April Fool’s in Michigan

Fun stuff about Michigan, just in time for April Fool’s Day. For more visit michigan.org.
• In Michigan you are never more than six miles from a body of water and 85 miles from a Great Lake.
• Since 1957 its two peninsulas have been connected by the Mackinac Bridge, which happens to be the longest suspension bridge in the Western Hemisphere, with 7,400 feet of roadway suspended over the straits of Mackinac.

• The largest pet casket makers in the world are Yoopers. Hoegh Industries, in the Upper Peninsula (U.P. for short, thus Yoopers) town of Gladstone, has been making pet caskets since 1966. Each year they sell more than 35,000 petite caskets and burial shells, and about 6,000 cremation urns.

• How big is the Upper Peninsula? Larger than Delaware, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut combined – but still so under populated that one area code covers it all. Part of the U.P. reaches as far west as St. Louis; another part is farther north than Montreal.

• The Detroit Pistons is the first NBA team in history to have four players on the All Star roster.

• World capital for automobiles, blueberries, cherries, potato chips and softball.

• Home to the nation’s first automobile, traffic light, typewriter, Boston Cooler, and oldest state fair (Michigan State Fair – 1849).

• Michigan’s coastline boasts 116 lighthouses, many of which are open to visitors. You can even spend the night in four of them: Lake Superior’s Big Bay Point, Sand Hills and Jacobsville Lighthouses in the Upper Peninsula, and Middle Island Keepers Lodge on Lake Huron near Alpena.

• Thomas Edison’s last breath was captured in a glass tube and is now on display at The Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn.

• The Shrine of the Pines near Baldwin is home to the world’s largest display of rustic pine furniture, made by one man who was good with wood. He created, among other furnishings, a rocking chair of roots that is so perfectly balanced it rocks 55 times with a single start.

• It’s been featured on a U-Haul van and was the subject of a David Letterman “top ten” list. You can’t see much of it, although it covers 38 acres and weighs as much as an adult blue whale. The “Humongous Fungus” sends up edible honey mushrooms but mostly thrives under a forest near the town of Crystal Falls, which celebrates its existence August 10-13 with the Humongous Fungus Fest parade, picnic, and making of a humongous (10′x10′) pizza.

• Not a single White Pine, the Michigan state tree, was sacrificed for creation of the world’s largest crucifix, on public display in Indian River. The seven ton cross, which stands 55 feet high and is 22 feet wide, is made of California redwood and bronze.

• The town name Frankenmuth does not mean “place of plentiful chicken dinners.” It is German for “courage of the Franconians.”

• The Great Lakes State boasts 3,200 miles of freshwater coastline, and touches lakes Erie, Huron, Superior and Michigan.

• Stretching from Indiana to the Straits of Mackinac, the Lake Michigan dune system covers 275,000 acres and is the largest system of freshwater dunes in the world.

And on a final note…
Michigan—home to Motown, Seger, Nugent, Anita Baker, Madonna, Eminem, The White Stripes, Del Shannon, Earl Klugh, Kid Rock, Alice Cooper and others—has no state song. Since the Civil War, “Michigan, My Michigan” has been considered Michigan’s “unofficial” state song. It does have an official pledge, adopted in 1972, and it goes something like this: “I pledge allegiance to the flag of Michigan, and to the state for which it stands, two beautiful peninsulas united by a bridge of steel, where equal opportunity and justice to all is our ideal.”

We’re not foolin’. Get more true information about Michigan events and travel destinations by visiting michigan.org. Order the free 2006 Michigan Travel Idea magazine at michigan.org, or call toll free at 888-78-GREAT. The magazine is also available at 13 Michigan Welcome Centers across the state.

Travel Michigan, a division of the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, is the State of Michigan’s official agency for the promotion of tourism. Travel Michigan markets the state’s tourism industry and provides valuable visitor information. For Michigan travel news and updates, go to michigan.org

March 29, 2006   Posted in: United States NorthEast