Make Your Campground Reservations Today

It might already be too late to get into the Michigan State Campground of your choice for this summer. You can only make reservations up to six months in advance. The weekends are already booked up at such popular campgrounds as Grand Haven State Park which opened last week. Call 1-800-447-2757 (which is routed to Kentucky, I believe) or visit www.michigan.gov/dnr to make your reservation online. This year the non-refundable reservation fee is $8 whether you call or place your reservation online. Don't think you can save much by not making reservations.

There is still a $5 charge for those who take a chance on finding available sites and just show up at a campground the day they want a site. I wouldn't recommend doing this at all, but especially on the weekend in the summer. If you make your reservations now, you still have a great shot at finding camping sites available on weekdays and there are still weekend slots available at many of the less popular state campgrounds.

Granholm - Spend Money on Tourism Now

Governor Granholm was in Traverse City on Tuesday pushing for increasing money spent on marketing our state for tourism. Read my related post on this - Increase the State's Marketing Budget? Granholm is claiming that Michigan's legislators (Republicans) are making political statements in this election year by dragging their feet on her proposal. Michigan spends $15 million marketing our state for tourism. Granholm's proposal is to spend the bulk of it now instead of spreading it over the next five years as legislators would want. Supposedly, front-loading the money would generate $3.43 in revenue for the state for each $1 spent on marketing.

There has to be more to it than what is reported in the Traverse City Record Eagle. If it were so simple of an investment that returned over three times what was spent I don't know who would be against front-loading the $15 million. I highly doubt that Republicans are against generating money for the state and it's business owners.

Metro Detroit Traffic Blog

Matt Helms of the Detroit Free Press has a Traffic Blog with all of the details and headaches of metro Detroit's traffic snarls and construction. I checked it out this morning and he had blow-by-blow reports of the traffic backups on I-696, Northwestern Hwy, and Telegraph due to the huge I-696 and Northwestern Highway construction projects. So, if you travel anywhere in the metro Detroit area it would be wise to check out this blog before you head out. It looks like Matt might be posting updates for the morning commute. I am not sure if this will be an everyday thing or if he will have road updates for the evening commute as well.

I do know that he is on metro Detroit's roads all the time checking out road conditions and traffic. Definitely, a valuable resource if you are one of the thousands of commuters or residents of Detroit.

Travel by Bus From Detroit to Chicago for $1

Later this month, by using megabus.com you will have the chance to purchase a bus ticket for as little as $1 each way from Detroit to Chicago. There is always a catch to all unbelievable deals. Only a handful of these cheap seats will be available on each bus and you will have to purchase them online far in advance of when you will be traveling. I performed a few quick searches for fares from Detroit to Chicago on www.megabus.com. I searched fares for Monday through Friday as well as weekends just to see the availability of the $1 fare. Interestingly enough, I found quite a few of the $1 tickets (even on the weekends) and no ticket was over $15 for one way.

Read the article in the Detroit News

Michigan Tourism to Increase This Year

An article in the Detroit News predicts that Michigan's tourism industry (our state's second largest industry) should increase by 2% this year. I am not sure how you come up with an estimate like that. The hard evidence that does exist is that travel agencies and hotels are seeing an increase already from last year. The article does state that a big reason is that the tourism increase will largely come from Michigan residents that want to save money on gas and vacation in their home state. You should check out the article, it is an interesting read.

Mich. tourism expects to see slight rebound

Deal on a Stay at Great Wolf Lodge

From April 9 through April 20, you can stay at the Traverse City Great Wolf Lodge for as little as $179 per night (Sunday through Thursday). They are calling the special - "Spring Break Fever Reliever!" You can also save an additional $20 during the week of 4/9/06 - 4/13/06. The pricing includes one night in the Family Suite, four waterpark passes, Cub Club daily activities for the kiddies, and the Nightly Storytime. Just use the promotional code TESCAPE when booking online at tc.greatwolflodge.com or mention the special if you call 1-866-GR8-WOLF.

If you have never been, you should. It is a great place to take the kids. You don't even have to leave to eat - they have excellent pizza and a breakfast bar that can't be beat.