Michigan Makes Good Wine!:

Boasting more than 50 wineries covering 13,000 acres, Michigan wineries produce riesling, chardonnay, pinot grigio, cabernet and more. There are 13 superb wine and/or spirits & beer trails you can follow.

Mt. Tabor Trails: This trail connects Round Barn Estate and Tabor Hill Winery with 3.6 miles of trails that wind through woods and vineyards.

Leelanau Peninsula Wine Trail: Their cool-climate wines have been winning more national and international awards and praise each and every year!

Give a Craft Beer Trail: With 12 breweries and counting, Kalamazoo is quickly becoming a craft beer destination! Passports are limited to one per person per year and no purchase is necessary to participate. Gathering "check-ins" at the listed breweries will earn you points that can be put towards prizes of your choice like a Give a Craft bottle opener, beanie hat, and backpack cooler.

Thumb Coast Beer, Wine & Spirits Tour: Discover Michigan’s Thumbcoast on a self-guided, wet-your-whistle tour for beer, wine, and spirits. Taste your way through charming small towns, beach villages, and rural farms. Enjoy the scenic views of the St. Clair River, Lake Huron, and rural Michigan when you visit all 19 Thumbcoast breweries, wineries, distilleries, farms, taprooms, and more!

Grand Rapids Beer City USA Tour: Voted "Beer City USA" in a nationwide poll in 2012, the city has won a bevy of additional ale accolades – including USA Today nods for America’s Best Beer Town (2014), Best Beer Scene (2017) and Best Beer City (2022 & 2021). Quantity and quality make GR the top choice of beer lovers. There are more than 40 craft breweries within a 30-minute drive and each of them produces a distinctly delicious lineup of liquid bliss. Scroll down for everything you need to plan your beercation!

Lake Michigan Shore Wine Trail: Come visit the wineries of Michigan's Great Southwest.  With light, beach-like soils and lake effect climate, this small corner of the state is a designated American Viticultural Area (AVA) classified as 'Lake Michigan Shore.'

GMA's Most Beautiful Place In America:

The Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore is located on the lower peninsula & stretches over 64 miles of sand along the crystal clear waters of Lake Michigan. It includes more than 50,000 acres of land, 26 inland lakes, 2 islands, countless ship wrecks & of course the monumental sand dunes from which it gets its name. The fresh water lakes around the Dunes have been compared to the waters of the Caribbean minus the salt water & the risk of sharks! Among national parks experts, Sleeping Bear is considered a hidden gem. To see the telecast on Good Morning America, click here. To read about GMA's outdoor guide to the Dunes, click here.

A New York Chef's Perfect Escape:

Iron Chef, Restaurateur & Author, Mario Batali chooses the relaxed Mid-Western friendliness of his restored 1920's fishing camp near Traverse City over spending the summers in New York! Two of his favorite local things to eat are Leelanau Cheese Company's Raclette and serrano chiles as well as cherry pie from Grand Traverse Pie Company To check out the full article, go to Bon Appetit online.

Maple Syrup:

Did you know that Michigan ranks fifth in the maple syrup production in the United States? It is the first crop to be harvested each year in Michigan, starting in February in the southern counties & running into April in the UP.

Fodor's Best Small Towns In America:

Traverse City, a lakeside town of less than 15,000, has long attracted travelers with it's beautiful sandy shores & dunes, among other things. But recently, it's food scene has also begun to draw interest. Check out  Fodor's Travel Intelligence article to read more.

1000 Places To See Before You Die:

In a 2009 article for Sky Magazine, Patricia Schultz, author of "1,000 Places to See Before You Die", lists Grand Rapid's Meijer Gardens as number 13 on her list of top 30 must-see museums!

This ranking comes alongside such internationally celebrated art museums as The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao in Bilbao, Spain; The Hermitage in St. Petersburg, Russia; the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, Netherlands; and The Museum of Modern Art in New York City.

Meijer Gardens, just 14 years old at the time, was the newest institution of the 30 listed, as well as the only institution with a focus on sculpture and horticulture.

To see the article, go to Sky Magazine.

Top Ten Triathlon Towns:

Did you know that Traverse City was ranked #5 in Triathlete magazine's Top Ten Triathlon Towns of 2010?! To read the full article, check out Triathlete Magazine online.

Great American Main Street Awards:

Did you know that 2 different cities in Michigan were chosen as top 10 finalists for the 2011 Great American Main Street Awards?! These 2 cities are Boyne City & our very own Old Town in Lansing, MI! This selection was made from 2,200 different cities across the country. To read more about it, check out Preservation.org's website.

5 Small Midwestern Towns to Visit NOW:

In September 2013 the Huffington Post listed Traverse City as number two in their list of 5 Midwestern Towns to Visit. Did you know that Madonna's family owns one of the wine-tasting rooms in town? To read the whole article, visit the Huffington Post.

USA TODAY's Best Place To Watch A Sunset:

About 25 miles north of Traverse City, sits Leland - the town that in October 2013 was voted second ‘Best Place to Watch a Sunset’ in North America, in a contest sponsored by the national news site USA TODAY.

To see a picture of one of these beautiful sunsets, go to USA TODAY's site online.

