[Bydand]

Originally Posted by YAZ

Oh yeah, The Great Lakes have plenty of fish available.

It's the Massasauga rattlesnake that's the only poisonous critter in Michigan.

Very rare too.

Very rare indeed. In all my years spent out in the woods in Michigan I have seen a grand total of 2. Neither were in the deep woods either.

As for fish, you are right. There are a ton of freshwater fish around here. While I like a good Red Snapper, or other Salt water fish fresh from the ocean, I still like the fresh water fish the best. I guess it is all a matter of what you grow up with.

[laruefamily_cjjh]

Originally Posted by Coldjensens

You need to shop better. Great seafood is avialable. It may not be as plentiful as on the Ocean coasts, but it can be found. It is just not as popular here so there is less of it. It is certainly easy to find a great steak or great fresh water fish. In fact you can catch delicious fresh water Salmon right in Lake Michigan.

salmon i like, crawfish i will miss

[laruefamily_cjjh]

well snakes are abundant here, we kill some every year, cottonmouth, rattle snakes... we have raccoons come on the porch and eat cat food we put out at night (not for the raccoons, there are lots of feral cats here and they help lower the snake population)... Turtles are seen a lot, people have snakes and some even have baby alligators as pets... deer come up in the yard.... hmmm not sure about much else course im tired a bit right now

[laruemc1311]

This is the hubby of laruefamily_cjjh...the "C"...I can't wait to get my wife and family to Michigan...I lived there for about 3 years and moved away 10 years ago after high school. When I moved it was such a culture shock but in a positive way! I just wanted to hop on here and thank you all (y'all) for posting all the helpful comments on this forum...I've tried to fill my wife in on what i could but I have definitely missed out on some of the finer points of good old Michigan. I lived in Hartland and worked in Howell over 10 years ago and will be living in the Portage/Kalamazoo area and hopefully be working in the same area. I am still weighing my options and looking for what all is available. Like I said thank you to everyone. Any more comments and/or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[laruemc1311]

I have always wanted to provide my wife and kids the different kind of culture and evironment that I found to be available in Michigan. There are alot of things that I do love about the south and will miss however it has always seemed that life was always a bit...duller, maybe just seemed less...I would say that you really just don't realize what all there is out there to be experienced...When you live down south alot of times where you live is you ENTIRE world, except for the TV and Internet, most people seem to experience NOTHING else. I simply cannot wait to share all of those wonderful and paradigm shifting experiences with my family. I want to say thank you also to MY WIFE!!! Thank you for taking a chance with me and moving to somewhere completely different from anything you have ever none...You won't regret it, my love...and please no making fun of my case of sappiness...

[bluebird39]

Moving away from Louisiana was a big eye opener for me. I do miss it, but would never want to live there, and raising a family in New Orleans just wasn't an option for me.

I think you'll find that any rural area is going to be similar. I live in NE Michigan, and there are plenty of folks up here who rarely think outside of the place up here.

I think one huge difference, that many Michiganders, strangely will dispute, is that the income level of your average Michigander is MUCH more than your average folks from Louisiana. Same was true for Oregon. I hate to admit it, but the crushing poverty and crime was also a big reason I left LA. That's one thing that really irritates me here in Michigan... how they COMPLAIN so much! I've literally heard average middle income people complain that they don't have a cabin, or lake house like so many others here. Just blows my mind... I have never lived anywhere where people were so rich! Seriously! And yes, the communities do look out for eachother here. That was very rare in Oregon where the population is so transient.

Anyway, good luck with your move! Has your wife been up here? I do love the lack of nasty bugs, critters, and reptiles. The stories I tell my kids of my youth down there is a source of constant amazement. Both of the "wildlife" and of the horrible schools I went to. But I do think it's a good place to grow up. It also gave me a perspective that many people don't have, KWIM...

[magellan]

Originally Posted by bluebird39

Moving away from Louisiana was a big eye opener for me. I do miss it, but would never want to live there, and raising a family in New Orleans just wasn't an option for me.

I think you'll find that any rural area is going to be similar. I live in NE Michigan, and there are plenty of folks up here who rarely think outside of the place up here.

I think one huge difference, that many Michiganders, strangely will dispute, is that the income level of your average Michigander is MUCH more than your average folks from Louisiana. Same was true for Oregon. I hate to admit it, but the crushing poverty and crime was also a big reason I left LA. That's one thing that really irritates me here in Michigan... how they COMPLAIN so much! I've literally heard average middle income people complain that they don't have a cabin, or lake house like so many others here. Just blows my mind... I have never lived anywhere where people were so rich! Seriously! And yes, the communities do look out for eachother here. That was very rare in Oregon where the population is so transient.

Anyway, good luck with your move! Has your wife been up here? I do love the lack of nasty bugs, critters, and reptiles. The stories I tell my kids of my youth down there is a source of constant amazement. Both of the "wildlife" and of the horrible schools I went to. But I do think it's a good place to grow up. It also gave me a perspective that many people don't have, KWIM...

Despite the prevailing narrative, there's a huge fairly wealthy middle class in Michigan that's not going anywhere anytime soon. In addition to cabins and cottages and just "huntin land" up north, Michigan fights with Florida for the top spot for registered boats (near 1 Million the last time I looked).

We were looking for used boats this spring, expecting to find a plethora of late model power boats on the market. We could barely find anything newer than 2001, searching the Bay City, GR and TC areas. Even the Traverse City Record Eagle only had about 12 used boats in the 18 - 19' range, all at least 10 years old. I mean, I thought it was like the Grapes of Wrath and people were fleeing with just the shirts on their backs and leaving old cars and boats with just the keys in them on the side of the road. Apparently not.

Oh wait, maybe it's all those ex Chrysler workers and they're living in those boats.

Sorry, WAY off topic.

[momof11]

oh cool my husband said something about meijer (how do you say it lol) thanks so much for the website,

We moved here from California last August (it's a whole new kind of life!) My kids pronouce it Mee hair with a spanish accent. They know that isn't how it's pronounced just something they do for fun.
We've spent our last year here getting acclimated and we love it. I do not love driving in the snow but if I have to I can do it.

The accent? We've noticed a tendency to drop the middle out of a word when the middle letters are hard consonants. The word mitten like mi -in. The other day my 8 year old dropped the middle out of a word so I guess he's already fitting in. He will not say "I seen it" though because his siblings won't allow it.

We love Michigan, we love the weather (even the snow) coming from very dry California we even love it when it rains. The people here are very nice and laid back. We have really enjoyed getting to know people.

[michmoldman]

I have lived here all 42 years of my life and have not noticed people being unfriendly at all. Last year we had a blowout on our RV on busy I69 and a guy stopped soon after and parked his truck a ways in back of us, so someone would hit his truck first and protect us. I was very appreciative, but never got to thank him like I wanted cause I was so nervous of all the semis whizzing by and our small kids in the truck and was in such a hurry. I mean we did thank him, but just felt like it wasnt enough. Also, whenever there is a family or community in trouble in MI, and money or food need to be donated...you can bet there will be plenty of help.

[Coldjensens]

Originally Posted by laruefamily_cjjh

salmon i like, crawfish i will miss

I thnk that we have crawfish in the river here. OUr kids catch them all the time. I do not know what kind. Maybe Rusty crawfish. Can you eat those? Most people that I know who catch crayfish, use them for bait