Living in Michigan, with its snowy, cold winters and golden, blue summers, is a unique experience.
We Michiganders see strange weather patterns, like lake effect snow. It may snow at my house, but not the neighbor’s just down the road. We have the good fortune to never be more than six miles from a body water where ever we go. We have great swimming, boating and fishing here! Half the year our fields and orchards are overflowing with fruits and vegetables, and half the year they’re buried in snow. There are so many thing that are special about living in Michigan. Here are just a few.
1. We can always find a beach to watch the sunset. Watching the sunset over one of our four Great Lakes is a favorite pastime for Michiganders. Our northern location, angle the of sun, and clouds created by the big lakes make for a spectacular display of color as night falls. Our wide-open, west-facing beaches are some of the best places to catch a sunset. Bonus points if you can find one with a pier and lighthouse. There’s nothing quiet like seeing the sky turn amazing colors over the water while your feet dangle off the end of a pier.
2. Our lakes aren’t just wide spots in the river, and they’re always fresh! It wasn’t an exaggeration when they named them the GREAT lakes. They’re huge! Lake Superior is 31,700 square miles. Erie, the smallest Great Lake, still comes in at 9,940 square miles. The Great Lakes are really inland seas that can whip up big waves and even create their own weather. Head to their beaches on a windy day and you might think you’re at the ocean. Except for one thing. No salt water here. No sharks either. Did you know all five Great Lakes together contain 20 percent of the planet’s fresh surface water?
3. The interesting weather means we always have something to talk about with the receptionist at the dentist. We don’t have awkward silences when we need to make small talk with strangers, because we can always talk about the weather. Everyone has an opinion about it. There’s so much going on with the weather, you can fill at least 10 minutes.
4. We get four awesome seasons. We have four very distinct seasons, each beautiful in its own way. Sometimes we even experience all of them in one day! We have an old adage that goes, “If you don’t like the weather, wait five minutes. It will change.”
5. We almost always have snow for Christmas. We don’t have to dream of a white Christmas, because it’s pretty much a guarantee here in Michigan. We have a hard time understanding how folks in warmer climates muster Yuletide cheer when it’s 75 and sunny outside. It just doesn’t seem right for a fat guy in a red, wool suit to fly a sleigh around in that kind of weather.
6. We don’t shut down the city over one inch of snow. Snow doesn’t stop us. We have plenty of snowplows and salt trucks to clear the roads. If we have to, we can always leave as little sooner, driver a little slower and put on an extra layer clothes. Actually, many Michiganders love all the recreational activities snow and cold provide, like skiing, snow snowmobiling and ice skating.
7. We put on shorts and sandals when it’s 60 degrees. We may have a sweatshirt or even a winter coat for the top layer, but it’s all summer for the bottom half. (Told you there was a lot to say about the weather.)
8. We always have a map on-hand. Michigan is a BIG state, so it’s pretty handy (pun intended) to just throw up your hands and show someone where Copper Harbor is in relation to Detroit.
9. We don’t go back to school until September. Some of Michigan’s best summer weather happens in August. Most schools here don’t start until after Labor Day, thanks to a state law that says they can’t. Although that’s changing with more and more places asking for waivers to start sooner. Personally, I don’t get it. I say lets hang on to summer as long as we can!
10. We turn right to go left. In a lot of Michigan cities, major thoroughfares are divided into boulevards. The only way to turn left is to make what’s called a Michigan Left Turn. You continue through the intersection and make a legal U-turn, using a specially provided lane. Then you continue straight through the intersection where you wanted to go left. Confusing? See the diagram below.
The red arrow is how you make a regular left turn: pull into the intersection, then turn when oncoming traffic stops. The blue arrow is a Michigan left. You turn right, then use a special far-left turn lane to go left, merging with traffic going the same direction? It’s really just a legal U-turn.
11. Up North is our favorite place to go on vacation. When a Michigander in the Lower Peninsula throws a suitcase in the car in the summer, there’s a 50 percent chance they’re headed Up North. This could mean just to the northern part of the Lower Peninsula. Most of us agree that Up North beings at Cadillac. Or we could be driving across the Mackinac Bridge to the Upper Peninsula. The U. P. is as much as 10 hours away from parts of the Lower Peninsula. It’s so different and far away that it feels like we’re in another world, even though we didn’t leave the state!
