Pure Michigan ads are made up of more than just those beautiful ads you see on television, we also advertise on billboards! From these, we have had some questions from fans, asking where the photographs were taken so that they could visit the locations first-hand! Take a look at the map below too! Maybe it’s time for a road trip?
Pure Michigan Ads
We have enjoyed sharing the latest Pure Michigan TV and radio spots with our fans on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter as they became available, but there’s a chance you may have missed one or two. Or, maybe you saw an ad on TV, but when you mentioned it to a friend, they hadn’t seen it.
With that in mind, we have rounded up all of the radio and TV ads shown (so far) in 2011. We are happy that the commercials continue to feature the voice of Michigan’s own Tim Allen. You can easily share the ads with friends and family, and they too can understand why one particular ad gave you chills or made you tear up.
Read more…
Winter is here, and we couldn’t be more excited! To celebrate, we’re giving you a sneak preview of our new winter sports radio ad – it doesn’t hit the airwaves until January 3!.
Thanks to Jennifer Rees for sharing the story of her U.P adventure!
Every year, my husband rides his bike from Cedar Springs to Mackinaw City. Every year my sister, kids, and I take a trip ‘Up North’ to pick him up. This year, the group my husband rides with decided that 285 miles just wasn’t quite enough. They got to Mackinaw and kept right on going. In fact, they went all the way to Grand Marais.
Meanwhile, we had an adventure of our own.
We headed up to Leland, where the first order of business was a stop at Carlson’s for A.P.’s favorite food – smoked fish. When we asked him how it was, he couldn’t even stop eating long enough to use words.
We hung out on the waterfront for a while then strolled around town. After a fun afternoon, we headed to Petoskey for the night, where my husband was. In the morning we went to the Oden fish hatchery. We couldn’t believe there was no charge! There was, however, a gift shop. The kids came away with patches, a book about animal ‘scat and tracks’, and “I’m A Michigan Kid Passports” which, really, should be issued to every child born in our state.
There hatchery has walking trails, an interpretive museum in an old box car, and an underground stream viewing area. The highlight was the trout feeding. For a dime, we got a handful of Trout Chow and I don’t mean to bruise any fish egos but it’s time for these guys to be finding their own dinner. They were fat. Still, my kids scrounged up about $2.00 in dimes and contributed to the Trout Obesity problem.
Back in the car, we headed up to the Soo. I have to say that although I completely appreciate having a bridge to the Upper Peninsula; I hate actually driving across it. But, the U.P. is worth the white knuckles. We headed straight for the Locks and hopped on a boat tour. It was fun to watch the kids try and grasp where the water went, where it came from, and how it all came worked.
The next morning we headed to Munising for the Pictured Rocks boat tour. It was stunning. And windy, but mostly stunning.
From there we drove back to Grand Marais, where we met up with my husband and his biker buddies. We’d all had an incredible journey were happy to be reunited in such a special place. We ate dinner with friends, then went to Lake Superior Brewing Company for a beer. We went to the beach and watched the sun set over Lake Superior. The next morning, we checked out the Gitchee Gumee Agate and History Museum, and headed to Taqhamenon Falls.
We ate lunch at the Tahquamenon Falls Brewery where, naturally, we had pasties.
We cannot wait to get back and re-visit these places, and also to discover new ones. We’re proud to be raising Michigan Kids, and thankful that a vacation like this is so close to home.
Jennifer Rees is a stay at home mom of two young children in Grand Rapids. Jennifer writes at TheBigBinder.com, a blog about raising kids in Grand Rapids who are active, involved, and culturally aware.
John Grochowski, Michigan Travel Ideas contributing writer, shares insider tips from his latest trip to the Soaring Eagle Casino and Resort in Mount Pleasant, Michigan.
I’ve been writing about casino games for 14 years, and I wanted to see if Soaring Eagle met my personal criteria as a place to play:
- Do blackjack rules and video poker pay tables give the skilled player a shot to win?
- Are there games that give me a good run for my money? Is the player rewards system easy to use?
- Do the rewards offset some of the house’s mathematical edge?
My journey through those questions started at the player rewards booth, where in addition to the $20 in premium play I received at check in, a club representative added another $10 for joining the club.
Looking for the best deal to use my premium play, I found an old friend: 9-6 Jacks or Better video poker, with the “9-6” meaning full houses pay 9-for-1 and flushes 6-for-1. It returns 99.5 percent with expert play, and it worked for me. Once I’d made the required $60 worth of wagers to use the premium play, I had $60 in credits that I could cash out —my premium play was now real money.
Insider Tips
- Blackjack players have three choices: hand-shuffled six-deck games, six-deck games with a continuous shuffling machine and single-deck games. The single-deck game pays only 6-5 on blackjacks instead of the usual 3-2. With fewer hands per hour, the hand-shuffled game is the best bet for most players.
- In addition to the main casino, Soaring Eagle has a Slot Palace with more electronic games. A free shuttle takes players between facilities. One of the resort’s best games, a version of Deuces Wild video poker which returns 99.7 percent with expert play, is in the Slot Palace.
- Premium play—free play that comes with some room packages—can be taken either in downloadable slot credits or in special table chips. Slot play is a more efficient use of it and you’ll get the most value at the best video poker games.
- The biggest crowds are weekend nights, and minimum bets may go up during peak times. However, a blackjack dealer told me $5 tables are always available.
Trip Planner
- Soaring Eagle Resort and Casino offers room packages such as Gas & Gamble, with a $50 gas card, plus premium play included with your room rate.
- For those visitors who want to immerse themselves in the culture, the Ziibiwing Center, a Native American museum, is next door.
- I dined at Siniikaung Steakhouse (which means “House of Stone”) and enjoyed a perfectly done, medium-rare ribeye and tasty asparagus-bacon soup.
John Grochowski is the author of half a dozen books on casino games, including the “Casino Answer Book” series, writes a weekly column and is known to Chicago radio listeners from his “Beat the Odds” tips that air on WBBM-AM, News Radio 780.
