Pleasant Peninsula with O.W. Root

How hot is it Up North right now? People are using their air conditioning. It's almost unheard of, actually. This is the first summer in years O.W. has had to give in to A/C, and what sweet relief it is. Plus, the latest sunset in entire eastern timezone happens in Michigan. But, as you may have guessed, it's kind of a hike. Discover more at Michigan Enjoyer Follow O.W. Root on X: @necktiesalvage...

Welcome to summer! Time to take a road trip to the beach. Wait, why is the road closed? It's also construction season. And no one does it quite like Michigan, and there's proof. Plus, sometimes restaurants are hidden gems, and then there's the Weathervane in Charlevoix. It's location is perfect, and fortunately, so is the food. Discover more at Michigan Enjoyer Follow O.W. Root on X: @necktiesalva...

Do you have a backyard? How about young kids? Are you constantly picking up their toys or just running them over with the lawnmower out of frustration? It may not be as hopeless as you think, especially when you consider the alternative. Plus, it’s a place you can go and see dozens of bears in their natural habitat. It’s not a zoo, by any means, and it’s definitely worth the hike to the U.P. for i...

It takes a lot longer. It’s a throwback. But for some, drying their clothes outside is a quiet luxury. Yet in certain places, it’s actually against the rules. You can guess which ones. Plus, the hidden lesson in the tiny town of Mecosta about cultural renewal. It’s the home of an intellectual giant you may have never heard of, but his life’s work has probably influenced American life for decades....

Are you one of those who obsess over the perfect lawn? Do you need every blade of grass to be cut the same height? Do you mow more than once a week? Then the front and back yards of Northern Michigan may give you heart palpitations. O.W. let’s it go natural. Plus, did you know they were still skiing up at Boyne Mountain in May? The surreal experience of hitting the slopes in t-shirts and shorts ma...

It was literally just like the scene from the Seinfeld Episode. O.W. shows up to rent a car with a reservation, but there are no cars. What in the name of Cosmo Kramer is going on with these rental companies? Plus, if you've ever wanted to visit the Hobbit's Shire from Lord of the Rings in real life, the closest place in the U.S. is in Charlevoix. That's where an architect liked to design and buil...

It’s spectacular Up North when the weather finally starts getting warm. But it comes with a price - millions and millions of bugs. This year, O.W. is arming up to fight off these six-legged invaders, chemicals be damned! Plus, two big construction projects in Petoskey have different clientele. One keeps the town going, the other want to turn it into Traverse City. Discover more at Michigan Enjoyer...

What's worse than losing your home in a flood? Some victims in the Cheboygan area are finding out the damage isn't covered by insurance. They needed flood insurance, but were they even eligible to buy it? Plus, a legendary tale of frontier Michigan, the day a man fought a bear. There were no survivors, but the story has endured to this day in Devereaux Lake. Discover more at Michigan Enjoyer Follo...

When was the last time you used a power tool or a kitchen gadget that was older than you are? How about older than your parents? O.W.’s mother has an electric juicer that predates them both, and says volumes about the way things used to be built to last. Plus, Ludington needs a road diet. It’s main drag downtown is way to wide for this cozy community. It’s picturesque view of the lake is overshado...

As the sunshine and warm temperatures finally start hitting up north, so do the floods. That enormous amount of snow this winter has melted, overwhelming riverbanks and dams in Northern Michigan. Of the many casualties, the Tunnel of Trees in Cross Village. But not all of nature is menacing. Behold the great migration of the blue-spotted salamander in Marquette. It’s an event that brings out those...

Springtime up north can sometimes feel like having Stockholm Syndrome. It conditions you into accepting anything that is "not winter" is therefore, beautiful. That's why mud can become a welcoming sight after months of snow and ice. Then there's the case of the 500-Pound Man-Eating Clam of Northern Michigan. You can see it up close, but only if you dare! Discover more at Michigan Enjoyer Follow O....

If you're wondering when the off season is Up North, this is it. No, it's not warm enough for the beaches or about half of the activities that people come up north for, but there are places, like The Perry, where you can snag a heck of a vacation deal. Plus, O.W. takes you to a place where digital doesn't exist. It's a bar that plays nothing but vinyl records. You won't find a TV blaring sports or...

While many things in this world continue to decline, there is one bright spot you can see with your own two eyes. The world is a little more beautiful than it used to be, and that's in large part to our efforts in cleaning up pollution. It's a lesson brought home to O.W. this week on a walk with his kids. Plus, it's one of the few places you can defy physics. Not really, but it does really feel th...

