I'm back after last week's fam vacay in Michigan. It was my first time in the Midwest, and boy, is it different than the coasts! Below are my thoughts. Travel tips wise, if you're in that neck of the woods, just rent a boat and enjoy the lakes. Mackinac Island was a total tourist trap.In Detroit, the Ford museum was incredible - the largest indoor/outdoor museum in the US, he has a whole pioneer village of real famous cabins (like Edison's factory), and you can tour the Ford F150 factory and watch them get made!Downtown doesn't have much to offer beyond urban decay sights. Ann Arbor was a fun college town. Traverse City and environs:feels like a liminal dreamland with postcard perfect painted tiny towns, far north summer sunlight, and an unnatural cleanliness from 6 months of snow washes half the yearfeels like America(tm), with folks noticeably less fit and more friendly than the coasts. Everyone waves at you!with that comes more American flags than I’ve ever seen before, on every house and business. More US flags than SF has Pride flags.Fun to go boating and have the lake to yourself - I’m used to sharing on Tahoe and Clearlake and the rest.Lake life is much easier than beach life, too. No waves, salt, or aquatic pests - but the same winning combo of sun water and sand.Petosky stones - fossilized ancient coral within smooth rocks on the shores of Lake Michigan. What a great treasure hunt!Detroit: If NYC is the Empire City, this is the has-been Motor City, and it shows. Same Berlin vibes of decayed urban past glory (and killer techno, which they invented!)But people still live here, and they are so vibrant! There’s definitely something in the air - people love being here and swear by it. They talk about California the same way California talks about NYC (too expensive and crowded for me, visit but don’t live)The cheap real estate lends itself to a thriving art scene - multiple randos gave me personal business cards for their side hustles, and those side hustles could afford to have storefront retail space!Existing in a city that’s 77 percent Black was also a subtle, and welcome difference. I enjoyed chatting up my Uber drivers and feeling like the outsider minority for a healthy change.Speaking of which, these suburbs are the textbook examples of white flight. Its literally black and white downtown vs ann arbor, etc. Thats facilitated by the city being built for cars first people second, even more than elsewhere in america. The airport is a 90 min bus ride from downtown, vs a 20 min drive.Did you know Detroit means “strait” in French? I didn’t!
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#452 - My first Michigan, the crying viral…
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I'm back after last week's fam vacay in Michigan. It was my first time in the Midwest, and boy, is it different than the coasts! Below are my thoughts. Travel tips wise, if you're in that neck of the woods, just rent a boat and enjoy the lakes. Mackinac Island was a total tourist trap.In Detroit, the Ford museum was incredible - the largest indoor/outdoor museum in the US, he has a whole pioneer village of real famous cabins (like Edison's factory), and you can tour the Ford F150 factory and watch them get made!Downtown doesn't have much to offer beyond urban decay sights. Ann Arbor was a fun college town. Traverse City and environs:feels like a liminal dreamland with postcard perfect painted tiny towns, far north summer sunlight, and an unnatural cleanliness from 6 months of snow washes half the yearfeels like America(tm), with folks noticeably less fit and more friendly than the coasts. Everyone waves at you!with that comes more American flags than I’ve ever seen before, on every house and business. More US flags than SF has Pride flags.Fun to go boating and have the lake to yourself - I’m used to sharing on Tahoe and Clearlake and the rest.Lake life is much easier than beach life, too. No waves, salt, or aquatic pests - but the same winning combo of sun water and sand.Petosky stones - fossilized ancient coral within smooth rocks on the shores of Lake Michigan. What a great treasure hunt!Detroit: If NYC is the Empire City, this is the has-been Motor City, and it shows. Same Berlin vibes of decayed urban past glory (and killer techno, which they invented!)But people still live here, and they are so vibrant! There’s definitely something in the air - people love being here and swear by it. They talk about California the same way California talks about NYC (too expensive and crowded for me, visit but don’t live)The cheap real estate lends itself to a thriving art scene - multiple randos gave me personal business cards for their side hustles, and those side hustles could afford to have storefront retail space!Existing in a city that’s 77 percent Black was also a subtle, and welcome difference. I enjoyed chatting up my Uber drivers and feeling like the outsider minority for a healthy change.Speaking of which, these suburbs are the textbook examples of white flight. Its literally black and white downtown vs ann arbor, etc. Thats facilitated by the city being built for cars first people second, even more than elsewhere in america. The airport is a 90 min bus ride from downtown, vs a 20 min drive.Did you know Detroit means “strait” in French? I didn’t!