Welcome To Michigan. Great Lakes! Great Times! I still remember driving to the state surrounded by great lakes in the autumn of 1998 for a job interview and the first sign that welcomed us as we drove into this new land. "Look, they are welcoming us. With a catchy slogan! The possibilities are gonna be endless!" So for me and my wife (then girlfriend) this was our land of opportunity. Our first address at a really terrible apartment complex in Grand Rapids, Michigan. We were ready for the world. The state with my favorite running back of all time Barry Sanders! A place giving you ten cents for each beer and pop bottle and can you return has got something going for it! And there's lakes!
Then the first winter hit. It was the most snow I'd ever seen, something like 30 odd inches of white stuff in a weekend. And the locals told me it was a relatively mild winter. The winter also made my girlfriend's jeep a casualty to mother nature. Amy ended up buying another car buried in snow out of necessity. The color is not important when you need to drive sixty some miles to Lansing overnight for a job, so she got a teale Sunfire (that was some hot shit!).
Spring thawed the ground and we found solace come summer in Grand Haven, a wonderful beach town on Lake Michigan where we would go in the mornings after Amy got off her overnight shift. The sun was wonderful. It was also the place where we got sunburdt worse than we ever have before as we fell asleep one July morning on the beach (We've been to St. Thomas, the Bahamas and Aruba and never got THIS bad).
When Barry left, we felt it was time to also
West Michigan is also home to a couple other fantastically odd sights. The "Michigan Adventure" theme park, kind of like Cedar Point, except no good rides except for a large wooden roller coaster named Shivering Timbers. Also, there's Holland, Michigan. A dutch settlement whose economy strives on tulip festivals (I love the Dutch). Knowing summer was winding down, we hatched a plan to move south before another winter. (Did you know there is a place called Hell, Michigan?) And we succeeded, even if it was neighboring Fort Wayne, Indiana we relocated to. Barry Sanders had retired, it was time we too get out of Michigan. Don't get me wrong, we had a lot of great memories in Michigan and have frequented Detroit multiple times for sports events since we left and spent our first wedding anniversary outside Saugatuck.
I know Sufjan Stevens designated a whole album to Michigan, but he did the same with Illinois, so he's got that covered. Let's give Michigan the Red Hot Chili Peppers who wrote a song called "Especially In Michigan". I don't know how they're addressing the state except for ("Lions and Tigers come running to steal your luck", alright then.) So the tour keeps on moving through 50 states as we pass through the ever fascinating Michigan. Grab yourself a punchki and some Peter Piper pizza and settle in.
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