Ski Michigan for Short Slopes, Short Lines

"Say YES to Michigan!" the television commercials shout. "Say YES to white sandy beaches, lush green forests and deep blue lakes! Say YES to crystal rivers, rolling meadows, and exciting ski slopes!"

The shining faces and picturesque imagery drive home the message of Michigan, the Midwest's vacation answer to Florida.

But for many--the non-Michiganders, the uninitiated--the commercials don't ring true.

"Say YES to what?" the ignorant masses want to What white sandy beaches? How about the smog-filled expressways and crime-ridden neighborhoods of the Motor City?

Alright, so that is a part of Michigan you won't see in the commercials. But it's a different story just five hours north of Detroit.

In fact, northern Michigan is a year-round vacation wonderland--the Midwest's version of Hilton Head in the summer and Vail in the winter.

Yes, ye of little faith, there is skiing in Michigan, and not just the cross-country variety (though you won't find a better place for that, either).

Even the automobile trip to northern Michigan's recreation hot spots (cold spots, as the case may be) can be an experience--a trek through the wilds of middle America.

Heading north from Detroit along Interstate-75 you'll pass through wide expanses of farmland and across the locally infamous Zilwaukee Bridge--a multi-million dollar cement monolith that took ten years to complete and has nearly collapsed several times.

You'll see for yourself the plight of Flint, the once-bustling factory city profiled by filmmaker Michael Moore in "Roger and Me."

You'll pass through Grayling--a northern Michigan city that is, well, gray.

You'll discover local attractions like Bronner's Christmas Wonderland in historic Frankenmuth--the only store I know of that celebrates Christmas 365 days a year.

Maybe, if you're in an adventurous mood, you'll slip off the expressway and visit hokey Midwest tourist sites like the Call of the Wild Museum or the largest free standing crucifix in North America.

And if you're hungry, there's always an Elias Brothers Big Boy--home of the Big Boy Burger--every couple of miles.

Finally, at the end of your journey through the heart of the Great Lakes State, you'll find yourself in the northwestern corner--somewhere between the pinky and the ring finger--of the mitten that is Michigan.

There, just east of Traverse City, on the twin Lake Michigan bays of Grand Traverse and Little Traverse, lie the quaint resort towns of Petoskey, Boyne, Charlevoix and Harbor Springs.

Believe it or not, this is wine country, home to the Grand Traverse Vineyards.

And it is fruit country--an Eden of tart berries and sweet cherries.

This is where Ernest Hemingway spent his summers as a boy, and where many of his stories were conceived.

And this is where some of the nation's best music students and the world's greatest musicians gather each year at the National Music Camp at Interlochen--people like Isaac Stern and Yo Yo Ma and Wynton Marsalis.

In the summer, millionaires come here to stay at their summer homes, sail their yachts around Lake Michigan, and play golf at the Grand Traverse Resort, with an award-winning course designed by Jack Nicklaus.

And in the winter, throngs of Midwesterners come here to enjoy Michigan's best kept secret--downhill skiing.

At Boyne Mountain, or Nubs Nob or one of several other spots, beginners and experts alike ski on impressive trails that range in difficulty from the ridiculously easy to--for this uncoordinated reporter--the truly frightening.

Sure, the slopes are shorter than their counterparts out West, but the lift lines are shorter as well.

And at Boyne, for example, you can take a break from your skiing for a cozy fireside lunch in the lodge or a leisurely dip in the outdoor hot tub before returning to the slopes for a full afternoon, or even night, of skiing. (The slopes are often illuminated until well into the evening).

Sure, Michigan skiing lacks the enormous mountains and awesome scenery of the West.

But the Great Lakes State makes up for that with breathtaking beauty of another type--like iced-over lakes that dot the landscape and snow-covered forests that make you feel like you're skiing all alone through the wilderness, even when your only a few steps from civilization.

And so, as New Englanders visit the mountains of Vermont and New Hampshire this winter, and as millions of other Americans make the cross-country journey to the big-name slopes of the West, most Michiganders will be content just to stay right at home.

We like our friendly, small-town skiing. We like our own pristine white slopes.

And we know that the television commercials are right.

There's a lot to say YES to in Michigan.