Becca, have been to Ann Arbor and liked it even though I wasn't there for a long time.

Tri Girl, invitation to Vancouver is there..since there is a train from Seattle right into downtown Vancouver train station. Can board bikes ... by then the hotels will be dying for biz after the Olympics. You would love Pacific Northwest summers, ..temperate, etc.

Haven't had the pleasure of visiting the U.S. central and south midwest yet. We don't hear much about OK up here.

Am afraid alot of smaller Canadian cities and towns are like OK, more car-centric..and snowier. The city I grew up in Ontario, population of 2 twinned cities would be 300,000+ population. Has had excellent transit system over the past 4 decades ( I used as a child and later to get to university) but right now still struggling over their cycling paths. And this is a place with 2 major universities and 1 college. So a place not lacking in intellectual innovation/growth but behind in other ways.