little adventure and soul searching.

[somuchbetter]

Originally Posted by Sin7

Hello, residents of Michigan! A friend and I need some help...

We've been doing research on your state and it seems that the UP is a nice place to start.

Financially, we're planning on saving about 10k between the two of us before we take the plunge. Our plan is to be out of Florida before Winter of 2010. We work retail jobs, so we're not really in the money. I've read it's tough to get jobs out there, but we really don't plan on making careers out of it as I'm sure most of the bloggers are referring to.

We would be happy earning just enough to get by in a 2 bedroom apartment and go it from there. Down here in Miami, a 2 bedroom apartment goes for about $1200 a month. I've visited Rent.com and did some searches, but once again, it's hard to narrow it down to a city. We'd like to be in an area with plenty of nature.

We are pretty low maintenance people. We generally stay home and play video games or watch movies, no big deal, but we don't want to live in a city where there's absolutely NOTHING to do. Going out and watching a flick and enjoying some nice live music would be grand. And we want to be very close to the coast, because as much as I hate it here, I do love the ocean.

So yeah, that's our story so far. Hopefully you readers won't brush this off as some young stupid kids' aimless dreams. Any general feedback would be greatly appreciated! Please!

Wow, people giddy to move to Michigan! I love it! I recently moved from Michigan to Raleigh, NC for school and I miss Michigan SO much. Um, honestly, I would beware of the UP for your first time living in Michigan. It has a culture all of its own and some people that live in the U.P. consider themselves a different state. The winters are far more than you ask for, the lakes are rarely warm, and in the summer...you basically get eaten alive. Its a great place to visit though.

I'm 23, and I grew up in Grand Rapids. I think its one of the best places to live, personally. You can find a nice, woodsy apartment in a suburb near retail (Wyoming and Grandville are nice suburbs to look into that has a ton of retail, but close to the city.) Or, you can find an industrial type apartment downtown where you can walk to nearly everything and they are all very reasonably priced.

My favorite thing about Grand Rapids, or any city near there, is that there is ALWAYS something great happening, whether it be a concert, festival, art stuff. There is Festival (art festival) and Celebration on the Grand (just..lots of food and concerts) and in each case they close off portions of streets and you can meet anybody and everybody. Every Wednesday in the summer they have what they call Blues on the Mall: again, free, outdoor concert.

Grand Rapids, although a fair-sized city, has a very strong community. If you want any ideas of things to do (people to meet, good places to work), just let me know! I am kind of a Grand Rapids guru when it comes to young adult things to do, and I know a ton of people in the area that would just love to show you around!

The great thing about Grand Rapids also, is you can drive to the resort town of Grand Haven (or Holland) in a matter of maybe 20-30 minutes if you live in DT Grand Rapids. Its a *beautiful* beach area, and often a place where kids get senior pictures, people show off their pretty cars, and the summer activites there are endless! There is hiking in the area, which can't be beat because of the dunes and the wildlife.

There are lots of historic places in Grand Rapids too, if you are into that sort of thing.

Great about Grand Rapids too: 3 hours from Detroit, 3 hours from Chicago, 2.5 hours to Traverse City (northern bay town).

Feel free to email me with any questions about Michigan. I'm a geologist, and so nature is one of my many specialties . If you prefer to just visit the city rather than live in it, I would definitely check out living in/near Grand Haven. Its kind of a dream of mine to live there, and its beautiful every month of the year. It's not like you need a lot of money to live there, either. I would consider it a safe place to live, and there is a ton of nature in that area. Again, a great community. The weather can be hectic in the winter but I think its worth it.

(I have a few friends that live in that area also.)

Just talking about it all makes me miss it very, very much.

Again, feel free to email me if you need any advice on things to do, places to go, things to see. In terms of winters, be careful what you wish for! I hope you like ice skating down your driveway to get to your mailbox

Good luck!!!

[Michigansnowflake]

Originally Posted by Brent85

I hope you like four seasons weather because that's what it is here. It's warm April through October, the rest of the time it's cold. January and February are very cloudy sorta like Seattle would be. If you like variety in weather than this is your place.
The UP is beautiful, but there's not much to do except things outdoors. $10,000 is a good start, Michigan is a cheap place to live compared to Miami. You could get a 2 bedroom apartment here for about $550 depending on where it is. Ann arbor is expensive, also some of Detroit's nice suburbs are pricey. I'd suggest Grand rapids metro.

