The Greening of Michigan

WordPress is now giving a monthly writing prompt (#WordPress, #WordPrompt). This month, April the prompt is green (#green). So, I am trying to write a post based on the prompt. I assume that others who have blogs on WordPress both get and read the emails that are sent out periodically. Sometimes I get to them to late to respond, as was the case with April, where the prompt was bridge. I sure could have done something with that one.

Now, on to the concept of green and greening. Having both a house in southern Michigan and a cabin in the Upper Peninsula I get to experience the season’s differently from many people. Right now southern Michigan is at the start of spring. By that I mean the grasses are green, plants and emerging and there are even some flowers. Yet at the same time, in Paradise and at Whitefish Point in the Upper Peninsula there is still a lot of snow on the ground.

As we (Susan and I) travel in the state, making the trek to and from the cabin ever few weeks we get to see these seasonal issues. But at the same time we get to watch changes that occur along our route, which is mostly on I-75.

So, without hesitation I will proceed with three green themes.

As you travel on the Interstates there are things that you easily notice. The exits are numbered sequentially and are white on green.

At the same time the mile markers along the Interstate let you know the road that you are on every mile, and the mile, within the state that you are passing. We make good use of this system, knowing how far we have traveled, how far we have to go, or where the next rest area is.

As we head north, the plants, or in this case the trees change. In southern Michigan deciduous trees dominate, and conifers like the one above are fewer. By the time we cross the Mackinac Bridge we are now in habitats dominated by pines, fir, hemlock, spruce and cedar.

By the time we reach Wolverine, we are only some 40 miles from crossing the Mackinac Bridge. But I look at this as we are now only 110 miles from Whitefish Point and our cabin.

About half way across the bridge we have a good view of the Upper Peninsula which is still over a mile away, actually in the middle of the Straits of Mackinac it’s slightly over two miles north or south to land.

We finally leave I-75 at Michigan State Route 123 which will take us to Paradise.

But just before reaching Paradise you have to cross the Tahquamenon River. Here you start to really appreciate the greenness of the north. We are now in boreal forest.

And then we reach Paradise, where we live technically, although I prefer to think of us living at Whitefish Point which used to be larger than Paradise, but as the fisheries along Lake Superior collapsed the village of Whitefish Point essentially disappeared. It was soon annexed by Paradise.

But, along the Interstate we have watched another form of greening – the growth of the cannabis industry. Some business come and go quickly. Others open a second store, or become a chain. What I have included here are billboards that I photographed today. Trying to take photos from the passenger seat of a car doing 75 mph is a challenge. So not all of the pictures are of the best quality. But you will experience about 150 miles of billboards, although I know that I missed at least 8-10 in addition to those that I photographed.

Going north from Ann Arbor the billboards start to appear close to Flint.

Sequential billboards on opposite sides of the interstate, which is clever. My question is with the word “veteran.” Does that mean a military veteran or a veteran grower?