TravelTips24 : North America : United States of America : Midwest : Michigan : Southeast Michigan : Washtenaw County : Ann Arbor
Ann Arbor
Ann Arbor [1] — often abbreviated as AA or A2 — is a city 35 miles north of the Ohio border and 45 miles west of Detroit, near where the furthest exurban fringes give way to country and small towns. Founded in 1824, it was originally named "Annarbour" after the two founders' wives (Ann Allen and Mary Ann Rumsey) and an arbor of burr oak trees on the village site (although some have theorized that the name arose from an arbor of roses or grapes). Today the city has a population of about 115,000 people, not including the transient college students, or the thousands of visitors who come to town for football games and various festivals.
Ann Arbor is a picturesque city surrounding the University of Michigan. It has a strong bent toward the arts, and an attractive and pedestrian-friendly downtown. Visitors enjoy the city's wonderful sidewalk cafe dining, unique shops, lots of bookstores, and abundant cultural opportunities.
Culture and History
Ann Arbor is centered around the University of Michigan [2]. The U-M campus intermingles with downtown, and the whole area is walkable, though day buses run between the campuses and the central business district. Toyota, General Motors, Ford, Thomson, Google, Domino's, and Borders Group have a major presence in the area. The University is well known for its medical school complex.
Farther out, the city fades into urban sprawl (a mall and business parks in the south), then countryside dotted with towns, and to the east, Detroit suburbs. Buses here are sparse or nonexistent; you'll want a car unless you have several hours to spare. On some autumn Saturdays, transport is difficult as 100,000-odd people pour in for university football games.
Tree town is, as one might expect, full of trees; they line the streets, and from the air, in summer, all that can be seen is a green swath with a few buildings sticking out. (In the early 20th century, after having leveled the forest that once occupied the area, the city instituted an aggressive tree-planting program that's since borne fruit.)
Like most of Michigan, summers can be hot, with temperatures occasionally hitting 90 degrees, but averaging in the mid 80s. Winters are fairly normal for the lower Great Lakes region, which enjoys 4 seasons. It starts to be chilly in late October and it starts to warm up again in mid-March (but the occasional early April snowfall is not unheard of! Average temperatures are generally in the range of 30
This page was last edited at 03:02, on 28 December 2008 by Wikitravel user Chinzh. Based on work by D. Guillaime, Wikitravel user(s) Jhaamen and Jaeger5432, Anonymous user(s) of Wikitravel and others.
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