What is the Midland, MI area like?

[withm]

I just came back from 2 glorious weeks in northern Michigan. We participated in Tawas Bird Festival, getting up at 5:30 am to go out on field trips to look for birds. We went to Charity Island, some trails at Eagle Run area along the Au Sable, Tuttle Marsh, and finally to the Pine River Kirtland Warbler refuge, where we did indeed spot some endangered Kirtland Warblers. As a neophyte when it comes to birding, I did not see nearly as many (nor did I have a prayer of identifying them) as others, but en masse the group reported around 175 different species.

Then we took a day trip up to Mackinac Island, where every bend in the ring road around the island revealed an even more beautiful vista than the last. The fact that the island is car free was so refreshing! Now you did have to be a little careful not to ride through horse stuff, but there were regular clean up (all done by bicycle) so it really was not a problem.

Then onward to the UP, and the bird observatory, and the shipwreck museums at Whitefish Point. Put my hands into Lake Superior (brr cold), walked along the beach ("I can see Canada from here!"), and just enjoyed the beautiful crisp, clean air that is not found in the big city, or anywhere on the east coast for that matter.

Finally a stop to see lower and upper falls at Taquemenon Falls State Park. We were actually there when the big forest fire started last week, but it was a few miles away from us and we did not see any signs of it at all.

Then the long drive back to Tawas, and a few days later, back to Delaware.

I love visiting Michigan, and as soon as I can retire, I plan to live there around 6 months each year, and I can't wait.

To get a good feel for the different areas in Michigan, I'd suggest looking at the Pure Michigan website. You can spend hours perusing that.

http://www.michigan.org/

The photos show us at the the Charity Island Lighthouse, the list of birds seen at the Eagle Run field trip (yeah, I know it's hard to read), the Upper Falls at TQ, an owl at the Live Birds of Prey demonstration, and finally the group looking everywhere for Kirtland Warblers (we found several) in the jack pines.

If I lived in a place where I could do these sort of activities every weekend I would be happy.

Another thing to consider, in the summertime it does not get dark until 9-10pm depending on where you are. Makes for nice evening bike rides with no traffic. Sweet!

No, I don't work for Michigan tourism. Maybe I should look into that as a second, no make that third career?