[pirate_lafitte]

Originally Posted by warchildbosnia

Not to mention that the politics in Michigan are different. Michigan has a lot of industry to. It really would fit better next to Maine!

Maine is relatively rural compared to Michigan. Maine doesn't have alot of industry. One similarity I can see between Michigan and Maine is the history of logging in both states.

[mackinac81]

Originally posted by kazoopilot
Michigan is upper Midwest, so it's similar to states like Minnesota and Wisconsin. Both of those states have plenty of trees and lakes. We also have plenty of cornfields, mostly in the southern part of the state. Also, the character of the state changes as you go south. The U.P. and Northern Lower is nothing but lakes and forest, the landscape starts opening up south of Big Rapids with more farms and hardwoods, and south of Kalamazoo more prairie and cornfields can be seen. The town I live in is 14 miles from the Indiana border and is completely surrounded by cornfields, and there are fewer trees near the Indiana border. Sturgis and White Pigeon might as well be in Ohio.

Very true. Just between Kalamazoo and the border the contrast is amazing. I was visiting family in sturgis for christmas and I felt like I was in Central IN.

As for me, I've always seen Michigan as part of the "Upper Midwest", as opposed to just "The Midwest". We have more in common with Wisconsin and Minnesota than we do the Plains. It comes down to the forests and the lakes. Interestingly, my mom grew up on the KS/OK border and she never considered us the midwest. To her Kansas was the midwest, and Michigan was "back east" Funny perspective.

I don't know about everyone else, but sometimes the lakes make me feel a little cut off from the rest of the region. I mean, when I'm on Lake Michigan, Wisconsin seems so much further away, even though it's only about sixty miles across the lake. When you're in MI, especially up north, everything else seems sort of "out there".

I've also heard that places surrounded by water tend to have a more insular mindset. Not making an attack, but sometimes MI seems more off on it's own than other places might be.

[Peter B]

[quote=mackinac81;7895695]Very true. Just between Kalamazoo and the border the contrast is amazing. I was visiting family in sturgis for christmas and I felt like I was in Central IN.

As for me, I've always seen Michigan as part of the "Upper Midwest", as opposed to just "The Midwest". We have more in common with Wisconsin and Minnesota than we do the Plains. It comes down to the forests and the lakes. Interestingly, my mom grew up on the KS/OK border and she never considered us the midwest. To her Kansas was the midwest, and Michigan was "back east" Funny perspective.

I don't know about everyone else, but sometimes the lakes make me feel a little cut off from the rest of the region. I mean, when I'm on Lake Michigan, Wisconsin seems so much further away, even though it's only about sixty miles across the lake. When you're in MI, especially up north, everything else seems sort of "out there".

I've also heard that places surrounded by water tend to have a more insular mindset. Not making an attack, but sometimes MI seems more off on it's own than other places might be.[/QUOTE]

I've been here 5 years and your statement is absolute fact.

[pirate_lafitte]

[quote=Peter B;7896269]

Originally Posted by mackinac81

Very true. Just between Kalamazoo and the border the contrast is amazing. I was visiting family in sturgis for christmas and I felt like I was in Central IN.

As for me, I've always seen Michigan as part of the "Upper Midwest", as opposed to just "The Midwest". We have more in common with Wisconsin and Minnesota than we do the Plains. It comes down to the forests and the lakes. Interestingly, my mom grew up on the KS/OK border and she never considered us the midwest. To her Kansas was the midwest, and Michigan was "back east" Funny perspective.

I don't know about everyone else, but sometimes the lakes make me feel a little cut off from the rest of the region. I mean, when I'm on Lake Michigan, Wisconsin seems so much further away, even though it's only about sixty miles across the lake. When you're in MI, especially up north, everything else seems sort of "out there".

I've also heard that places surrounded by water tend to have a more insular mindset. Not making an attack, but sometimes MI seems more off on it's own than other places might be.[/QUOTE]

I've been here 5 years and your statement is absolute fact.

I happen to have a few friends who are frome Michigan. I have noticed that my friends from Michigan tend to be a bit quieter and more relaxed than my friends from other states. Do you think that Michigan being surrounded by water might have something to do with it?

[Coldjensens]

[quote=pirate_lafitte;7896354]

Originally Posted by Peter B

I happen to have a few friends who are frome Michigan. I have noticed that my friends from Michigan tend to be a bit quieter and more relaxed than my friends from other states. Do you think that Michigan being surrounded by water might have something to do with it?

The water in Michigan is naturally laced with Vallium, so we are all relaxed.

[pirate_lafitte]

[quote=Coldjensens;7907897]

Originally Posted by pirate_lafitte

The water in Michigan is naturally laced with Vallium, so we are all relaxed.

sarcasm, eh.

[MI_FireLady]

Answering mackinac81 above... "I don't know about everyone else, but sometimes the lakes make me feel a little cut off from the rest of the region. I mean, when I'm on Lake Michigan, Wisconsin seems so much further away, even though it's only about sixty miles across the lake. When you're in MI, especially up north, everything else seems sort of "out there".

I've also heard that places surrounded by water tend to have a more insular mindset. Not making an attack, but sometimes MI seems more off on it's own than other places might be."

And don't most of us harbor that little fantasy of cutting ourselves off from Ohio, Indiana and Illinois to the south and Minnesota and Wisconsin on the U.P. side...and become our own "country"..."off on our own"? A little ...or LARGE paradise island...four seasons, well 5 if you include "mud" season...(NOW)...all manner of fruits, vegetables and livestock, forests, lakes, rivers, waterfalls for "peace and tranquility"... sunrises or sunsets overlooking blue waters. Many, many cultures with diversity in music and arts. Yep... "off in our own little world"... sounds perfect to me.

[michigan83]

south of Kalamazoo more prairie and cornfields can be seen. The town I live in is 14 miles from the Indiana border and is completely surrounded by cornfields, and there are fewer trees near the Indiana border. Sturgis and White Pigeon might as well be in Ohio.

It's not quite as simple as this. Kalamazoo has more trees and lakes than areas to the south, but there are areas north and east of Kalamazoo that are also more open, flat, and generally used for farming. The land between Lansing and Mount Pleasant (and further north) looks very much like Indiana farm country. Same with a lot of the rural land between Grand Rapids and Lansing. Most of the "thumb" region reminds me of the Ohio flatlands.

So... yes, the Kalamazoo area is much different than the areas 30 miles to the south, but similar things can be found hundreds of miles to the north and east as well.

[pirate_lafitte]

Michigan has always stuck out on a map to me. I had a Fisher-Price toy map when I was younger and the state of Michigan always looked different from all of the other states. I look at it today and the idea of a state that is somewhat landlocked and yet there is alot of water everywhere and it's in two separate parts. I think of when I played Mario Brothers 3 and the level where it's surrounded by alot of water. That is what Michigan reminds me of sometimes. Images of this waterland come up.

[Bydand]

Originally Posted by pirate_lafitte

Michigan has always stuck out on a map to me. I had a Fisher-Price toy map when I was younger and the state of Michigan always looked different from all of the other states. I look at it today and the idea of a state that is somewhat landlocked and yet there is alot of water everywhere and it's in two separate parts. I think of when I played Mario Brothers 3 and the level where it's surrounded by alot of water. That is what Michigan reminds me of sometimes. Images of this waterland come up.

Actually there is a lot of truth to the thoughts you had as a youngster. I lived in Maine for a long time and the biggest thing I missed about Michigan was all the water everywhere you went. Water was a huge part of growing up, and still is as an adult.