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A week or so ago, USA Today named Michigan’s Upper Peninsula the “#1 Place to View Fall Foliage in America” as part of its annual readers’ poll (beating out Door County, Wisconsin; Aspen, Colorado; Pocono Mountains, Pennsylvania and Stowe, Vermont, among others). This is the third time in recent years that the U.P. has snagged this sought-after accolade – the others being in 2018 and 2020. As with most of the USA Today “10 Best” polls, a panel of travel experts chose 20 destinations around the country and then readers cast their digital ballots to determine the Top 10.

Well before the official Lake Michigan Circle Tour route was established in 1987, travelers have been looping around the largest lake contained entirely within the U.S., the third largest of the Great Lakes, and the fifth largest lake in the world (by surface area).

When John Mueller purchased the Keweenaw Mountain Lodge in Copper Harbor in 2018, he had grand ideas of not only maintaining and improving the historic resort but enhancing the visitor experience by providing access to the unparalleled natural surroundings of the Keweenaw Peninsula.

Tucked under a canopy of trees, just a stone’s throw from one of the largest waterfalls east of the Mississippi (second only to Niagara), sits one of Michigan’s oldest craft breweries.

When the pandemic hit and halted most in-person events, it created down time for many destinations to begin, continue or wrap up renovation projects and full-blown new builds. Now that corporate and leisure functions are returning to Michigan, event planners and their attendees are sure to see some fresh offerings when it comes to meetings spaces, off premise activities, guest rooms and restaurants.

Sometimes a destination is so special, you’re compelled to uproot your life and relocate there.

Smaller communities around Michigan face unique challenges when it comes to developing ways to draw residents, businesses and travelers to town. While larger urban centers may have deeper pockets, enhanced resources and the support of multiple governmental agencies, small towns often rely more on creative grassroots initiatives and idea sharing with other like-sized municipalities.

It’s a cooperative attitude along with a charming and vibrant historic downtown that make Alma the ideal backdrop for Michigan State University Extension’s Connecting Entrepreneurial Communities (CEC) conference, September 14-15.

Josh Stoltz was fortunate to have spent his youth exploring the rural countryside of Benzie Country, where agriculture has been rooted for generations.

Early mining prospectors established operations in the western Upper Peninsula, along the Montreal River which formed the border with Wisconsin, in the early 1870s. Within a decade, Ironwood – in what would become Gogebic County – was incorporated, welcoming residents from throughout the United States as well as European countries like England, Finland, Germany, Italy, Poland and Sweden. It was this growing global community which created the colorful culture that is still celebrated and evolving today.

The narrow waterways weaving through Les Cheneaux Islands in northern Lake Huron have welcomed an array of boats over the past 350-plus years – from the early Native Americans and French voyageurs in birch bark canoes to generations of tourists arriving by steamer and later residents cruising along in their wooden runabouts.