Kristen Bell learns about herself on West Michigan vacation

You can tell Kristen Bell grew up in Michigan: She knows the hand routine.

When Ellen DeGeneres asked Bell on Tuesday what part of the state she's from, Bell immediately put up her right hand and pointed right underneath her thumb, to signify the Detroit suburb of Huntington Woods.

"That's what you do when you're from Michigan," Bell said.

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The actress and singer stopped by "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" as a co-host this week. Though a humorous bit between the two emulating Princess Anna from "Frozen" and Dory from "Finding Dory" made the most headlines, Bell also talked about her summer vacation in Michigan.

Bell and her husband, actor and Milford native Dax Shepard, took a trip to Grand Haven, a fine vacation destination along the shores of Lake Michigan. They brought their two young children, Lincoln and Delta.

"We stayed on one of the lakes and went kayaking and paddleboarding. It was just lovely," Bell said. "We invited all of our friends from high school and their kids. We had 21 people staying at the house. We made food, and it was lovely."

Though Bell, who now resides in Los Angeles, knows the Michigan hand routine, she admitted she's not a big lake person.

"I don't love to get my temperature changing in the water," she said. "But I found out, paddleboarding, that's my sport. You don't have to get wet."

"Well, you don't have to, unless you fall," DeGeneres responded.

"Correct."

"So you're good at it."

"I think so. It was only my first time, apparently I'm very good at it."

Bell, 36, is co-starring in a new sitcom, "The Good Place," with Ted Danson that premiered Monday on NBC. She is best known for her role as the title character in the television show "Veronica Mars," as well as her starring roles in "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" and "Frozen." Shepard, 41, is best known for "Idiocracy," "Let's Go To Prison" and in the television show "Parenthood."

Bell also told DeGeneres a humorous story about taking Shepard back to her childhood home.

"I learned a lot about myself that trip."

Contact Brian Manzullo: bmanzullo@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @BrianManzullo.