Monday, January 24, 2011

"Hmmmm, maybe we should look at a map."

"Hope you got your own snow plow.  You're gonna need it!"

If I had a dollar for every time someone said this to us when they found out we were going to move to Michigan, I would have at least $217.  At least.  But guess what?  It's just not true.  It really isn't.  It is the end of January and we are in Michigan and we have not once needed our own snow plow.    Now I totally get it if you want to have your own snow plow, because we gots a bunch of snow 'round here and stuff, but you don't need oneNo really, they have city and county services here that plow and salt the roads for us.  I know, it's the craziest thing.  Plus, and this will probably come as a shock to many people as it did to us when we finally looked at a map....we are not that far north.  It's true!  We are totally not in the greater Juneau, Alaska metro area.  In fact, I have acquired a map to illustrate my point, that point being: there are parts of 17, seventeen!, (18 if you count Alaska) states in this great country that are north of our house, not to mention the entire country of Canada.  Observe...
image source

I know!  I totally freaked out when I saw it too!  The map in my brain had Michigan right next door to the Yukon Territory.  And when I was a kid, I used to live here.

Okay, I thought, if I was totally wrong about our relative location in this fine country, maybe I should now take a gander at a map of the world (prepare to have your mind blown again!).
image source

Holy mackerel, Andy....almost the entire. continent. of. Europe is north of my house.  Europe!  Where people go on fancy, expensive vacations!  If I said we were moving to London, would anyone inquire as to the brand of my snow plow?  Well next time maybe they should.

What I'm getting at is this: don't knock a place just because of its location.  This state is awesome.  We get to enjoy all four seasons.  We've got beautiful beaches.  We've got great schools and fertile soil and wonderful people and ample rainfall.  And we are south of Paris.

10 comments :

  1. Yeah, the map in my mind put you at least as far north as I, who am "just" 45 min north of the IL/WI border... but looks like I'm in the tundra compared to you! (We still don't have our own snow plow).
    Things start to get crazy in the U.P., where the sun rises super early and doesn't go to down until after 10pm in the summer. Then, in the winter, there's no sun until somehwere around 10am! (some in-laws live there...)

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  2. Wow, we're just a little south of you (about 1/4 inch, in fact)! So even MORE of Europe is north of us. Unbelievable.

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  3. Katy just informed me that we are also closer to the equator than we are to the north pole (she learned this in Michigan history yesterday). Aw, snap!

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  4. Interesting, I had no idea that Southern Michigan lined up with Northern California.

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  5. And amen to that last paragraph. Michigan is great. There's a reason people stick around the cold states :).

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  6. I was really surprised when I saw that too, Cory.

    Michigan has been wonderful to us so far!

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  7. Juneau, Alaska! That's where I live (well, Douglas, Alaska, actually)! Right across the bridge from Juneau. Someday, come up on the Alaska Marine Highway from Bellingham and visit us!

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  8. I would love to visit Alaska someday! Our oldest daughter hopes to eventually visit all 50 states...so far she is 1/5 of the way there ;)

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  9. If they salt the roads in MI you will want to wash your car in the winter. I'm sure you have seen a bunch of rusty cars and trucks driving around, those are from the salt. Since you are from CA, I was not sure if you knew that or not. Just trying to be a helper bee. I grew up in MN and my cars were always rusty. Here in MT they sand the roads, so no rust on the cars.

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  10. lol, I AM in the tundra, Northern MN just a meer 200 miles from Canada. :) Yup, we NEED a snowblower here.

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