Michigan

Michigan’s 3,000 miles of shoreline are the most of any of the lower 48 states, including Florida and California. The waters of the Great Lakes defined Michigan as its statehood petition described the state’s border as the isthmus between Lake Erie and Lake Michigan and the land between Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. As a compromise to relinquishing claims to the disputed Toledo Strip, Michigan begrudgingly accepted the Upper Peninsula, whose minerals later fueled Detroit’s industrial engine.

Detroit, The Motor City, has a cultural footprint as unique as New York and Chicago, including unique slang and its own take on pizza and hot dogs. As you head north, forests and coasts replace urbanization and once you cross into the UP, they reign supreme in some of the most pristine forests east of the Mississippi. Michigan is a true four season destination with mild summers and winter snows that beg to be played in.