Friday, March 29, 2024

Plenty of opportunities exist for a Michigan road trip

December 7, 2001

Nothing to do this break? Grab some friends and hit the Michigan roads. Assuming snow happens this winter on our warmed planet, Michigan offers a slew of opportunities for winter fun.

If winter wonderland doesn’t show, a road trip to a random tourist attraction may offer opportunities for college-aged shenanigans.

But how do you find it all? The web is a great guide to destinations around Michigan.

At michiganhotels.org, the “Hotel & Lodging Search” button takes you to a search engine of lodging in Michigan. Here you can click on various activities that entice, such as skiing or snow-mobiling, and hit “search.”

A listing of hotels, motels, cities and links pops up tailored to your travel desires. The guide that accompanies this article cites this and other helpful Web site guides that will point you in the right direction.

Yoop it up in the U.P. and soak up some natural beauty where the air is clean and the pasties are hot. Cross country ski in a national park. Tour the Detroit Wastewater Treatment Plant or the Big Boy Warehouse.

Short on cash flow? Don’t worry about it.

“There has never been a better time to enjoy the amenities offered by hotels and resorts, it’s very competitive,” said Steve Yencich, president of the Michigan Hotel, Motel & Resort Association, of the economy’s current slump and its effects on rates.

People around these parts may complain that Michigan offers “nothing to do,” that all they want to do is get the heck out of the state and flock toward warmth.

Yencich disagrees that Michiganians live in a boring, cold winter wasteland. “Once the weather turns, Michigan is one of the best states in the Midwest in terms of ski resorts. And snowmobiling, cross country skiing, snowboarding and other outdoor activities are all activities we look forward to engaging in the course of the winter months,” he said.

Sure there’s always the chance Mother Nature won’t pump out a blanket of snow, but many ski hills do it themselves, anyway. And plenty of unique indoor activities exist.

Finance junior Adam Smith, for example, will keep himself entertained by traveling around the state and the Midwest to play in pool tournaments in Mount Pleasant’s Soaring Eagle Casino and in Detroit.

“There’s a subculture of pool players, associates and friends I hang around with when I’m there,” he said. “Sometimes people from here have gone up to see me play.

“I’m probably going to go out-of-state, too, Ohio Indiana and Kentucky. Just a few days around Christmas and New Year’s I’ll be around family.”

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