Michigan Vacation Resorts

It’s Holland’s Tulip Time Festival

John Mclellan — Sat, 05 May 2012 15:36:39 +0000

Tulip Time Festival 2012 Poster

People from around the world come to visit Holland’s “Tulip Time Festival” www.tuliptime.com starting May 5. This week long festival started in 1929 was first proposed by a high school teacher Miss Lida Rogers with the idea of remembering Holland’s Dutch heritage, history and culture to Women’s Literary Club. The rest is history and since that time the Tulip Time Festival has blossomed into hundreds and thousands of tulips and an equal amount of visitors. This year there are over six million tulips in Holland City parks, public attractions and along City streets.
The Holland Museum www.hollandmuseum.org a special exhibit “The Improbable Journey of Holland’s Favorite Flower”. This exhibit reveals the tulips origin and popularity. This exhibit runs until September 2nd 2012.

Kayaking and Canoeing Waterway Trails

John Mclellan — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 13:20:26 +0000

The “ Tip of the Thumb Heritage Water Trail “now has 122 miles of Lake Huron shoreline fully marked. This designed to help paddlers weather it’s a kayaker, canoeist or somebody in a rowboat find launch areas, camping spots, interest points and lighthouses from Lexington to the Quanicassee River near Bay City. There are 42 designated spots with signs near the water to launch and land.
Routes designated to combine natural world with historic spots along the waterway are called Heritage water trails. There are three other water trails along Lake Huron. The Blueways of St Clair goes from Port Huron north to Lakeport State Park; the Les Cheneaux water trail runs from St Ignace to Detour Village in the U.P. and a series of blueways stretching from The Huron Shores Coastal Waterway Trail from Augres up to Mackinaw City.
Renaming these routes for paddlers has helped draw attention to the great natural resources we in Michigan have to water trails or blueways and makes people aware navigable also a safe form of recreation.
For more info on Michigan Water Trails www.wmich.edu/glms/watertrails
Here are Great Lakes Water Trails Websites with more info on the sport.
Lake Huron
Tip of the Thumb www.thumbtrails.com
Blueways of St. Clair www.bluewaysofstclair.org
Huron Shores www.us23heritageroute.org
Les Cheneaux www.lescheneaux.org
Lake Superior
www.kwta.org
Isle Royal www.nps.gov/index.htm
Hiawatha Big Bay to Grand Marais www.hiawathawatertrail.org
Lake Erie/St Clair Detroit Heritage River www.macweb.org/projects/heritagewatertrail.htm
Lake St Clair Coastal www.tourlakestclair.org
Lake Michigan www.lmwt.org

A New Titanic Exhibit

John Mclellan — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 21:22:33 +0000

The Henry Ford Museum has just opened Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition. This is the largest touring Exhibition of Titanic.

This exhibit has over 10,000 square feet and more than 300 artifacts. Visitors will be able to walk through extensive room re-creations including a full scale replica of the Grand Staircase. The Titanic: Artifact Exhibition will be at The Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn through September 30,2012. Visit www.thehenryford.org for all the information.

Go Spartans, Wolverines and Titans!

John Mclellan — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 21:56:37 +0000

Congratulations to Michigan State www.michiganstateuniversity.com , University of Michigan www.umich.edu/ and University of Detroit Mercy www.udmercy.edu/ for advancing to the NCAA Basketball Tournament. This is great news for all of us in Michigan. Chances are all the games will be on national TV and during each of their games there will be spots highlighting their campuses and their curriculums. The number of times Michigan will be mentioned on national television will be priceless for our state. Let’s give a high five to all the players and coaches.

Congratulations Marquette, Michigan

John Mclellan — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 19:30:56 +0000

CBS Money Watch has just named Marquette, Michigan as one of the top ten places to retire in the nation. http://www.mqtcty.org/ Factors that went into the decision were good medical care , quality of life,good airport, good public transportation and a balance between outdoor recreation, cultural and educational institutions.
Marquette’s airport has frequent flights to Detroit, Milwaukee and Chicago. Their hospital Marquette General Hospital is ranked in the top 50 for cardiovascular treatment by Thomson Reuters. In the summer you can enjoy beaches along Lake Superior and in the winter average snowfall is 141 inches so you can enjoy cross country skiing, snowshoing and many other outdoor activities.

