Traverse City Michigan Is My Next Port of Call

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Traverse City is across the state from Detroit, just below the Upper Peninsula.
Traverse City is across the state from Detroit, just below the Upper Peninsula.

As a polar vortex comes barreling out of Canada toward the Midwest, that’s exactly where I am flying tomorrow morning, when I visit Traverse City Michigan for a four-day press visit. Why am I going to this northern Michigan city on the cusp of winter? Because Mike Norton invited me. I’ve been receiving information about Traverse City for the past ten years, and after a while, it began to grow on me. Then I saw the TV commercials about ‘pure Michigan’ with Tim Allen doing the voiceover. I wanted to check it out!

I liked the enthusiasm that Mike had about his city, and I like any town that wants me to visit them. Sure!

Here are some of the highlights of my trip, but to me the best part is meeting the interesting local people and finding out about their lives and why they choose to live in Traverse City.

I’ll get in early in the afternoon, and Mike will take me out to the Old Mission Peninsula, that spit of land just above the city. I love driving out into the country and seeing the sights. We’ll stop at the Jolly Pumpkin Brewery and then head back into town for some of the Traverse City Beer Week festivities.

The next day at 8:30 am, we’ll visit the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore on Lake Michigan, which for all intents and purposes could simply be called an inland ocean, that’s how big it is.  Then I’ll learn a bit about the city’s cherry industry and meet locals like Jill Beauchamp owner of Horizon Books, a converted three-story former department store.  Another guy  I hope to speak to is Ansel Wooters, who owns the Wet Mitten Surf Shop. Yep, they surf on the big lake out here!

There are some museums to visit and more beer, and by the end, I’ll bet I’ll have the makings of a great travel story for GoNOMAD!