Not if you choose Northern Michigan, we just had a hard freeze/frost last week...it generally doesnt get warm and STAY warm til end of May/June.....also, If you choose N Michigan be prepared for LOTS of snow

[Bluefly]

Hey!

I moved to the Upper Peninsula from the urban heart of cosmopolitan Washington, DC. It was a big cultural shift, but don't be scared by these other posters who only know the UP in broad stereotypes. They're wrong.

1. If you want to live in the UP, you should live in Marquette. It's by far the most vibrant of all the cities and the largest (at only 25,000 people). You're minutes from beautiful forests and right on the Lake Superior coast. If you haven't experienced the Great Lakes, they're inland seas without the sharks, salt, or hurricanes. The Superior coast is truly beautiful. There's gorgeous beaches where you can go swimming in the summer or have bonfires (illegally, but no one cares), or watch the Northern Lights, or clilmb little mountains, or be the only people on a beach. Respect the Lake, though. Usually every year one or two people get swept out to sea by big waves. The only time people are surprised is when it happens to locals, whom everyone assumes should have known better.

2. If you've never experienced winter, you might want to prepare yourselves. You don't really get 4 seasons this far north like you would downstate. You get 5 months of winter (mid-Nov - mid-Apr), maybe 2 months of spring (mid-Apr - mid-June), maybe 3 months you could call summer (mid-June - mid Sept.) then 2 months of Fall (mid-Sept - mid Nov.). Far better than downstate, however, the snow here is dry and fluffy because of Lake Superior. It snows a lot, but you can usually drive right through it. Most people here love winter - a lot of cross country skiing, snowshoing, snowmobiling, and dog sledding. It is a winter culture. February dog sled races that leave from downtown Marquette are an awesome, unique experience of everybody screaming and yelling and the dogs hyped up on adrenaline as they start out for hundreds of miles. In the summers, biking is huge here. Some of the best mountain biking trails in the country and bike races of all sorts. Some sea kayaking and even scuba diving as well (there's even a surf shop in town!). You should really enjoy the outdoors if you live here. Otherwise, you'll probably not like it. There is, however, a surprisingly vibrant arts and cultural scene. Marquette has an air of sophistication in its nightlife, theatre, painting/sculpting, and music scenes that might surprise many who think they know the U.P.

3. People in the UP will identify themselves as "Yoopers" (or residents of the UP) first and foremost, then residents of Michigan. The UP is not a political entity, but it has its own state fairs, its own community services, its own everything. There is a unique culture here proudly born out of the mining and timber past and its isolation surrounded by big water. That said, its Alaska-lite dynamic also draws many interesting characters running away or to something intangible. A lot of really interesting people live in this relatively desolate area. Seek them out, because there are also a lot of people very naive to the world beyond, very provincial, and very uninteresting to be around. Many people - from doctors and professors to artists and everyday people - have found their nirvana living here and couldn't be dragged away by a thousand wild horses. Many others can't stand it here. There's a mystical power here that most people accept without even thinking, not unlike Sedona, Arizona. Most people have had some strange, unexplained incident of some kind - whether it's with a UFO or a massive leaf monster walking through the forest (no, I haven't seen it - not the latter at least).

4. It is relatively isolated. You are 7 hours drive from the major cities - Detroit, Minneapolis, and Chicago. Flying out is very expensive. Green Bay, Wisconsin or its suburb of Appleton become the "big city" get aways. There is not great shopping, but Marquette has all you need - a small mall, Target, Pier One Imports, local shops, Sprawl Mart, etc...

5. It's a tough place to make a living - people do whatever they have to, . People with advanced degrees and brilliant artists or inventors work way below their capacity. The main TV news anchor also works as a cashier at Target. In the same vain, nobody cares what you do - which was a HUGE difference from DC and I'm sure Miami as well.