Thank You Mike Illitch

John Mclellan — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 19:03:21 +0000

It has been quite an exciting few weeks for Mike and Marion Illitch, the metro Detroit area and the whole state of Michigan.
On January 27th the Detroit Tigers signed Prince Fielder to a mega million contract and all of a sudden Detroit baseball was headlines around the country. Peter Gammons Hall of Fame baseball writer in www.freep.com was quoted as saying “Mike Illitch just wants to give Detroit a championship. He wants people to come to downtown Detroit and be happy about something—enjoy it one way or the other. The Tigers have done it because Mike Illitch wants to give people in Detroit something to be joyous about. www.detroittigers.com

Then came the announcement in early February that the National Hockey League was going to play the Winter Classic between the Detroit Red Wings and Toronto Maple Leafs on January 1st, 2013 at the University of Michigan football stadium in Ann Arbor. www.detroitredwings.com Best of all, the” Hockeytown Winter Festival” in Detroit will feature the entire calendar of events leading up to the big day.

Now it was just announced that the Illitch family’s Olympia Entertainment Fox Theatre in Detroit won the silver award in the Favorite Theatre/Show venue category after a vote by 650 tour operators www.olympiaentertainment.com . The magazine Courier a trade publication published by the national Tour Association listed the winners in its January issue.

Michigan Celebrates it’s 175th Anniversary

John Mclellan — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 22:10:47 +0000

Saturday Michigan residents celebrate the 175^th anniversary of our state’s birthday. Michigan became the 26^th state of the Union on January 26^th, 1837. We had been recognized as a territory by the United States since 1805. However, before we could become a state a dispute over land called “the Toledo Strip” along the Maumee River had to be settled. Ultimately Ohio got Toledo but we were given the Upper Peninsula.

For information on the Birthday celebration visit www.michigan.gov/dnr and look under birthday. Today’s Detroit Free Press www.freep.com has a very good article on how are state came to be written by Ron Dzwonkowski on page 2 of the front section.

Welcome the North American International Auto Show

John Mclellan — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 18:33:05 +0000

Once again the eyes of the nation and the world are on Michigan as the North American International Auto Show opens in Detroit from January 14th through January 22^nd . This huge event features over 500 cars and trucks that represent the most innovative designs in the world. 5200 journalist from around the world have come to Detroit to see and report on this international event.

Mark Phelan of the Detroit Free press wrote “there’s a car or truck at Cobo Center that will amaze you. Whether it’s a design you can’t tear your eyes away from or a model whose performance and efficiency seem to defy the laws of physics, the world’s automakers have hit new highs as they fight for your business”.

Like a great show? Like great cars? Than the North American International Auto Show is for you. And, best of all the finest Auto Show in the world is right here in Detroit, Michigan.

For more information and show hours visit www.naias.com

The Gift of Memories

John Mclellan — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 19:23:29 +0000

Still wondering about what to buy for the holiday? How about giving good memories as a gift. How many of us can remember who got what and from who last year, let alone prior years. I am willing to venture however that you have never forgotten a family outing or weekend adventure. So why not give the gift of beautiful memories by taking a trip to a resort for the weekend or longer. Thunder Bay Resort in Hillman near Alpena features nice condos, Elk viewing sleigh rides along with a wonderful five course dinner. http://www.stayandplayvacation.com/hillman/thunder-bay-resort-hotel-inn-1050/
McGuires Resort in Cadillac is located in the snow capital of Michigan.There are plenty of winter activities for the entire family to enjoy.http://www.stayandplayvacation.com/cadillac/mcguires-resort-winter-sports-1085/ . Stay close to home and have a winter getaway at local hotel with a swimming pool. http://www.stayandplayvacation.com/brighton/holiday-inn-express-and-suites-of-brighton-hotel-inn-1180/.
If time does not allow how about a day trip to one of the finest car collections in the world the ” Gilmore Car Museum” in Hickory Corners, Mi or The Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn. You can never go wrong creating memories as a gift.

Michigan Grown Christas Trees in D.C.

John Mclellan — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 20:16:11 +0000

By winning top honors in state and national tree contests last summer,The Wahmhoff Farms Nursery in Gobles, Michigan is supplying three Fraser fir trees to Vice President Joe Biden. One tree is 11 1/2 foot and two are narrower. Gov. … Continue reading →