[homeschooldad1]

Originally Posted by Nodpete

How the he-- do you know Amasa ? I'm from there originally. I've never met anyone anywhere that was from there.

I have a photo that I took of a wall in the old depot that some one called Vern wrote temperatures down and on Jan 9th, 1977 he recorded -52. I'll try to get the photo posted here.

I live just a few minutes down the highway from Amasa.

[homeschooldad1]

Originally Posted by GraniteStater

Where is the data source for that? I agree that anywhere elevated and a bit removed from the Great Lakes will be colder as a rule. North-central WI south of Lake Superior is the coldest area of that state, with Couderay holding the state record of -60F in Sawyer County.

NOAA has climate records for almost every city in the country. Iron River is according to their records, the coldest incorporated place in the state of Michigan on average.

[jackmccullough]

My initial thought was Clare, but I could be persuaded to move the line up a bit to Cadillac, which is "up north" without any question.

[SunnyJoe]

Clare is "Up North".

[Coldjensens]

Grosse Pointe is up north to us.

[InnerCitySoul]

Anything north of Cincinnati (Mason Dixon Line.) Smile. I'm currently a resident of Atlanta (born and bred in Michigan, however.)

[GraniteStater]

So, does northern Lower Michigan count as "up north" while the UP count as "Ole and Lena" land?

[Nodpete]

If you don't say "up Nort" you're still in the lower peninsula !

[djmilf]

Originally Posted by GraniteStater

So, does northern Lower Michigan count as "up north" while the UP count as "Ole and Lena" land?

No, it's all up north, including the UP.

I've heard Michigan's "Up North" is actually the state of mind achieved by those from Metro Detroit, Lansing, or Grand Rapids as they travel north at the beginning of their vacations, the point when you see the thing that looks "Up North" and your mundane daily worries melt away. For me, it's when the pine trees start crowding in on I-75 and you can't see the southbound lanes for all of the trees.

[DTWflyer]

For me, as a kid going up north from Metro Detroit area probably about 15+ times a year, going up and down I-75 it was always West Branch.

This was where in the winter the snow depth would start to increase, the highway was now lined with trees both sides and in the median, you could start to pick-up the Traverse City/ Up North radio stations, and occasionally involved a pit stop at the roadside rest or off the Cook Rd exit. The air just felt up-northy there.

As an adult, once I hit M-55 I know I'm up north and its vacation/relax time.