New York Times "My Upper Penninsula":

At the end of November 2013, Jim Harrison, poet & author, wrote an essay in the New York Times titled "My Upper Peninsula". In it he speaks at length about the different places he has visited & loved during the 25 years he owned a cabin near Grand Marais on Lake Superior. He also speaks briefly about his first novel "Wolf" which is set in the Huron Mountains west of Marquette and a series of “Brown Dog” novellas that he has written over the past two decades & are being brought out late this year.

Jim Harrison is the author of over 35 books, including “Legends of the Fall,” “The Road Home,” & “Dalva”. To read the full article, click here to visit the New York Times online.

"Best of 2013 Photos" in Outside Magazine:

Luke Tikkanen's picture of a frozen waterfall plunging into Lake Superior in the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore made Outside Magazine's "Best of 2013" photos!

Go to Outside Magazine online to check it out!

11 Most Stunning Christmas Trees From Around The World:

The Huffington Post has officially named the top 11 most stunning Christmas trees of 2013. From Brazil to Norway to the Czech Republic, our very own Lansing's state capitol tree also made the list!

Check out the pictures of these beautiful & unique trees at the Huffington Post.

Fodor's Go List 2014:

Motor City has recently been listed as a  "Buzzy Sights" travel destination on Fodor's Travel 2014 Go List. Fodor's says it whittled down dozens of selections to 25 cities after some internal debate. It then highlighted three cities in different categories such as emerging hotspots, value destinations and buzzy sights.

Detroit joins Tokyo, Japan and Hvar, Croatia as a buzzy sight, or places "seasoned travelers can’t stop talking about".

Fodor describes Detroit as "A hip, new, cultural- and design-savvy Detroit is emerging from what remains of Motor City. Some compare it to hipster Brooklyn because of the microbreweries, coffee shops, organic bakeries, guerilla farming, forward fashion boutiques, and funky cocktail spots popping up all over town."

Click on Fodor's link above to read the full article.

Iridescence - Motor City Casino Hotel's Four Diamond Gem:

Sky Magazine makes note of Motor City Casino Hotel's "AAA-rated four-diamond gem of a restaurant, Iridescence. With new surroundings & a fresh, locally inspired menu, they list 5 things you MUST order.

To find out what they are, click on the Sky Magazine link above.

Frozen Michigan Lighthouses Transformed Into Stunning Giant Icicles:

During the "Polar Vortex" or "Snowmageddon" of 2014, it seems fitting that the Daily Mail online, a UK newspaper, has posted pictures of several of Michigan's beautiful lighthouses completely frozen in time like giant 30 foot tall icicles.

The stunning photographs were captured by an American photographer named Thomas Zakowski, from South Bend, IN. He takes a yearly trip to St Joseph, MI and South Haven, MI after a big storm to capture these beautiful & eery scenes.

Zakowski says, "Depending on the year, the lighthouses can remain freezing for over a month, but it all depends on the weather."

Go to The Daily Mail online to see these amazing photos.

Lonely Planet's #1 US Destination for 2014:

Lonely Planet, the acclaimed publisher of international travel guides have put Grand Rapids at No. 1 when it comes to top U.S. destinations — ahead of America's treasure Yosemite National Park, tropical Hawaiian paradise Lana‘i and even Sin City!

Beyond the crystal blue unsalted waters, soft white sand and picturesque dunes, visitors will find long stretches of roads where they can discover many stunning beaches that rival those of Hawaii and Southern California.

Lonely Planet describes a city brimming with art, from the fall international art competition ArtPrize to year-around destinations such as Frederik Meijer Gardens which includes the work of over 30 sculptors such as Auguste Rodin, Edgar Degas, Roy Lichtenstein, George Segal and Mark di Suvero and the Grand Rapids Art Museum, one of the few LEED-certified facilities of its kind. It also highlights Grand Rapids' reputation as a Beer City, USA, dotted with craft breweries that hold festivals throughout the year.

Go to Lonely Planet online to read the full article.

16 Best Small U.S. Beach Towns:

According to the national publication, Trips to Discover, Grand Haven is truly grand! With 48 acres of sugary white sand, Grand Haven State Park has been named "best in the state". Along with the fishing pier & lighthouse, Grand Haven also has a shop & restaurant lined boardwalk and the town itself offers historic charm as well as plenty of shops and eateries. There is also a musical fountain that wows crowds every evening at dusk, with special performances from May through September.

Three of the Top Ten Ranked Wineries in the Midwest:

The national travel publication, Trips to Discover, lists St. Julien Winery in Paw Paw, Tabor Hill Winery & Restaurant in Buchanan & Brys Estate Vineyard & Winery in Traverse City as three of the top 10 Midwest wineries in May 2023! Check out MLive to read the whole article.

One of the Top Skinny-Dipping Spots in the World!:

A remote part of Michigan has been ranked as one of the top spots in the WORLD to go skinny dipping! According to the dating advice website, My Dating Advisor, the Porcupine Mountain's Wilderness State Park in the Upper Peninsula ranks number 31 in the world and number 3 in the U.S. on it's top 100 list for 2023. To read the full article in MLive, click here.

U.S. News Ranks Grand Rapids 20th Best Place to Live in America:

According to U.S. News & World Report in 2023, Grand Rapids is the 2nd best place to live in Michigan and the 20th best place to live in the U.S.A.! Year-round events, a vibrant downtown, quaint neighborhoods & lively business districts are part of the allure of G.R. Click here to read more.