My wife was born in Bay City and grew up in Pinconning before eventually getting a nursing license and coming to Royal Oak to advance her career. Most of my in-laws still live in the Pinconning area and before we left the state entirely for Arizona my wife and I made a lot of visits to the area and spent many a weekend up there.
My bottom line opinion of it is - great place to visit as an occasional escape from the city, but I wouldn't want to live there. Chief problem is there's no work! [[Drifting from one closed-up employer to another is unfortunately the story of many of my in-laws' lives). Another issue is the dearth of quality hospitals and health care. The family's had bad experiences with Bay Medical and now goes at all costs to Midland whenever possible.
That said, though, like I said, it's a great place to visit. And it was/is a reasonable place to live for anyone who's retired and enjoys all four seasons. And while it is true that some of these areas may not be much in and of themselves, they offer the great advantage of being much closer to destinations that many Michiganders DO appreciate.
I and my relatives greatly enjoyed walking the trail system in Bay City, as well as the proximity to Bay City State Park as well as many other more northern areas of Michigan. It was very common for us to drive up to the in-laws early on a Saturday morning, and then from there take day trips just about everywhere in the northern Lower Peninsula - even going to the other side of the state to Ludington state park, or up to Tawas or even further. The point is, when you're already halfway up, there are a lot more "tourist destinations" you can so much more easily decide to go to on the spur of the moment any weekend you like - without saving them up for a one-time-a-year week's vacation.
And, yes, having only a half hour's drive to Frankenmuth is a nice added bonus.
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