[Griffis]

Can anyone from the area or familiar with it lend any info about the Upper Peninsula? Economy, schools, drug problems, etc.?

I have been there, when I was quite younger (used to live in Minn.) and I know it is astoundingly beautiful, but wondered if anyone would be willing to discuss a few things about the pace of life, activities, the people, cost of living, etc.

Anything is very much appreciated. My family is looking to relocate end of 2006, beginning of '07. The U.P. is under consideration. C'mon, Yoopers, sell me!

[mariatherese]

hello, hello! say ya to da UP, eh?

i think i am the only yooper on here!

i'm in detroit right now, livin my life as a lowly "troll." lol but i was born and raised in st. ignace, MI- right across the bridge.

i'm in a hurry- so i will come back to this post later- but let me try to get some info to you-

economy is based on tourism. everything shuts down from october-march. unless you are in a college town, i imagine prospects would be better. you wont find a lot of rich people there... unless you are talking aobut the ones who have a summer home there. real yoopers live very simply. just not a lot of money to be made there. its very hard to make a living.

groceries, gas more expensive. real estate cheap.

lots of pot smokers and drinkers, because of the long winters, but no real drug problems. (you just cant get the hard drugs up there often... not that i know...)

schools- um, dont know- i didnt like my school. who did? lol but seriously, very close-minded, like stuck in old times. like singling out my brother because he has long hair.

ok i gotta go, sorry i am rambling, in a hurry. will help more later.

[mariatherese]

but UP is a wonderful place with WONDERFUL PEOPLE!!! (just read my last post and it sounds bad- its not bad!)

[mariatherese]

pace of life: ahhhhh... the most wonderful thing about the UP- things move very slowly up there. oh how i miss that. its all about hanging out with family and friends, relaxing, having a good time. people are hard workers, though, but they understand what life is really about.

people: very, very friendly. conservative, old school, but friendly. they will stop to help you if your car is on the side of the road. some "rednecks," not much exposure to culture up there, but to me that doesn't matter. they are simple, good people. MY people!

activities: depends. not much, really, especially if you are into the nightlife scene. my hometown has a handful of bars, only 1 stays open all winter, the rest are closed 6 months out of the year- typical for a UP town. but, if you enjoy outdoor activities, such as snowmobiling, canoeing, hiking, swimming, camping, fishing, hunting, you will love it. not much shopping either- we do not have a mall in the UP. you have to go to canada or traverse city for that. we just have touristy novelty shops.

all in all, the UP is a wonderful place to visit, but it is VERY different living there year round. if you are not the rugged individualist type, you will not like it. people who arent familiar with it imagine it as some sort of resort/vacation like place. it is not a resort-like place like lake tahoe or something. it is more like miles and miles of woods, with a few scattered towns. it is more like living in a mining town in colorado or something. nothing there, no industry, just a few city people who come to gawk at the scenery once in awhile.

i could never live there again, except maybe when i retire.

but i love it with all my heart.

[Mark S.]

We visited the U.P. earlier this summer. Loved it. People there are great. It's gorgeous.

Really the only three things we didn't like about it:

1.) The bugs. Driving west along the U.P., I kept seeing these huge black clouds. At first, I thought they were wisps of smoke. Turned out they were millions and millions of mosquitoes.

2.) The trees were all bare. One of the locals told us that about every 6 years or so, a bug wipes out all the leaves, leaving trees very bare.

3.) Midwesterners are the nicest people in the world, but man, they can't cook! Note to MIdwesterners: There are more spices in the world than salt and pepper. CAVEAT: The one BIG exception to this is the pasty. Great, great local cuisine.

Economy is struggling. There are some universities up there. In Marquette, I think. The other big industry is tourism, hunting, fishing, etc. Crime runs from so-so to low, depending on the town. One bussiness owner in Escanaba told me that the gangs tried to move in from Green Bay a few years ago, but it didn't take.

Lots and lots of snow. We went to the "banana belt" of the U.P. in Escanaba. They said their winters are very mild there. They only average about 10 feet of snow each winter. 10 feet! And that's the warm part of the region. In some towns, snow mobiles are street legal in the winter months. Escanaba had a neat history, too. Al Capone's gang used to rent out the top floor of a local hotel near the water. There are supposedly underground tunnels that they used for bootlegging.

I just read a book that takes place in the U.P. just outside Marquette. Copper River by William Kent Krueger. Check it out!

The movie Escanaba in the Moonlight was filmed up there if you want to get a picture of what the area looks like.

