Traverse City Travel Blog

The shadow box sits at one end of the northern Michigan garage under an American flag. In it contains the relics of 22 years of Ron Smith’s life. They include medals and a list of Navy duty stations that started in June 1974 and ended in July 1996. It was 22 years of honorable service to this country that started as a parachute rigger and ended as a survival training instructor and counselor. 

On a slightly overcast but pleasantly warm day in July, I set sail on the Inland Seas 77-foot schooner with the Inland Seas Educational Association. I arrived in Suttons Bay as a mere resident of Northern Michigan but emerged from the boat as a Great Lakes scientist.

It’s like dropping breadcrumbs along the trail. It becomes a way to find your way back home. When you’re lost, you are found. Throughout the Traverse City region, there are breadcrumb trails scattered around the region. These crumbs reconnect the first residents, Native Americans, back home.

Who was Perry Hannah and why is there a statue of him in Downtown Traverse City? What's the best place to see historic buildings? Are there any shipwrecks in the region? The answers to these questions, and more, are highlighted below. Take a step back in time to appreciate the present and see how our northern Michigan city has developed into the thriving destination that it is today. 

There’s a saying up here in the dune country. The sand gives, and the sand takes away.

For over a decade, one of our star attractions has been the Village at Grand Traverse Commons -- Traverse City's former mental hospital -- whose stately buildings are being transformed into a bustling residential and entertainment district. More recently, though, the old asylum is attracting

A Traverse City Film Festival crowd in the City Opera House.

By MIKE NORTON

It may well be the only opera house where no opera has ever been performed.

But Traverse City’s handsome City Opera House has hosted plenty of other events in its 121-year career: innumerable plays,

Lots of browsers at Wilson Antiques on Union Street

By MIKE NORTON

I’m not much of a shopper. But I’m a really good browser.

Heck, I can browse for hours. And if I’m not browsing in a bookstore, the chances are pretty good that I’ll be in one of Traverse City’s many antique shops.

Hey, some

Looking down the road past the Old Mission Congregational Church

By MIKE NORTON

Ahh! It was a perfect fall weekend: cool dry air, warm sunlight, a bright glitter on the bay, a hint of color in the leaves – and the water just warm enough to do a little swimming for those brave enough to make

A skier and her canine companion enjoy the trail at Sand Lakes.

By MIKE NORTON

New Year’s is all about looking ahead, but sometimes it helps to take a little glance at where you’ve been.

That’s what led me and my cross-country skis out to the deep woods east of Traverse City last week – to