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Old 06-28-2010, 12:16 PM
 
Location: At the end of the road, where the trail begins.
760 posts, read 2,432,022 times
Reputation: 353

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Yes the big box stores can be an eyesore on that stretch..... but it's actually fairly seperated from Marquette proper (I'm talking aesthetically).
We lived there the last four years (rarely ever shoppped at Walmart) and left in October because wife thought she wanted to be closer to her family, amongst a few other reasons.

Now we're planning on moving back up there within the next couple of months (perhaps not Marquette itself but the western U.P. ). You just can't get it out of your system once you've experienced it!

Interestingly, while we absolutely LOVED the wilderness/beauty of the area (we're avid hikers)..... it's the culture and the people that we miss the most up there. Coming back to lower MI was quite the culture shock even tho we spent most of our lives here.
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Old 06-28-2010, 12:24 PM
 
71 posts, read 277,807 times
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How would you describe the culture and people that are drawing you back? You must be so happy to be going back home.
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Old 06-28-2010, 12:25 PM
 
Location: State of Superior
8,733 posts, read 15,878,317 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jeeg View Post
Yes the big box stores can be an eyesore on that stretch..... but it's actually fairly seperated from Marquette proper (I'm talking aesthetically).
We lived there the last four years (rarely ever shoppped at Walmart) and left in October because wife thought she wanted to be closer to her family, amongst a few other reasons.

Now we're planning on moving back up there within the next couple of months (perhaps not Marquette itself but the western U.P. ). You just can't get it out of your system once you've experienced it!

Interestingly, while we absolutely LOVED the wilderness/beauty of the area (we're avid hikers)..... it's the culture and the people that we miss the most up there. Coming back to lower MI was quite the culture shock even tho we spent most of our lives here.
Welcome home...hopefully ! Took me 35 years to finally get it scratched off my bucket list....I'm not going anywhere ! ( Maybe a week-end or too in Chicago from time to time, thats it)
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Old 06-28-2010, 02:02 PM
 
Location: At the end of the road, where the trail begins.
760 posts, read 2,432,022 times
Reputation: 353
Quote:
Originally Posted by ShermanJoe2 View Post
How would you describe the culture and people that are drawing you back? You must be so happy to be going back home.
I would describe most of the people that we met as warm rugged individualists. They were always friendly, hard working, independant, and yet would be right there if you ever needed them (and the same was expected of you....... kind of an unwritten code of ethics). But that's how I would describe ourselves too which is why we fit in so well.
Down here (in comparison folks, we are natives of these regions ) there is soooooo much more of the "entitlement" mentality across the entire broad spectrum of people. It really is a bit overwhelming after living someplace where the opposite is the norm.

There are other elements too but that is the biggest difference in my humble opinion.

Quote:
Originally Posted by darstar View Post
Welcome home...hopefully ! Took me 35 years to finally get it scratched off my bucket list....I'm not going anywhere ! ( Maybe a week-end or too in Chicago from time to time, thats it)
Thanks, if all goes well we should be there just in time for winter!!
We will still do a bunch of traveling but will make da U.P. our homebase.
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Old 06-28-2010, 03:17 PM
 
Location: State of Superior
8,733 posts, read 15,878,317 times
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Some parts of the U.P. ( Marquette area good example), have more folks from other places than those who are of the manner born, died in the wool Yoopers. If your name IDs you as a second or third gen. of Finish descent, then you will be stubborn, self reliant, won't wear gloves in the winter, and think 80 degrees is too hot to work...its time to go fishin. You have a "camp" in the woods thats little more than a shack, that calls you on week-ends and for extended stays during deer season. You have been " outside", but always come back to live, work, and make less money than you could elsewhere.
The outside people who come up here from where ever, do so for various reasons, job transfers mostly, outside of the retirees. For the most part, those who stay all have one thing in common, they love nature, and all that it brings. The glue that holds it all together is Lake Superior, once you are bitten, you are doomed to repeat the visit many times, and if the bite is big enough, you most likely will have no choice but to start looking for a place to live. Yoopers are quite a lot like Alaskans, the similarities are frightening. All the same reasons people go so far away from civilization, to be frozen, to not having every city amenity at hand, to shovel snow,and to be stuck in a place worth being stuck in. Can't say that about a lot of other places. If you can't find a job, you make your own. If you want total seclusion, you build or buy a cabin in the woods , and tell all your friends from down south, under the bridge, that they would not like it here, don't come, the bugs are big, the winters are snowy, and bears are vicious.
Living in Upper Michigan is not unlike other parts of the Northern Tier, with one exception, its better, cause we have Superior , the Lake and the Land, appropriately named.
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Old 06-28-2010, 06:27 PM
 
71 posts, read 277,807 times
Reputation: 93
Quote:
Originally Posted by darstar View Post
Some parts of the U.P. ( Marquette area good example), have more folks from other places than those who are of the manner born, died in the wool Yoopers. If your name IDs you as a second or third gen. of Finish descent, then you will be stubborn, self reliant, won't wear gloves in the winter, and think 80 degrees is too hot to work...its time to go fishin.
That's interesting....the part about there being more outsiders than natives. That usually dilutes any sort of identity the area once had until it's a shadow suburb of ______ (fill in the blank). It sounds like the UP is an exception; more people must go there seeking the wilderness and all it's harshness, as opposed to a cheap land grab in a pretty setting, which happens so often.

We must be Finnish! If it's over 80 degrees it IS to hot to work. After being in the UP for 2 weeks, home in southern Ohio has been like living in a rice steamer.

Last edited by ShermanJoe2; 06-28-2010 at 06:28 PM.. Reason: spelling duh
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Old 06-28-2010, 08:08 PM
 
Location: At the end of the road, where the trail begins.
760 posts, read 2,432,022 times
Reputation: 353
Quote:
Originally Posted by darstar View Post
.......then you will be stubborn, self reliant, won't wear gloves in the winter, and think 80 degrees is too hot to work...its time to go fishin. You have a "camp" in the woods thats little more than a shack, that calls you on week-ends and for extended stays during deer season. You have been " outside", but always come back to live, work, and make less money than you could elsewhere.
Hey!! That describes us perfectly and we're not even Yooper decendants!!
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Old 06-28-2010, 08:10 PM
 
Location: Upper Pennisula
58 posts, read 161,654 times
Reputation: 53
Jeeg, I'm glad to hear you and your family plan to return to da UP!
Martha
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Old 06-28-2010, 09:05 PM
 
Location: State of Superior
8,733 posts, read 15,878,317 times
Reputation: 2869
Quote:
Originally Posted by ShermanJoe2 View Post
That's interesting....the part about there being more outsiders than natives. That usually dilutes any sort of identity the area once had until it's a shadow suburb of ______ (fill in the blank). It sounds like the UP is an exception; more people must go there seeking the wilderness and all it's harshness, as opposed to a cheap land grab in a pretty setting, which happens so often.

We must be Finnish! If it's over 80 degrees it IS to hot to work. After being in the UP for 2 weeks, home in southern Ohio has been like living in a rice steamer.
It all started about the turn of the 20th century. They came for the gold ( copper), then they came for our trees and cut them down, again they came,... for the Iron ore ...most exploiters left but a few stayed. Todays Yooper is a little mixture of ethnic origins, folks that don' fit anywhere else, and a lot of winter sports freaks that find living here Paradise... Then there are the retirees, more and more who are finding the whole world does not sunset on places like Arizona and Florida.
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Old 06-28-2010, 09:42 PM
 
Location: State of Superior
8,733 posts, read 15,878,317 times
Reputation: 2869
Quote:
Originally Posted by jeeg View Post
Hey!! That describes us perfectly and we're not even Yooper decendants!!
Then, stay put...this time ! lol
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