Traverse City Record-Eagle

Betty Werth

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March 3, 2008

Betty Werth: This is a 'hot spot' -- really

BY BETTY WERTH

When it comes to the best spots to live on God's green earth, northern Michigan is sometimes referred to as a "best-kept secret."

That "secret" is particularly well hidden right now when, at first glance, this looks like where hell finally froze over.

But once the snow melts and spring arrives, it's hard to find any place prettier, or to remember why last January you put up a sign on your front lawn that said "For Sale" and then in February crossed out "Sale" and wrote "Free."

Winter provides us with rough sledding, no doubt about it. That may be why when some northern Michigan community is singled out as a "vacation spot" or "retirement spot," we get that "you mean HERE?" look. It's like being notified by a Nigerian diplomat that if you send him your bank account numbers, he'll wire you $30,000 to keep for him until he comes to America. It sounds like a cross between something 1.) real good and 2.) real unlikely.

But Nigerian diplomats aside, northern Michigan communities, once isolated and "out of it," are increasingly getting noticed for being escapes from that busy southern Michigan megalopolis where being "in it" is getting old. Last year an organization called "bizjournals.com" chose a northern Michigan community as a top retirement destination, basing its selection on eight indicators of quality for retirees, one of them being the population growth of people age 65 and older.

OK, that's one. We do have a lot of older people up here. In fact, if we gathered everyone over the age of 65 into one area of the region it would dip.

But what, I have to wonder, are the other seven? I checked bizjournals.com and found nothing, but as I began to think about my own top reasons for loving it in northern Michigan I came up with these seven: (You probably have your own)

1. You always know at least one other person in the Emergency Room.

2. No matter where you are, you are never more than 20 minutes away from a boat launch.

3. A traffic jam is three cars and a tractor. So is a parade.

4. No one will criticize your grammar.

5. If you want to, you can be our fashion expert. The job is open.

6. Except for the Dairy Queen, you can usually find a restaurant without a line.

7. No matter what craft you make (e.g. scarecrows out of sauerkraut, potholders out of retread tires, crocheted dishtowels out of old dental floss) someone in northern Michigan will buy it and put it on their coffee table. Truly. We're nice that way.

Oh, and one more thing. Ask us for a favor and we'll probably do it. Unless you're a Nigerian diplomat, and even then we'll give it some thought.

Reach Betty Werth at bwestrope@hotmail.com.

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