Kristen and BJ Alden of North Coast Post. Tom Buchkoe
Kristen and BJ Alden of North Coast Post. Tom Buchkoe
Ringel is the director of the YMCA. Tom Buchkoe
Jonathan Ringel at the Northern Lights YMCA. Tom Buchkoe
Dr. Jeff Hutchinson at his audiology practice. Tom Buchkoe
Dr. Jeff Hutchinson Tom Buchkoe
These three "adoptive Yooper" couples have one thing in common: One or both members grew up outside the U.P. and moved here for one reason or another. Here's how they're adjusting to life in the Upper Peninsula--and what makes staying a no-brainer.
Never say never
"I will never live in Iron Mountain, Michigan," says Jonathan Ringel, recalling the ultimatum he gave his wife, Shelly, back in 2009. The Ann Arbor-area native spent the early 2000s at Northern Michigan University, where he and his wife met, and loved the U.P.'s laid-back, outdoorsy lifestyle. But he couldn't imagine spending the prime of his life in a small town like Iron Mountain. Ringel was an ambitious young professional, and ambitious young professionals were supposed to live in Chicago, Milwaukee, Minneapolis--heck, even Ann Arbor. Not anywhere in the Upper Peninsula, and certainly not in Iron Mountain.
But Shelly, who grew up in a small southeastern Wisconsin town, convinced him to make the move. Living in Fort Wayne, Indiana, at the time, both Shelly and Jonathan were stuck in tough, unsatisfying jobs, and longed for a change of pace.
Opportunity knocked when the city of Iron Mountain offered Jonathan a job as downtown development director, a position tailor-made for the historic preservation specialist. The couple packed its bags and moved into a modest house near the Iron Mountain Animal Hospital, where zoology major Shelly quickly found work as a vet tech.
"Her new boss couldn't believe a woman with a college degree was choosing to move to Iron Mountain," laughs Ringel. "But he, along with everyone else in town, gave us the warmest welcome we could imagine."
The adjustment process was much easier than the couple expected. "It helped that we had attended NMU and were committed to the U.P. lifestyle," he adds. "Nature is so close...we can practically walk out our door and be on a trail, which just isn't possible in a bigger city."
Besides proximity to nature, Ringel identifies four other things the family loves about Iron Mountain--four reasons, he says, why they have no intention of ever leaving.
First is the low cost of living relative to larger Midwestern cities. "Prices elsewhere...I just can't even imagine," he says. "I like knowing that our house will be paid off by the time our [preschool-age] kids are in middle school."
Second is the breadth and depth of interpersonal connections that exist in a small town. An example: In 2013, Ringel learned his job would be downsized, and he'd either have to accept a dramatic hit to his earning power or find another job. He started looking for work in downstate Michigan and other faraway places, skeptical that he'd land another quality job in Iron Mountain.
But just weeks into his job search, he was approached by the head of the Northern Lights YMCA to serve as director of the Dickinson County branch. Ringel's smarts and work ethic were well-known in the area, and he was basically hired on the spot on the strength of his performance at the DDA.
"We barely had a formal interview," says Ringel. "In a bigger city, opportunities like that are much harder to come by."
Third, the Ringels enjoy a tight-knit, secure community anchored by institutions that make them feel comfortable: Kiwanis, Rotary, their local church and others. "We feel safe raising our kids here, letting them play outside," Ringel explains.
And finally, the Ringels are within an easy day's drive of the "outside world"--their families in downstate Michigan and southeastern Wisconsin, respectively, plus cities like Chicago, Milwaukee and Minneapolis--should they need a change of pace. Put another way, they've got the best of both worlds at their fingertips.
Alberta, Louisiana...Iron Mountain?
Not far from the Ringels, Jeff and Audrey Hutchinson are settling into their new Iron Mountain routine. She grew up just across the Wisconsin border, in Florence County, but Jeff is from a different Northland: Kitscoty, Alberta, a tiny farming town near the northern limit of the windswept Canadian prairies.
How did they end up in Iron Mountain? It's a long story. They're both competitive waterskiers who met at training camp in Louisiana after receiving respective college scholarships--she at Florida Southern University, he at the University of Louisiana-Lafayette--to hone their skills. Though it was clear from the start that they'd be in it for the long haul, they did the long-distance thing for a while as Audrey returned to the Upper Midwest to finish school.
After two years, they moved to Buffalo, New York, where Jeff had been accepted at the State University of New York's doctor of audiology program. Life was tough, with Jeff immersed in study and Audrey working long hours as a personal trainer.
Things brightened a bit when Jeff accepted an audiology externship--the last step in his program--in Minneapolis. "We both decided that Minneapolis would be a great place to put down roots for a while," says Hutchinson. "We got engaged and started to make long-term plans for employment in the city...the U.P. was definitely not on our radar."
But, as is so often the case, the couple's plans changed unexpectedly. A chance encounter at their wedding put Jeff in touch with Dr. Ray Cameron, a well-known audiologist in Iron Mountain. "This quickly shifted our focus from Minneapolis to Iron Mountain," Hutchinson remembers.