And the pasties are awesome!!!

If you can find a way to make a living there, I think it would be a great place to live.

[mariatherese]

Originally Posted by Mark S.

We visited the U.P. earlier this summer. Loved it. People there are great. It's gorgeous.

Really the only three things we didn't like about it:

1.) The bugs. Driving west along the U.P., I kept seeing these huge black clouds. At first, I thought they were wisps of smoke. Turned out they were millions and millions of mosquitoes.

2.) The trees were all bare. One of the locals told us that about every 6 years or so, a bug wipes out all the leaves, leaving trees very bare.

3.) Midwesterners are the nicest people in the world, but man, they can't cook! Note to MIdwesterners: There are more spices in the world than salt and pepper. CAVEAT: The one BIG exception to this is the pasty. Great, great local cuisine.

Economy is struggling. There are some universities up there. In Marquette, I think. The other big industry is tourism, hunting, fishing, etc. Crime runs from so-so to low, depending on the town. One bussiness owner in Escanaba told me that the gangs tried to move in from Green Bay a few years ago, but it didn't take.

Lots and lots of snow. We went to the "banana belt" of the U.P. in Escanaba. They said their winters are very mild there. They only average about 10 feet of snow each winter. 10 feet! And that's the warm part of the region. In some towns, snow mobiles are street legal in the winter months. Escanaba had a neat history, too. Al Capone's gang used to rent out the top floor of a local hotel near the water. There are supposedly underground tunnels that they used for bootlegging.

I just read a book that takes place in the U.P. just outside Marquette. Copper River by William Kent Krueger. Check it out!

The movie Escanaba in the Moonlight was filmed up there if you want to get a picture of what the area looks like.

And the pasties are awesome!!!

If you can find a way to make a living there, I think it would be a great place to live.

I believe those were blackflies, not mosquitos. Mosquitos do not swarm quite like that, though there are a lot up there. Yes, they are really bad, especially in the spring/early summer. But you get used to it.

I've never heard of the bare tree epidemic! ??? Maybe we didn't get that in the eastern UP? Or maybe I was just a kid and never noticed.

Mark, I'm so glad I have one other person on this forum who loves the UP as much as I do. Cheers to you! You are my buddy. Now if I could just find another Yooper...

[Griffis]

I sure appreciate all the help and friendly talk about the U.P. It just looks so gorgeous. As I say, I spent some time there in my youth...a cabin somewhere on the shore. Have to ask my dad where it was. We went there from Minn. to stay in a cabin and fish a few times. Very fond memories.

I am a librarian with quite a bit of experience and will be receiving my master's degree this December. I cannot express how much my family and I want to get out of Oklahoma. 95% of it is flat and ugly, the cities are riddled with crime, there's a lot of racism and intolerance and the main thing-- the blasted heat. Oh how I hate it. I don't want to ever spend another day of summer in Oklahoma. Plus, I miss the snow so much.

It does not look like jobs are easy to come by in the U.P...I will keep looking at the library sites in the bigger towns and at universities for library positions, perhaps contact a few people. Maybe I will get lucky.

mariatherese, I am not concerned with potsmokers or drinking (unless there are yahoos who drive crazy drunk all over the place.) I don't drink (health reasons) or smoke pot, but those aren't problem drugs to me. I was thinking more about meth and hard stuff, which I have heard is problematic in parts of Michigan, even rural areas (though I assumed it wouldn't hold as true for the U.P.)

I'm anything but conservative but we want peaceful, outdoors activities, family and friends. Not real concerned with a lot of bars or nightclubs except that I play music and would love to put an old-time combo together to play somewhere.

Though not conservative politically, we are people with values who value slower paced living and good simple people.

I'll keep my fingers crossed. Thanks again!

[mariatherese]

griffis, it sounds like you are a perfect match for the UP.

i would like to make the suggestion of marquette. if i were to live in the UP again, it would be there. it seems to me to have the most open-minded, educated people. living in the UP can sometimes feel like you are cut off from the rest of the world and new ideas.

but, my personal reasons aside, i always hear great things about marquette. it is the largest town in the UP (20,000). it is the only other college town besides sault ste marie. i have an aunt that works at LSSU in the IT dept. maybe i'll ask her what the librarian situation is there.

[mrkool]

You are forgetting Houghton, with Michigan Tech.. a substantial part of the town and local economy.

[mariatherese]

oh yeah... duh.

Don't forget Houghton!