I've now broken every rule of this place - which is to not tell anyone about it. There's a general attitude here of keeping it on the down low so that people don't start destroying it like they did Traverse City. That said, once you're here no one's ever going to hold it against you. They understand.

[Indentured Servant]

Originally Posted by somuchbetter

Wow, people giddy to move to Michigan! I love it! I recently moved from Michigan to Raleigh, NC for school and I miss Michigan SO much. Um, honestly, I would beware of the UP for your first time living in Michigan. It has a culture all of its own and some people that live in the U.P. consider themselves a different state. The winters are far more than you ask for, the lakes are rarely warm, and in the summer...you basically get eaten alive. Its a great place to visit though.

I'm 23, and I grew up in Grand Rapids. I think its one of the best places to live, personally. You can find a nice, woodsy apartment in a suburb near retail (Wyoming and Grandville are nice suburbs to look into that has a ton of retail, but close to the city.) Or, you can find an industrial type apartment downtown where you can walk to nearly everything and they are all very reasonably priced.

My favorite thing about Grand Rapids, or any city near there, is that there is ALWAYS something great happening, whether it be a concert, festival, art stuff. There is Festival (art festival) and Celebration on the Grand (just..lots of food and concerts) and in each case they close off portions of streets and you can meet anybody and everybody. Every Wednesday in the summer they have what they call Blues on the Mall: again, free, outdoor concert.

Grand Rapids, although a fair-sized city, has a very strong community. If you want any ideas of things to do (people to meet, good places to work), just let me know! I am kind of a Grand Rapids guru when it comes to young adult things to do, and I know a ton of people in the area that would just love to show you around!

The great thing about Grand Rapids also, is you can drive to the resort town of Grand Haven (or Holland) in a matter of maybe 20-30 minutes if you live in DT Grand Rapids. Its a *beautiful* beach area, and often a place where kids get senior pictures, people show off their pretty cars, and the summer activites there are endless! There is hiking in the area, which can't be beat because of the dunes and the wildlife.

There are lots of historic places in Grand Rapids too, if you are into that sort of thing.

Great about Grand Rapids too: 3 hours from Detroit, 3 hours from Chicago, 2.5 hours to Traverse City (northern bay town).

Feel free to email me with any questions about Michigan. I'm a geologist, and so nature is one of my many specialties . If you prefer to just visit the city rather than live in it, I would definitely check out living in/near Grand Haven. Its kind of a dream of mine to live there, and its beautiful every month of the year. It's not like you need a lot of money to live there, either. I would consider it a safe place to live, and there is a ton of nature in that area. Again, a great community. The weather can be hectic in the winter but I think its worth it.

(I have a few friends that live in that area also.)

Just talking about it all makes me miss it very, very much.

Again, feel free to email me if you need any advice on things to do, places to go, things to see. In terms of winters, be careful what you wish for! I hope you like ice skating down your driveway to get to your mailbox

Good luck!!!

I agree with most of what you said except for the distance to major metros. I regulary drove from Detroit to GR in less than 2 hours (from city proper to city proper). I drove from GR to Chi (city proper to city proper), in about 2 hours 15 min. How long it takes depends on what part of the areas you are leaving from and going to. From the Eastern suburbs of GR you can get to Places Like Novi (western suburban Detroit) in about an hour and a half, however, if you are going St. Clair Shores or something....it could take you about 2 and a half hours.

[GinaJ]

I just skimmed the posts but if you are in to art then I thought of Ann Arbor or maybe even Royal Oak. It is a young town with cute and affordable apartments. I have moved many times and with any move there is an adjustment period. Also every state has its pros and cons. 2010? Are you saving money for this move or waiting for school etc? I give you crdit cause you are quite the planner. When I want to move I want to now and a month is long for me to wait. Good luck

[somuchbetter]

Yeah the times I estimated are for the way I drive -- not very well.

"I moved to the Upper Peninsula from the urban heart of cosmopolitan Washington, DC. It was a big cultural shift, but don't be scared by these other posters who only know the UP in broad stereotypes. They're wrong."

I'm not saying the UP isn't a beautiful and wonderful place. I was just saying to be very prepared because it is quite different from the rest of Michigan. I agree that Marquette is a great place, and I also enjoy Houghton, and St. Ignace. The snow is definitely something you have to LOVE in order to live in the UP.

