Gorgeous Michigan Summers. (Detroit, Royal Oak, Ferndale: for sale, travel, jobs)

[TurboState]

Today at my sons Baseball game everyone was commenting on what a gorgeous summer day it is. This made me realize something - Michigan DOES have the best summers.

Even after my father moved to Florida, he always made sure to come up to Michigan for the summer and enjoy the weather and water. Then sitting at the game, I looked around and realized how lucky we are to be living in Royal Oak, how gorgeous the ball park is, and how nice the people are that live here.

Frankly, you can keep the doom and gloom, its gorgeous and things are looking up. My neighbors are all back to being employed, looks like the downturn was very overrated and was nothing more than an overreaction by a few people.

[M TYPE X]

More feel good talk. I will agree that Michigan and Wisconsin summers are nicer; it gets way too hot in Illinois.

[Cato the Elder]

It's a small sample set, but I found out today while working on the yard that there are at least 5 houses on our small block with young families that moved in from outside the region within the past 2 years. We bought our house last summer, two houses were bought in the last 6 months, and one house just up for sale already has offers. None involved unemployed people fleeing as you would guess based on the doom-and-gloomers here. All involved people retiring and young families moving in. I would call this a healthy transition. At least some people are finding jobs in the area and choosing to move to MI. Perhaps I live in some bizarro world that only exists on one block of MI, but based on my observations, the world has not ground to a halt in MI with the decline of the Big 3.

[Rapunzll]

Yup, Michigan does have wonderful summers. Too bad I have to move out of state to get down to one job. No point in being in a place with lots to do when the weathers great if I have to work seven days a week.

But I'm happy for those of you who things are 'looking up' for!

[jeffncandace]

It’s soooooooo nice to see positive posts for once! I have to agree that Michigan’s summers are amazing. I just moved here from southern California last year, where we grew tired of living on the verge of heat stroke for 3 months out of the year. I also used to live in Oklahoma and south Texas, both miserable, IMHO. Not just hot, but humid as well. It’s like living in a sauna, and down there it’s for 5-6 months, not just 3.

Here in Michigan it gets uncomfortable for a coupla weeks, maybe 3 at the most…and even then there is no comparison to southern environs. The rest of the summer seems to float around the 80’s, which is great!

This Saturday my wife and I got her parents to watch the kids and we went to Pine Knob (aka DTE Theater) for a Stevie Nicks concert. We left a few hours early and drove around Royal Oak (where we live) as well as Huntington Woods, Ferndale, and Palmer Woods in Detroit. The weather was perfect, upper 70’s, not a cloud in the sky. We love seeing the various homes and neighborhoods, and the various downtown areas that are prevalent in this part of the Metro area. So much character and charm…still a novel thing to us, being from the land of subdivisions and strip malls.

We got cheap lawn seats at the concert and sat on a blanket, drinking lemonade and jamming to Chris Isaac, then Stevie. For a few hours, all was right with the world. My wife looked over at me and commented on how much she loved Michigan, and was so glad we decided to move here. I know that Michigan has its problems, but I guess we ended up living in one of the areas that is still vibrant, still doing well. The next day, Sunday, we walked the kids down to the local park, letting them run and play in the gorgeous weather. Other families were there with their kids too, everyone running and laughing.

If I hear another “whoever’s the last one in Michigan to leave turn out the light” comment, I may just explode!

[jackrackham]

yep, to bad they only last from june to august, the rest of the time is total crap

[JimmyInGreatLakes]

May can be a great month and Sept. & Oct. are awesome most of the time. I love Dec. and Jan. as well if there's enough snow to light up the landscape. It's that sloppy 30-40 degree slush kind of weather that gets me down.

[jeffncandace]

Personally, the only part of the year I haven't liked so far is February and March. Feb was too cold and March was just cold enough to be miserable without any snow to make it pretty. The rest of the year is great, IMHO.

[JimmyInGreatLakes]

I think at least we had a lot of sunshine in February (one reason for the cold...no clouds to retain the heat) so it wasn't bad in that respect. Frankly, I would HATE the weather in the South but I seem to be pretty warm blooded, not fond of heat. The downside for me is hefty heating bills in the cold weather months but not as high as some folks that keep their houses WAY too toasty (IMHO).

[magellan]

January was an unbelievably mild one this past year. It was right during Gerald Ford's funeral, and a I have a slew of photos from the weeklong events and not a speck of snow on the ground. I also remember thinking how great the weather was for all the international news organizations that traveled to GR for the coverage.

So far, May and June are shaping up to be pretty terrific!