[Joe Schmitt]

I live on a small (45 acre) fishing lake in Lapeer county. A couple of houses are for sale at reasonable prices $250,000 to $280,000. It is about 35 miles north of the Palace of Auburn Hills, 10 miles north of the city of Lapeer. Lots of woods, hills, good hunting and fishing.

[us2indaup]

Traverse City is indeed beautiful, but expensive to live in. If you don't mind letting go of some conveniences (Wal-Marts and Sams Clubs), try the southern U.P.. Manistique is close to the Hiawatha National Forest with literally hundreds of beautiful fishing lakes. Iron Mountain is quite a surprisingly urban town with many lakes nearby. Escanaba is a little further from inland lakes, but you're by the legendary walleye fishery of Bay de Noc. Iron River Michigan is in the Ottawa National Forest and is also close to the Wisconsin northwoods with its well known Muskie fishing. In my experience, the Hiawatha Ntl. Forest is best for both fishing and scenery, and a wholesome area to raise a child. Good luck!

[kwhitt]

I'm originally from Alpena, a very nice, very conservative small town. People are friendly, schools are good. There is a community college that caters to students with daytime jobs and those planning on transferring to universities. It's right on the lake shore. Fishing is the prominent activity there, along with snowmobiling, hunting and camping. MI state parks are some of the best you'll find - and there are alot of them. Alpena stays small because there isn't an expressway nearby. Good jobs are hard to come by but minimum wage and shift work is easy to find with a resume and solid references. Many of the younger people leave the area for that reason. The town goes to bed early so late night activities are limited to the video store, bars and the Super Walmart Some local activities are Art on the Bay, City Band concerts at Bay View park (you get to watch the lake while the kids run around you with ballons and the family pets lick the ice cream off the grass , Fourth of July fireworks (they do a nice display and it's been getting even better every year...they shoot them off over the lake), the Brown Trout festival (built around the fishing tournament), the Posen Potato Festival isn't far from Alpena, etc. If you're looking for a slower pace, old-fashioned attitudes and friendly people, this would fit the bill...I miss it, but left for school and now live in Grand Rapids...still searching for a job after graduating from CMU last spring.

[mabernathy]

One thing you have to take in consideration is the Lake effect snow in the winter. If you do not mind it snowing each day in the winter, then Lake Michigan coast line would work for you. Traverse City and other areas along there are very nice, in the summer, but in the winter it gets very windy and very snowy. Just my thoughts. To stay where the snow fall is more average, stay towards the center of the state. Harrison is a very nice small town, good schools, 1,000s of acres of state land for hunting, ATV, and camping, 20 lakes within just minutes of each other. Most travel out of town for work though, average drive is about 30 minutes.

Oh, FYI City-Data's placement of Harrison on there map is wrong. Harrison sits just above Clare and below Houghton Lake on US 27.

Good luck!

[avalon]

There are a lot of nice places to live here in Michigan. I was born and raised in Detroit (back when Detroit was nice and safe), and moved around other places in the state. I can tell you where you do not want to live under any circumstances: Benton Harbor, Detroit (city of), Muskegon, Flint, Saginaw, and Jackson.
Just drive around these hell-holes and you will know what I mean.

[muskegonman]

Why would you consider Muskegon a "hell-hole"? I live here and it's not that bad. I especially love the summers with our awesome beaches (winters not so much). The downtown is also going through a rebirth. Now Muskegon Heights, that's a hellhole.

[JimmyInGreatLakes]

Yeah, I wouldn't diss Muskegon and Jackson too much but agree on the other big cities. I live near Lansing but enjoy Muskegon (and it's proximity to Lake Michigan) for various reasons. Jackson isn't all bad either, there's some nice parks and recreation opportunities in and around that area. My favorite areas sort of rhyme: Leelanau and Keewenaw (U.P.) counties (there's something about Lake Superior that's simply spectacular). Both beautiful areas without much job support. Would love to retire to either place. Grew up in Northeast lower Michigan and have to say that's not a bad area as well as kwhitt can testify.

[Wabbit]

Much like Michigan gets an overall bad rep because of Detroit,
Muskegon can't seem to shake itself free from the reputation of
Muskegon Heights. It's a shame because they've made great strides.
Without actually going there and seeing it, it's hard to believe,
but true.

Other than that Avalon's list is spot on.

[rschneider]

I live in Canadian Lakes, MI and take my children fishing and boating all the time, in the spring and summer, that is! I relocated here a couple years ago and just love it. There are so many lakes and rivers around here! Not to mention golf courses. This town is such a fantastic place to live
Good luck...

[Cliffie]

Oh, heck, there are lots of great places. Lakeland sounds like a perfect fit -- sort of tucked in betwen Brighton and Ann Arbor. You can't go more than 6 miles in this state w/o hitting water, so your options are better than average. There's Highland, Milford, Ore Creek, Pinckney, Portage Lake, Holland, Saugatuck...