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Here's the thing: I would probably move to a place like that because although the summers are hot, the other 3 seasons are really mild. But all the fun stuff seems to happen in the summer (festivals, fairs, etc.). That's the main reason I started looking up north, to do fun summer stuff without it getting too hot.
Gotcha. Well, Northern Michigan has incredible summers - some of the best summer weather and recreational opportunities in the entire US. But there's a huge opportunity cost, and that's the other 9 months of the year of gloomy, grey, frigid misery.
I'm a native Southerner like you. I spent a year in Michigan about 20 years ago. I have no desire to ever live outside the South again.
I don't know, I've heard Northwest Indiana is pretty ghetto.
It isn't that depressed, except in *Gary and a few other parts of area. And due to people leaving Illinois, NW Indiana even is seeing a little bit of population growth. It has a lot of nice towns that are nicer than people might think. Not only Valparaiso, but also Crown Point, Chesterton, and Griffith to name examples of places with nice downtowns. The one in Highland isn't bad, either. And like what you see around Highland Park, IL, some of those small NW Indiana towns like Beverly Shores and Ogden Dunes do have small moraine areas just south of the lakefront.
Actually around like New Carlisle, IN, Three Oaks, MI, there are a few slight rolling hills here and there. It isn't quite as hilly as the driftless area of say like northwest Illinois, southwest Wisconsin, northeast Iowa, and southeast Minnesota, but it is nice it isn't 100% flat like some parts of Illinois and Indiana are like.
Aren't some parts of Scranton and northeast Pennsylvania a little depressed, anyway? As a railfan, I thought Scranton had some railroad museum that seemed like it might be a little interesting, at least from googling it. Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, and northeast Pennsylvania towns are places I'd like to street view more, down the road. And like NW Indiana, I do wonder if NE Pennsylvania may see some revitalization, from new people moving into this area in future years. And do wonder if passenger rail service is reestablished into Scranton(as some rail advocates want to see occur, between there, NJ, and NYC), if that may help with revitalizing NE Pennsylvania.
Traverse City is nice, but I do hope the OP would be ready for how cold winters can get up there. There are limited flights up to northwest Michigan through nearby airports, and talk about reestablishing passenger rail service between Ann Arbor and Traverse City. Someone else mentioned West Virginia, and that might be an idea for the OP to consider. WV doesn't have a lot of lakes true, but it still has some amazing hiking in having a lot of mountains, and some nice small towns in the east, northeast, and north part of the state. Morgantown was one of those smaller cities, I always liked a lot myself. I do wonder if the OP also should consider western Maryland, besides also southwest Missouri and northwest Arkansas?
*- the Miller part of Gary, has some nicely maintained homes. to Gary's credit, they even have restored the Marquette Park park fieldhouse building, and also the beach house building by the beach. and I'd argue, is the nicest part of Gary in my opinion.
Aren't some parts of Scranton and northeast Pennsylvania a little depressed, anyway? As a railfan, I thought Scranton had some railroad museum that seemed like it might be a little interesting, at least from googling it. Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, and northeast Pennsylvania towns are places I'd like to street view more, down the road. And like NW Indiana, I do wonder if NE Pennsylvania may see some revitalization, from new people moving into this area in future years. And do wonder if passenger rail service is reestablished into Scranton(as some rail advocates want to see occur, between there, NJ, and NYC), if that may help with revitalizing NE Pennsylvania.
Honesdale's claim to fame is it's train. It was home to the first commercial steam engine in the US.
Based on your criteria, I would suggest looking at Alpena instead of Traverse City, Michigan. Cheboygan or Rogers City, MI might be good options too.
Traverse City is very touristy, growing, and is politically moderate. If your political views are more Republican in nature, anywhere east of I-75 will feel more at home. You will still have the beautiful lakes, lots of hills, and peace and quiet.., with very few liberals.
What about somewhere near Grand Rapids like Newaygo? Gotta be less than an hour from a Sam's Club.
Northern Michigan has incredible summers - some of the best summer weather and recreational opportunities in the entire US. But there's a huge opportunity cost, and that's the other 9 months of the year of gloomy, grey, frigid misery.
It gets pretty gloomy here in Johnson City, and I wouldn't mind the overcast as much if it meant a lot of snow like in nearby Boone, NC.
What about somewhere near Grand Rapids like Newaygo? Gotta be less than an hour from a Sam's Club.
Newaygo is only about a 35 minute drive to the shopping on Alpine Ave. which has everything including Sams. Another 10 minutes will get you downtown GR/the Medical Mile, 15 will get you to the "nicer" mall, and you can be to the airport in less than an hour from Newaygo.
Newaygo is definitely more rural but it's got a growing commuter base from Grand Rapids. It's in a very pretty setting that's heavily forested and its attracting more and more professionals that want their own little piece of nature. If the goal is to be within striking distance of city amenities it could be a good choice. You may also want to look at nearby White Cloud, Howard City, or even somewhere around Big Rapids. They don't have as many commuters moving in. If you're goal is to live somewhere rural and remote you may want to look further north at Baldwin, or maybe Cadillac.
Newaygo is only about a 35 minute drive to the shopping on Alpine Ave. which has everything including Sams. Another 10 minutes will get you downtown GR/the Medical Mile, 15 will get you to the "nicer" mall, and you can be to the airport in less than an hour from Newaygo.
Newaygo is definitely more rural but it's got a growing commuter base from Grand Rapids. It's in a very pretty setting that's heavily forested and its attracting more and more professionals that want their own little piece of nature. If the goal is to be within striking distance of city amenities it could be a good choice. You may also want to look at nearby White Cloud, Howard City, or even somewhere around Big Rapids. They don't have as many commuters moving in. If you're goal is to live somewhere rural and remote you may want to look further north at Baldwin, or maybe Cadillac.
I was also thinking that a place like Hamilton or Zeeland would work as well due to the strong Dutch Reform culture in that area.
Newaygo is only about a 35 minute drive to the shopping on Alpine Ave. which has everything including Sams. Another 10 minutes will get you downtown GR/the Medical Mile, 15 will get you to the "nicer" mall, and you can be to the airport in less than an hour from Newaygo.
Newaygo is definitely more rural but it's got a growing commuter base from Grand Rapids. It's in a very pretty setting that's heavily forested and its attracting more and more professionals that want their own little piece of nature. If the goal is to be within striking distance of city amenities it could be a good choice. You may also want to look at nearby White Cloud, Howard City, or even somewhere around Big Rapids. They don't have as many commuters moving in. If you're goal is to live somewhere rural and remote you may want to look further north at Baldwin, or maybe Cadillac.
I agree with this. You don’t have to venture much north of greater Grand Rapids to get the rural, outdoorsy, live and let live feel. The further north you go, the easier (and lower cost) it will be to find a place, albeit with a longer drive to the big box store. Still a very beautiful area, lots of lakes and water, and plenty of peace and quiet.
I was also thinking that a place like Hamilton or Zeeland would work as well due to the strong Dutch Reform culture in that area.
Based on what the O.P.’s criteria, I don’t know if Hamilton/Zeeland area would be the best fit.
It is definitely a conservative area, but more in a rural farmer conservative and farmland developing into suburbia conservative. What I mean by that is Zeeland doesn’t have that “north woods” feel, and it has more of a rural Indiana/Ohio feel instead. I could be misunderstanding, but if the O.P. Is looking for trees, lakes, and isolation… north of Grand Rapids is probably a better feel.
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