Spring shows up, gets cocky, and then gets absolutely buried—two feet of snow later, O.W. is reminded that Michigan isn’t one state, but two, divided somewhere between grass and survival. Plus, a ranking of Michigan’s area codes, where geography becomes identity and your phone number doubles as a personality test. From the grind-it-out suburbs to the earned toughness of the 906, every corner gets...

It’s a blizzard out there - for real. And O.W.’s just getting over a nasty bug. It gave him some time to reflect on how the mainstream media thinks Pete Buttigeig residing in Traverse City means he’s living like a mountain man in the wilderness. In reality, Traverse City is one of the most affluent cities in the state. Mansions long ago replaced cabins. It’s why many from Up North (O.W. included)...

Some people are obsessed with their lawns in the summer. For O.W., he’s got a different compulsion: the ice in his driveway. It stares at him every day as snow elsewhere else melts effortlessly. Plus, have you ever hears of the Cross in the Woods? it’s one of Michigan’s hidden gems Up North and O.W. gives us a tour in the off season. Discover more at Michigan Enjoyer Follow O.W. Root on X: @neckti...

Last week, O.W. defined the term "Ugly Winter." Now the debate, which Ugly Winter is worse, the brown, grassy, muddy South or the bone-chilling, snowy North? Plus, if you've ever looked at modern cars and longed for the style of yesteryear, O.W. is right there with you. Why can't today's vehicles possess the same sense of design as the ones we made decades ago? Discover more at Michigan Enjoyer Fo...

We’re past the “Winter Wonderland” stage of the season. That was during the holidays. What’s leftover is the snowy, sloppy mess that is Ugly Winter. But it, too, has its own bright spot. Plus, O.W. marvels at one of Michigan’s modern marvels, the Superior Dome in Marquette. But it’s not just impressive because of its size, but also how it came to be. Discover more at Michigan Enjoyer Follow O.W. R...

Where do you think the fastest roads in Michigan are located? You'd probably assume they're in the bigger cities like Detroit or Grand Rapids. But population is what slows everyone down, actually. The roads where you can really speed are up in the U.P., where they go 80mph in sunshine, rain and snow. Plus, the I-500 rattled a few windows in Sault Ste Marie recently. But it wasn't just a race, it w...

What begins with family movie nights and half-remembered Disney scenes turns into a reflection on how memory actually works—how we forget the big, planned moments and cling instead to couches, carpets, and a single image on a screen. From there, O.W. shifts outward, arguing that winter is only miserable if we refuse to meet it halfway. Whether it’s an ice park in Holland or a strand of lights left...

A one-degree morning, a neighbor with a snowblower, and the quiet satisfaction of shoveling anyway set the stage for a meditation on effort, discomfort, and why doing things the hard way sometimes matters. What begins as a reflection on snow shoveling turns into something larger: a portrait of Michigan as a place defined by extremes. The same dunes at Sleeping Bear Dunes become blazing sand in Aug...

The summer heat and the winter chill. We complain equally about both, but only one really has the potential to kill you every year, at least if you don’t live in the South. But even they’re now feeling the wrath of winter like never before. Yes, the heat can be torture, but it’s the cold that can bring death like no other. Plus, O.W. visits the future in Holland, Michigan, where they saved their t...

What do you really gain by speeding in a snowstorm? Is the risk really worth saving that measly five minutes on your drive? Patience will save you much more in the long run. Plus, O.W. breaks the stigma on tanning beds, at least in places where the sun doesn’t appear for months at a time. It’s not some cancer machine, it’s a small way to experience the warm glow of summer, deep in the clutches of...

O.W. takes on Michigan winter as both a daily inconvenience and a philosophical proving ground. He catalogs the small humiliations—bundling kids, wet car floors, and “quick trips” that take an hour. From there, he drifts north into colder, deeper water, finding beauty in the friction between brutal cold and modern comfort. Winter, he suggests, isn’t just a season to endure, but a reminder that mea...

Pleasant Peninsula heads deep into winter, where burgers taste wrong, soup becomes religion, and beauty takes the season off. O.W. Root celebrates stew — that glorious, ugly bowl of rib-sticking slop that warms the body and forgives the soul. A visit to Calumet’s Bottle House turns into a meditation on grit, Finnish “sisu,” and the magic of making do with what you’ve got. Along the way, a kindly m...