1958 film - Mackinac Bridge The Five Mile Dream

This 1958 film celebrated the construction of the Mackinac Bridge. It's a nice little 10 minute look at how the bridge came to be built. 55 years ago this Friday, the Mackinac Bridge was officially dedicated. While the bridge opened on, November 1, 1957, it was not officially dedicated until the following summer on June 28, 1958.

When you watch this video and realize just how much went into building the Mackinac Bridge - it's amazing to me to think that this was completed so quickly.

Jeff Daniels talking about the U.P. of Michigan on David Letterman

Favorite quote from the interview - David Letterman, "It's [Grand Hotel and Mackinac Island] stunningly beautiful and picturesque!" Jeff Daniels, "Especially if you're eating some fudge and you're sitting on a horse."

Grand Rapids Pure Michigan Commercial

The Pure Michigan commercial for Grand Rapids is making its debut this morning. The commercial will air on 10 networks for three weeks.

Michigan Craft Beer and Breweries

Michigan Craft Beer and Breweries have been making a lot of headlines lately. Just this week, Grand Rapids was the winner in the Beer City USA 2013 poll. This marks the second year in a row that Grand Rapids has been the top vote getter. It didn't take long for the Pure Michigan tourism campaign to capitalize on the draw of the more than 100 Michigan craft breweries. Below is the new radio spot from Pure Michigan - makes me thirsty just listening to it.

Here are some links if you want more information about Michigan's craft beer industry:

• Michigan Brewer's Guild
• Michigan Beer Guide
• Drink Michigan

Pure Michigan ads for summer of 2013

The Pure Michigan campaign is rolling out the new ads for the summer of 2013. Featured places this summer are Tecumseh, Binder Park Zoo, Battle Creek, Manistee, Mount Bohemia, Frankenmuth, and Detroit. Here are the ads for Manistee and Tecumseh -

Manistee:

Tecumseh:

Bonus - Detroit Tigers Pure Michigan: This fun little spot showcases members of the Detroit Tigers organization explaining what Pure Michigan means to them.

Riding Fourth, interesting fiction set in Detroit's not too distant future

Riding Fourth is a short story (only about 15 pages) set in the not-too-distant future of Detroit. A Detroit where you need four passengers to ride on the freeways and professional hitchhikers are the newest employment opportunity. Detroit has been revitalized with a shrunken city border and the creation of the Minimum Passenger Requirement Act. It requires that every car on the highway system must have four passengers. This leads to opportunities for hitchhikers to make money by charging commuters that have less than the required passengers to ride along as their "fourth".

"Riding Fourth" introduced a very interesting story premise and left me wanting more. Luckily, M.H. Mead has a story set in the same universe as "Riding Fourth" entitled "Taking the Highway". So, if you're like me and want more, you can read on.

"Riding Fourth" is currently available for free -