Dr. Cameron hired Jeff in mid-2011; Jeff still works in the same office, though it's now owned by Dickinson County Healthcare System. "The hardest part about moving to the U.P. was that I knew I'd really enjoy it," says Hutchinson. "I knew that once we lived here for a while, it would be impossible to move away for employment or other reasons."
Hutchinson's relationship with his adopted home is similar to Ringel's. He's smitten with the region's natural beauty and recreational resources, for one. "There's not many places where you can step out of your house, hop onto your bike or click into your skis, and head straight into the woods," he notes. "And they have an active men's hockey league here--pretty much a requirement for a Canadian."
Low living costs and a tight-knit community are critical as well. As professionals, the Hutchinsons have plenty left over after accounting for housing, food, transportation and other necessities. And they're happy their kids will grow up in a small-town environment similar to the ones they knew as children.
Doing business is a bit easier here, too. In bigger cities, Hutchinson says, professionals are more focused on what the competition is doing, and how to adjust to their activities, than "focusing on what we are doing and how we can consistently do things better." That "healthier" approach to business is ultimately good for customers (or, in Jeff's case, patients).
The Hutchinsons do miss the live music culture they knew in Louisiana and the restaurant variety of Minneapolis. But "this is probably a good thing," muses Hutchinson, as it forces the family to "replicate some of the ethnic dishes we've had in the past" and makes them better, more adventurous cooks.
Trading hustle and bustle for peace and quiet
Up in Marquette, Kristen and B.J. Alden--a bona fide media power couple who've spent the past decade and a half in much warmer climes--are adjusting to life on the shores of Lake Superior. This fall, they moved up from Los Angeles, where they'd lived for the previous three years. Before that, they'd been in Atlanta for about a decade.
Why did the Aldens--she a graphic designer, he an editor and producer--trade the hustle and bustle of those Sun Belt cities for the serenity of the Upper Peninsula?
For starters, they had experience with the area, a ready-made support network, and a clear-cut business opportunity. B.J. grew up in Jackson, well downstate, so he was familiar with the U.P. mostly as a vacation destination. Kristen's brother actually lives in Marquette, as does her nephew and his wife. "We would not have made the leap without them," says Kristen. "We probably wouldn't have known about Marquette in the first place."
Through multiple visits over the years, the Aldens grew to love the city and its environs. When Kristen's brother mentioned that the owner of Superior Productions would be closing up shop and leaving a gap in the local media landscape, the couple jumped at the chance to buy out the business and transform it into North Coast Post, a new media company with a distinctive U.P. flavor.
But business and family weren't the only considerations for the move. The Upper Peninsula's slower pace of life, natural assets and human scale were draws, too. Thanks to a prime location on Marquette's Third Street, near Blackrocks Brewery, "we walk more than we drive," says B.J. That wasn't possible in either L.A., where B.J. commuted 90 minutes each way due to choking traffic, or Atlanta, with its spread-out cityscape.
"We wanted to get away from the grinding hustle and bustle of SoCal, the struggling public school systems, and get closer to nature," says Kristen. "Despite all the natural beauty surrounding southern California, we were seldom able to enjoy it…[and] living on/near Lake Superior was also very appealing to us with California facing one of the most severe droughts on record," she adds.
The adjustment hasn't been glass-smooth, though. The Aldens have made significant sacrifices, the biggest being that they're no longer enjoying the security and benefits of W-2 employment. As owners of a new, unproven business, they've also taken a significant pay cut in the short term, though that's somewhat offset by lower living costs here.
They're also missing the sensory opportunities that come with big city life: an innovative culinary scene, live music, street art, theater, cultural diversity, and a greater availability of niche goods and services.
And then, of course, there's the weather. Though shoveling snow "is one helluva core workout," Marquette's four-season climate means the Aldens are less active than they were in California, despite living within walking distance of downtown, Third Street's shops, the lakefront and their kids' school. That will definitely change as the weather warms, and a YMCA membership should keep the family active through next winter, regardless of whether they take up Yooper passions like snowshoeing or Nordic skiing.
And beyond outdoor activity, they're still adjusting to the rhythm of the seasons. "We were really caught off-guard by the first snowfall," says Kristen, whose family didn't have any winter gear or supplies to speak of after years in the southern tier. But their nephew and his wife "rallied their friends," she adds, and within hours they had "bags of coats, hats, gloves, boots and snowpants for the children," plus a snow shovel and ice melt. And after hearing that the Aldens' pipes had frozen, a mutual friend of the Aldens' relatives brought over a space heater to thaw them out.
"The community support we've received is authentic and quite awesome," says Kristen, adding that such an outpouring would never have happened in L.A. "At our first home in California, we didn't know a single one of our neighbors, and we lived in that house for a year in a half," she marvels.
"I'm sure we would have been 'successful' if we had stayed in L.A., if you define success based on accolades, titles and pay grade," says B.J. "But my dad taught me that success is defined by how happy you are. And with that philosophy in mind, we see Marquette as the town where we will find real success."
Brian Martucci writes about business, finance, food, drink and anything else that catches his fancy. You can find him on Twitter @Brian_Martucci
Enjoy this story?
Sign up for free solutions-based reporting in your inbox each week.