I agree with everything you said about the U.P., but it definitely takes a certain kind of person to live there, and you definitely need to love isolation and snow..all the time. And Lake Superior is not the only Great Lake that is truly Great.

If you want the best of both worlds, (not as much snow but still has the northern charm) I would also suggest the Ludington Area, and the cities around Traverse City. I particularly love Charlevoix and Petoskey as well. These cities are near the U.P. and Straits of Mackinac, but have their own artsy communities and are on the coast of Lake Michigan. However, these places may be a little more pricey to live at, but for the way you are planning, you don't have much to worry about!

[Northman]

Originally Posted by somuchbetter

If you want the best of both worlds, (not as much snow but still has the northern charm) I would also suggest the Ludington Area, and the cities around Traverse City. I particularly love Charlevoix and Petoskey as well.

"Not as much snow" is pretty vague phrasing, especially considering you're talking to people coming from Miami. All the towns you mentioned here get close to, or well over 100 inches of snow a season. Charlevoix and Petoskey are subject to heavy lake effect snows in the same manner that Marquette is, although Marquette averages more annually - but still........once you get near 100 inches, any "not as much snow" sales pitch is not going to fly.

The OP is a young artist coming from a major city.......I have my reservations about wether they would like the MUCH slower pace of northern MI, especially once they got a brutal, 6 month winter under their belt. Winter in northern MI is no joke.......it's something you have to plan for and then deal with on a daily basis every year. I would definitely recommend Detroit, Grand Rapids, or Ann Arbor for someone that young and unmarried. The towns up north, especially Marquette, are a LONG way away from a lot of the stuff that young people enjoy.

[SWV]

Originally Posted by Sin7

Hello, residents of Michigan! A friend and I need some help...

A friend and I currently live in Miami, Florida, and we both share a strong hatred for this place. The people, the weather, we really don't like it here. We are fairly young. I'm 22, he's 23, and we've lived here our entire lives. Frankly, we're fed up with the obligation of living somewhere we hate, and something about your state makes us all giddy, and we would really love to move up there. Thing is, we don't know ANYONE up there (my entire family lives in Miami), so we don't really have the scoop on what's happening over there. We've been doing research on your state and it seems that the UP is a nice place to start.

Financially, we're planning on saving about 10k between the two of us before we take the plunge. Our plan is to be out of Florida before Winter of 2010. We work retail jobs, so we're not really in the money. I've read it's tough to get jobs out there, but we really don't plan on making careers out of it as I'm sure most of the bloggers are referring to.

We would be happy earning just enough to get by in a 2 bedroom apartment and go it from there. Down here in Miami, a 2 bedroom apartment goes for about $1200 a month. I've visited Rent.com and did some searches, but once again, it's hard to narrow it down to a city. We'd like to be in an area with plenty of nature.

We are pretty low maintenance people. We generally stay home and play video games or watch movies, no big deal, but we don't want to live in a city where there's absolutely NOTHING to do. Going out and watching a flick and enjoying some nice live music would be grand. And we want to be very close to the coast, because as much as I hate it here, I do love the ocean.

So yeah, that's our story so far. Hopefully you readers won't brush this off as some young stupid kids' aimless dreams. Any general feedback would be greatly appreciated! Please!

I would definitely try Detroit or Grand Rapids two of the largest cities with a lot to do. Detroit just has high crime but it's a really great city.

Kalamazoo is another great city and it is known as a college town, has a lot of things to do for people around your age, great parties, clubs, bowling allies, malls etc.A lot of people go to Mattawan to because they have this place called Formula K.

Try Lansing to another college town. If you like music they have a lot of concerts at Michigan State University few weeks ago they hosted Lil Wayne.

Grand Rapids they have a lot of things to do, my professor just went to a Police (if you know who they are) concert a couple of weeks ago and she had so much fun. Grand Rapids also has 3 good malls, zoos, a huge go kart place.



Michigan is cool. But it's just not for me.

I will be moving to L.A. soon.

[Coldjensens]

West side is wonderful, but you sound like Ann Arbor types.