This summer, I traveled around meeting great people in the Great Lakes State. And I’ve also taken up palm reading as a new hobby.

When you meet a Michigander, one of the first things they will talk about is where they are from. And to do this properly, they will show you on their palm. Their right palm to be exact.

Michiganders proudly refer to their state as the Mitten. So much so that you can buy Michigan Mittens or oven mitts at kitschy and cute tourist shops Up North (yes, it’s capitalized) or like the ones I found on Karin Marie’s “talk to the mitten” Pinterest site.

To demonstrate, I will call upon my lovely assistant and local hand model.

See, we live in the Detroit suburbs, right here:

If you want to vacation on Lake Michigan and swim and sail where the water is warm and mostly calm all summer, go to any town located here, like Bay City, between the thumb and the index finger.

Last week, I went “Up North.” for a quick getaway.  We stayed at a lovely Inn in Leland, on the Leeelanau peninsula. That’s here, in the pinky:

While up in the pinky, we went on a hike in one of the last remaining Cedar forests in North America. On the trail, we met an older woman who lives in the thumb, near Port Huron

We stayed at a wonderful place called the Whale back Inn, named so because the area where it is situated, when viewed from Lake Michigan looks like….

yes, you get it.

The grounds of the Inn overlooked a pristine and inviting lake (of course it did, we are in MICHIGAN!). There, we met native Michiganders now living in Palo Alto, Calif. (I don’t know what body part California looks like.) They have relatives who farm land in the center of the palm, right between the fate and life lines.

Finally, a guy I met in synagogue the other day held up his palm and said he grew up around Benton Harbor, and that’s right here, at the heel of the palm.

All this palm reading and thinking got me thinking about a country famously known for its shape:

If you travel in Italy and converse with Italians, do they locate their cities of origin on “the boot?” Do they point to their knees, heel or toe when asked where they are from?

Or, what about New York, my home state?  Sure, New York has the Big Apple, but what is it shaped like? My best bet, if I had to make a hand shape for New York, it would look like the Vulcan hand salute. Rotated. And reversed.

Or, or, as my hand model –  his hand getting tired from twisting from these poses  and working for me for 20 minutes -said maybe we should just leave the hand symbol for New York at this: