New outsdoors ads show for the Pure Michigan campaign released

The national Pure Michigan campaign has released its new television ads, and a pair of them focus on Michigan's outdoors.

Four communities/attractions were featured: Ann Arbor, The Henry Ford museum, Mackinac Island and Traverse City. The Ann Arbor ad focuses on the cultural aspect of the city, which its known for. The Henry Ford, obviously for its historical artifacts and Greenfield village.

But the two that focus on Michigan's outdoors feature Mackinac Island and Traverse City. The Traverse City ad uses the phrase "True North," and describes Sleeping Bear Dunes and sunsets over Lake Michigan.

The Mackinac Island ad showcases the natural beauty of the island, as well as the tourist-y aspect.

Take a watch of both of the below, and see the other two on the Pure Michigan blog:


Mackinac Island


Traverse City

The "Mitten War:" as much as its true, it just has to stop

Let's admit it: us Michiganders are possessive.

Our music. Our lakes. Our sports teams. Our cities. And, especially today, our shape.

The brouhaha is as follows: an image shows up on a Wisconsin tourism site of the state of Wisconsin shaped using a mitten. Kalamazoo Gazette picks up on the story, and mad Michigan chaos ensues. 

Many Michiganders are upset seeing an item that many associate with us being associated with those cheeseheads over across the lake (sorry, had to).

It's sparked dozens of posts on news sites. Tweets and Facebook posts abound. Even the Pure Michigan campaign has jumped in, hosting a poll that asks which is the Mitten State. You can probably figure out how that's going right now.

It's been interesting to watch how this has developed throughout the day. And the more it goes on, the more I realize this little debate is worthless and should end.

The only real argument is that Wisconsinites use their hand to identify where they come from, much like us Michiganders. I doubt this, unless they all have deformed hands in Wisconsin. I tried getting my hand to bend the way the mitten is bent, but couldn't do it too naturally. But that's all we can bicker about. 

The site isn't trying to lay claim to this concept: it's simply using a mitten as a winter piece for its website. Apparently, it had leaves shaped like Wisconsin during the fall. The mitten isn't a dominant force on the site, its an element as a part of a rotating carousel of different items. It's an element, not a complete attack.

Even the state's Department of Tourism is admitting it's not a tactic to take the title of Mitten State away from us (Even though the next line says Wisconsin's trying to be the "fun state," whatever that means). But we've launched into full-attack mode ourselves. Fun-poking is one thing, but there's going to be some that will fight this in the morning. Michigan.org even has whoistherealmittenstate.com launched with said poll above. It's slightly overboard, to say the least. 

I compiled several tweets this morning on this subject for work, and compiled them below. Take a look:

Michigan hunting live chat taking place today at 11:30 a.m.

I need to compile my thoughts a bit more on the subject, but the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, along with the Pure Michigan campaign, is hosting a live chat today on hunting on its website.

I'm no hunter, although I'd like to eventually give it a go. More on this later, but thought I would share the live chat link earlier as opposed to later.

Camp Chickagami in Presque Isle: truly God's country

I'm super late on this, but it's still summer and I'm sure it hasn't changed much since I was there in late June.
Camp Chickagami is a place I've grown up at, up about 30 minutes north of Alpena.

The view of Lake Esau from the balcony of the boathouse
at Camp Chickagami, Presque Isle, Michigan.

Owned by the Episcopal Diocese of Eastern Michigan, the camp is mostly used for youth camps and other activities. But for 25 years, myself and St. David's Episcopal Church members drive up for a week and enjoy the character and natural beauty northeast Michigan has to offer.

The camp is located on Lake Esau, a quiet, perfectly-sized lake for tubing, swimming and boating. It's tucked back on a dead-end road, and doesn't see much traffic (it would be nice to keep it that way, too).

While the camp is privately-owned, the surrounding area is untouched beauty most travelers only know through the two lighthouses that watch over Lake Huron in Presque Isle, which is French for "almost an island."

The lighthouses, which are featured in a Pure Michigan television commercial, are majestic and each have a story to tell. The old lighthouse (which is haunted, and I can vouch for it) was built in 1840, and was shut down after 30 years of service. Another lighthouse was built down the road at the end of the peninsula to serve as the area's beacon.

Take a stroll up the lighthouse's tower below:



This new one is one of the tallest in the Great Lakes, and allows visitors to climb its 130 steps to see wondrous view of Lake Huron from the top:

The sunset over Lake Huron in Presque Isle.

There is no museum at the new lighthouse, but the one at the old one is a fabulous look at the how the lightkeeper's lived.

The marina is perfect for those boaters going up the coast, too; fairly quiet, a little pizzeria, deli and snack shop is ready for boaters.

A few parks line the peninsula, nice for a picnic or slow walk along the water, including the lighthouse park and Burnham's Landing park.

It's a great place to visit in the summer, and only a half-hour from both Alpena and Rogers City. If you make a trip to the northeast Lower Peninsula, Presque Isle is worth your while.