After your New Year's celebration you probably do not want to hear about another Vineyard or Winery, let's talk about why we love Michigan besides the wine.
In addition to wine, Michigan has been on a microbrewery and hard cider craze. Many places can monetize on either a portion of their crop to grow hops and fruit for these drinks. You can probably find a Michigan microbrew or a Michigan hard cider blog. Michigan is known for much more other than alcohol.
Number one over all is the natural resources, Great Lakes, rivers, smaller inland lakes, trails, recreation, National and State Parks, hunting, fishing, wildlife and all of these adding to the states tourism economy. You are never far from an adventure in Michigan. The beaches and vastness of the Great Lakes make you feel like you are at the ocean, especially during the hot summer. Great news about the Great Lakes is there are no sharks and you won't get that salty taste in your mouth when you get hit by a wave.
There is so much history in Michigan, starting with the prehistoric fault zones, volcanos, lava flows, glaciers, mastodons, Native American tribes, European fur traders, missionaries, settlement by farmers and pilgrims, Revolutionary War bases, iron ore and copper boom, industrial revolution with Ford, Chevy, Dodge, soon to pair with Chrysler making cars, to transitioning to making B-52 Bombers during World War II. After the war they transitioned back to making cars and Michigan started bringing more and more business to the state. Music legends like Ted Nugent, Bob Seger, Kid Rock, Eminem hail from the state. Michigan is home to the NFL team Detroit Lions, MLB Detroit Tigers, NHL Detroit Red Wings, NBA Detroit Pistons, Also some top notch Big Ten college teams like University of Michigan, Michigan State University, plus tons of great academic colleges and universities like Northern Michigan University, Grand Valley State University, Central Michigan University, Western Michigan University, Michigan Tech University, Wayne State University, Oakland University, Albion College, Kalamazoo College, Alma College and many more stellar academic institutions.
The next phase of Michigan's economy is headed towards renewable energy. There are already wind farms and solar fields being installed and even more are planned due to the crosswinds off of the lakes and vast fields. Michigan has the world's largest amount of fresh water in the Great Lakes and groundwater, which may need to be exported to other states and countries that are running out of this resource or do not have clean water.
Michigan is home to so many great things and one of the best states. What is your favorite attribute about Michigan? Your opinion matters and I look forward to your responses. You can look forward to my next post Friday.
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