The 2010 Michigan Travel Ideas mag­a­zine is now avail­able free of charge from Travel Michigan, the state’s tourism pro­mo­tion office. The 120-page, full-color travel guide is a four-season resource for explor­ing the Great Lakes State.

The are lots of rea­sons to visit the Great Lakes any time of the year, from island camp­ing and div­ing ship wrecks to vis­it­ing his­toric light houses. This com­ing sum­mer, there will be one more rea­son: the Great Lakes will host the Tall Ships Challenge race series in 2010. The ships will race through all five Great Lakes, mak­ing port appear­ances in cities through­out the region.

The Michigan Snowsports Industries Association (MSIA) is sell­ing a card that allows the holder to ski at 28 dif­fer­ent Michigan ski areas this win­ter for just $189.

Good news, Midwest trav­el­ers! This week United Airlines announced that they are launch­ing new ser­vice begin­ning in early 2010 from the airline’s Chicago hub to Eau Claire, Wisconsin, Hancock/Houghton, Michigan, Muskegon, Michigan, and Paducah, Kentucky.

Just because sum­mer has offi­cially ended doesn’t mean camp­ing sea­son has to be! Camping is an excel­lent com­ple­ment to lots of favorite fall and win­ter activ­i­ties, includ­ing tail­gat­ing, fish­ing, hunt­ing, hik­ing, snow­mo­bil­ing and ski­ing, if you have an RV.