Where’d everyone go?
Wal-mart.
And the bank. OldTax-lady sent us a ton of money (she's clearing her estate). Now I won't have to finance the new washer after Christmas!
I actually don't have anything against Wal-Mart (Target is the true enemy), but I do nearly all of my shopping at Meijers. It's a Michigan based, regional, Wal-Mart style store. Good prices, grocery, and all the other departments under one roof. The store layouts are easier to navigate than the local Wal-Marts, and Meijers tends to be better staffed around here.
I spent a lot of time in Lake Orion, right up until I got married. I dated a guy from LO for a couple of years. A fun (but exhausting) way to spend an afternoon or evening was hiking the Paint Creek trail from downtown Rochester all the way into downtown LO. We don't have really long hiking trails like that up here, which is a big, stupid shame. Every community along the Grand has their own river trail, but so far, Lansing and East Lansing are the only cities that have made a point to connect the trails. Even that is pretty short, though, only 5-7 miles.
One of my all-time favorite "record" stores (I've no idea what they're called these days) was Sam's Jams, at the corner of Woodward and 9 mile. We used to skip the first half of any school day in which a long-awaited album was to be released, just so we could pick it up at Sam's.
I can't wait until next summer. We're hoping to spend three or four days in the UP, really checking it out. I knew it was different, but I thought the main differences were in the Yoopers, compared to us Lowpers. We got across the bridge...almost impossible to describe. It's like a Martian landscape.
TC, if you're ever thinking of coming up this way, let me know ahead of time. It's such a beautiful state that not even the UAW, Teamsters, MEA, or the entire population of Detroit can spoil it.