West Michigan Would Like to Welcome You to the Largest Outdoor Winter Festival in the U.S.

Wintertime can feel like a slog, especially once the holidays have come and gone. If you’re not much of a winter sports person, whether we’re talking skiing, snowboarding, ice fishing, or the like, it can be even more of a drag. That’s where winter festivals and carnivals come into play, injecting a bit of brightness into the cold, shortened days of the bitter season. As far as these frosty affairs go, it doesn’t get much bigger than the weeks-long World of Winter Festival held in West Michigan every January, February, and March.

MichiganLogan T. HansenDecember 29, 2025travel, travel guide, travel advice, travel inspiration, travelspiration, travel ideas, travel itinerary, travel recommendations, travel tips, travel planning, winter travel, Michigan, Great Lakes State, Mitten State, Grand Rapids, West Michigan, World of Winter, Beer City, silent disco, scavenger hunt, Hungry Hungry Hippos, winter festival, winter carnival, Downtown Grand Rapids Inc, DGRI, ice carving, ice sculptures, Rosa Parks Circle, Ah-Nab-Awen Park, Sixth Street Park, Blue Bridge, Great Lakes Snow Snake Competition, Fire & Ice, Noodle Fest, Greater Grand Rapids Figure Skating Club, Winter's a DRAG!, AYA Youth Collective, RuPaul's Drag Race, RuPaul, Stella's Lounge, Butcher's Union, Grand Rapids Garage Bar & Grill, Garage Bar & Grill, Founders Brewing, New Holland Brewing, Atwater Brewery, All Day IPA, Dirty Bastard, Dragon's Milk, Tangerine Space Machine, Detroit, Midwest, winter activities, the great outdoors, winter getawayComment

The Mitten State of Mind: One Thing to See or Do in All 83 of Michigan's Counties, Pt. 2

Michigan is full of majesty, mystery, and might, each of which comes in many forms. This three-part series highlights just some of what the Mitten State has to offer, county by county. Welcome to Part Two, which covers 32 counties alphabetically, from Hillsdale to Muskegon.

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Ada: Scenes From a Small West Michigan Town in Early November

Many people mourn the end summer — especially those who live in colder parts of the country — but I’ve been convinced for a long time that autumn is the best season of the year, and there’s nothing you could say to me that would make me believe otherwise. Fall means football, the leaves putting on their color-changing parade, and the start of the holiday season.

5 of the Most Romantic Places to Visit in the Midwest

As all traveling fiends are aware, sometimes getting away for a while is the perfect remedy to get you out of whatever funk you might be in at any given time. The same could be said for couples who are feeling bogged down by the daily routine.

North AmericaLogan T. HansenFebruary 6, 2020travel, travelspiration, travel inspiration, travel advice, travel guide, Midwest, couples travel, romantic weekend, romantic getaway, seasonal affective disorder, Midwestern, Midwestern U.S., Indiana, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Dells, Michigan, Saugatuck, Douglas, Holland, Grand Rapids, French Lick, French Lick Resort, French Lick Springs Hotel, West Baden Springs Hotel, Larry Bird, NBA, Bloomington, Sin City, Las Vegas, spa, spa treatment, massage, relaxation, hiking, outdoors, the great outdoors, LGBTQ, Lake Michigan, Kalamazoo Lake, Oval Beach, Saugatuck Dunes State Park, Hotel Saugatuck, The Hotel Saugatuck, cabin, cottage, vacation, vacation rentals, Sundara Inn and Spa, Sundara Inn & Spa, Waterpark Capital of the World, Mirror Lake State Park, sunset, sunset dinner cruise, Wisconsin River, TripAdvisor, waterpark, waterparks, Hocking Hills, Ohio, Hocking Hills State Park, zipline, ziplining, waterfalls, prehistoric caves, camping, Inn & Spa at Cedar Falls, Glenlaurel Inn, Rockbridge, Logan, Lead, South Dakota, Terry Peak Ski Area, Deer Mountain Ski Resort, George S. Mickelson Trail, cross country skiing, cross-country skiing, skiing, snowboarding, winter, summer, Spearfish Canyon, Spearfish Canyon Lodge, Black Hills, Spearfish Canyon Scenic Byway, outdoor adventure, romance, romantic, romantic retreat, Valentine's DayComment

A Unique Music Festival, Smack Dab in the Middle of Lake Michigan

Located in between Michigan’s Upper and Lower Peninsulas, Beaver Island, the largest island in Lake Michigan, has hosted its increasingly-popular music festival since 2003. That was the year a few people got together and said, “We want to bring some musical talent to our neck of the woods.” And so they did — literally.

From Planning to Execution, Road Trips Never Seem to Go the Way You Think They Will

What’s the first thing you do when planning a road trip? Before picking out stops along the way, before deciding which places you’ll spend the night in, before figuring out how many miles you’ll travel and how many days and nights you’ll be away — before any of that — the very first thing you do is you give your road trip an epic name equivalent to the significance of the marvelous adventure you are about to embark upon.

General TravelLogan T. HansenFebruary 14, 2019travel, travelspiration, travel inspiration, travel guide, travel advice, road trip, road trips, trip planning, Vermont, University of Vermont, Burlington, Hartford, cabin in the woods, misadventures, social media, Ontario, Canada, Montreal, Quebec, East Coast Extravaganza, Great Lakes Expedition, east coast, U.S., United States, Grand Rapids, Michigan, Toronto, Niagara Falls, Ottawa, North Bay, Great Lakes, Sault Ste. Marie, Lake Superior, Ann Arbor, Ben & Jerry's, Waterbury, Boston, Providence, Connecticut, New Haven, Stratford, Two Roads Brewing Company, New York City, New York, NYC, Camp Crystal Lake, Blairstown, New Jersey, Riverside, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Green Mountain State, Green Mountains, State College, Pennsylvania, 2015 Pac-12 Men's Basketball Tournament, Pac-12, basketball, Arizona, Oregon, travel planning, cross-country road trip, Roadtrippers, roadtrippers.com, adventure, life on the road, 2015 Comment

Fulton Street Farmers Market: One of West Michigan's Oldest Neighborhood Markets

If you find yourself in the Midwest, there's a pretty good chance you won't need to look too hard to find a farmers market during the summer season. In rural and urban areas alike, these marketplaces are generally a fixture of the community, whether they pop up in parking lots or park pavilions on the weekend or if they have a more permanent location with fairly regular hours.

This Tiny Grand Rapids Diner Proves Bigger Isn't Always Better

One establishment you'll notice there where Leonard Street, Plainfield Avenue and the railroad track all come together is a tiny red brick building with black shingles that looks like it couldn't fit more than ten people inside. This would be the Choo Choo Grill.

The NY Times' 52 Places to Go in 2018: Reaction, Highlights & Other Tidbits

Christmas and New Year's Eve and Day have come and gone, and I bet you thought the holidays were over, didn't you? Well, guess again, because The New York Times just released its list of "52 Places to Go in 2018" and I'm partying like it's 1999 all over again.

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