I spent some time last week visiting my brother and sister-in-law in Michigan. Because Detroit has basically the same weather that we have – dark, dreary and damp – I did some stepping in the Michigan malls.

Now, all malls are basically the same, and you have to look hard for some differences, but these places reminded me that I was not in New York anymore.

In Michigan they root for different teams. This store featured University of Michigan stuff – go wolverines. Their rivals are Michigan State – go spartans. In Michigan you’re either blue and gold or green and white. Kind of like the Mets vs Yankees.

Michigan has small family owned Greek restaurants like we have, but in Michigan they’re all called Coney Islands. Just one more name they’ve stolen from New York. A lot of their place names are the same as ours. In fact, my brother and I both live in Wayne County, and there is a Rochester, Michigan named for Rochester, NY.

This next store sold only things made in Michigan, kind of like the Simply New York store in Sea Breeze. www.simplynystore.com Everyone knows that Detroit is the home of the car industry and Motown, but did you know that Michigan is wild about cherries? Cherries are to Michigan what apples are to New York. They grow lots of them , and in every store you will see cans and jars of cherries all processed in different ways and with different things added. Tempting, but I think I’ll stick with applesauce.