THINGS TO DO IN SPRING

After winter’s long sleep, the hills and valleys of Traverse City are misted in new greenery, its endless beaches come alive with warmth, and the air is filled with the scent of millions of flowering cherry trees. It’s the perfect time for a romantic getaway, a village shopping adventure, or a tasting tour of the beautiful Traverse City wine country.

This is a gentle, romantic season -- a time of moist warm mornings, golden afternoons and cool, lingering evenings. The summer crowds and heat haven’t arrived yet. Best of all, the enchantment of Traverse City is available at very reasonable prices.

Spring is “blossom time” in the forests and orchards overlooking Grand Traverse Bay – when the woodlands erupt with multicolored carpets of wildflowers, including the huge white blossoms of the large-flowered trillium and native orchids like the pink, yellow and showy lady’s slipper. Meanwhile, the Old Mission and Leelanau peninsulas are covered with battalions of blossoming fruit trees – almost three million of them -- their soft lines contrasting with bright new grass, acres of yellow dandelions and the dark blue water of the bay.