Pure Michigan: Discovering the Four-Season State

Annually, Michigan offers hundreds of attractions for its residents and visitors, and every year there is something new to enjoy - from beachtowns overlooking Lake Michigan to the urban vibe in southeast Michigan. 2008 has many milestone events, including the portside city of St. Clair celebrating its 150th anniversary and the 100th anniversary of the Ford Model T and General Motors.

Enhanced Places to Stay
The revitalization of the city of Detroit continues with the opening of the 400-room hotel at the Greektown Casino. Slated to open in October 2008, the 30-story hotel will include 10 banquet rooms and two new restaurants. The complex will also feature 100,000 square feet of gaming space and a new 1,100-seat live theater.

Hotel Sterling is a new 11-room boutique hotel offering visitors to downtown Monroe the first lodging facility in decades, and the first ever "world-class" lodging in Monroe. Each guest room features La-Z-Boy furnishings - a tribute to the furniture giant that has been located in Monroe since 1927 (Incidentally, 2009 will mark 100 years since the first La-Z-Boy recliner swept America off its feet).

Detroit's hotel choices will expand when the Westin Book Cadillac Detroit hotel opens also in October 2008 following a $180 million restoration of what was the largest hotel in the country when it first opened in 1924. The Book Cadillac will feature 455 guest rooms and suites, three restaurants, and meeting space. Visitors can also look forward to the addition of 204 luxury hotel suites as part of the old Pick-Fort-Shelby, which is being redeveloped as the Fort Shelby Double Tree Suites, to be operated by Hilton Hotel Corp. The Detroit Marriot at the Renaissance Center and the Sheraton Detroit Riverside, formerly the Pontchartrain, has renovated rooms to keep up with the competition.

Grand Traverse Resort and Spa is converting its indoor pools into an aquatics play area with a waterslide, waterwalk, and sprayground giving it the excitement of a water park, and will continue to provide lap swimming, aqua aerobics, and swimming classes.

Great Wolf Lodge of Traverse City plans to open its new 9,700-swquare-foot conference center, a Grand Ballroom, and additional meeting space. Families can continue to splash in the indoor waterpark and soon enjoy a miniature golf course and a state-of-the-art interactive fantasy game called MagiQuest. The game allows guests to battle and vanquish computer-generated dragons and goblins through the property.

Wine and Dine
MotorCity Casino will move its Iridescence restaurant to the top of the 17-story hotel that opened in late 2007. Iridescence received the AAA-Four Diamond Award rating and is the recipient of the 2007 Wine Spectator Award of Excellence.

Grand Traverse Resort and Spa also has a new restaurant on its top floor named Aerie. Downtown Traverse City has introduced two new restaurants as well. Catch Island Grill is a Caribbean-style eatery with an emphasis on fresh and saltwater fish. Red Ginger is an upscale Asian fusion restaurant and sushi bar.

Places to Play
The Detroit Institute of Arts recently reopened following a comprehensive renovation and expansion project that began in 2001. Visitors can now enjoy a new DIA program, Friday Night Live! with live music, art-making workshops, guided tours, and much more. Activities take place from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. and are free with museum admission.

The Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians have broken ground on a new tribal museum and cultural center in the native community of Peshawbestown. It will include galleries, archives, a museum store, and classrooms. The museum site is on M-22 on the eastern coast of the Leelanau Peninsula, midway between Suttons Bay and Northport.