Lifestyle 24 Things Michigan Does Better Than Anywhere Else

"If you seek a pleasant peninsula, look about you." So goes the state motto. Although that pleasantness may not always be readily apparent -- like when you’re shoveling snow of polar vortex proportions or when economists say your state’s largest city "no longer has any reason to be" -- you know that there’s no better place than Michigan for stuff like this: 1. Showing people where we live A geographical given. And because when Florida tries it, it’s extremely NSFW. Or just about anywhere else. 2. Being cool with Canada I mean, everyone’s pretty tight with Canada, but we’re like hold-your-hair-back-at-the-bar tight.

Jeff Waraniak

3. Coney dogs Everywhere, all the time.

4. Fruit Traverse City = cherries. Everywhere else = apples. The future = saskatoons?

5. Lakes Oceans have things that will eat you, and despite there being many a fat Michigander, they’re generally not known to eat people.

6. Boats/boating Fact: We rank third in state boat registrations, but first in style.

7. Snowmobiling Fact #2: We also rank third in state snowmobile registrations. But again, we do it best.

8. Cars You’re right, it’s not at all like it once was. Still, car culture thrives here, especially come Dream Cruise time.

9. Rivalries Michigan vs. Ohio State; Wings vs. Avalanche (circa late ‘90s/early ‘00s); Lions vs. Rest of NFL; Pistons vs. Bulls (maybe again someday?); Detroit vs. Everybody. We like the stakes to be high.

10. Booze Beer, whiskey, wine -- you name it. If it contains alcohol, Michigan makes it and makes it well.

11. Pop Not soda (see Faygo and Vernors).

12. Hidden gems There are plenty of beaches and beach towns tucked all over the state, and Isle Royale is one of the least visited National Parks in the country. Don't tell anyone.

13. Bankruptcy At least when we lose, we lose big. Like, the biggest city ever to file for bankruptcy.

14. Industrial decay Probably not something to revel in, but look, it’s there and you have to admit that the hard march of time and the weight of a city’s troubles over decades have made Detroit’s ruins, at the very least, interesting to look at.

15. Fudge Who has ever gone to Mackinac and said, "no, I don’t want fudge"?

16. Euchre No, that jack of clubs is a spade because the trump... look, we don't have time to explain it okay, it's 8-8 right now!

17. Lighthouses/shipwrecks We’ve got a lot of both, which is ironic.

18. Deer Just watch out for them on the highway.

19. Up North Where it begins, exactly, no one knows.

20. Cereal Battle Creek -- home to Kellogg’s and "Cereal City".