"Home from home" Muskegon by h0ckeynut17

Since March 1999, Muskegon has been my new home. My wife and I have lived in a few different apartments across the town so we know it from different angles. We have now settled in the east of the town.

Muskegon is traditionally a blue-collar community, having been founded as a port to send lumber across Lake Michigan to Chicago.

Although heavily in the shadow of Grand Rapids (just 40 minutes away to the east) it still has its own identity.

You can reach Muskegon by taking US-31 from the south (splits off I-94 and I-196 from Chicago) or north (it's a tricky twisty road north of Ludington) or I-96 from the east (Detroit, Lansing, Grand Rapids).

Famous Muskegonites include Iggy Pop.

The Lake Michigan shoreline is one of the reasons we settled in this area. It is one of the Great Lakes, freshwater and 70-80 miles wide at its narrowest point.

Take Laketon or Sherman to the west until you reach the Lake Michigan beaches. At the lake, Sherman loops to the north to meet Laketon.

Grand Rapids Metropolitan Survey Area includes Muskegon, Grand Haven and Holland, and it has around 1.1 million people. Grand Haven and Grand Rapids were immortalised by the movie American Pie which was written by someone who attended school in East Grand Rapids (East Great Falls, get it?).

• Pros:Lake access, down-to-earth people
• Cons:Has suffered from a constant decline in industrial employment