09.01.08
Posted in Business, Education, Michigan, News, Environment, Economy, Travel at 1:09 pm by Tim
It bills itself as “…a partnership that provides one place online for people to find information relating to the binational Great Lakes-St. Lawrence region of North America” and the Great Lakes Information Network consistently achieves that goal, and has been doing so since the early ’90s. I wrote about the Ann Arbor-based GLIN in this space back in March and, given its breadth and depth, I’ve selected it as the ”Arresting Site of the Month” for September. GLIN’s pages focus on the Great Lakes themselves, plus the region’s economy, education, environment, and tourism, and it’s easy to search by state or province, as well as by individual lake.
There also is a section on maps and geographic information systems, where you’ll encounter portals, galleries, and links that offer a swath of further detail. Speaking of the latter, GLIN nominates its own “Site of the Month,” and its extensive archive in this regard dates back to 1996. You can jump in anywhere and be sure to discover facts and figures about the Great Lakes, but a good place to start is the information center. Whether you’ve lived in Michigan or elsewhere around the Great Lakes your entire life, or you’re a recent transplant to this beautiful area, you’re bound to learn something new at GLIN.
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06.30.08
Posted in Environment, Transportation, Travel at 2:46 pm by Tim
My wife, daughter, and I not only had a great time in Chicago for three days last week, we found a new way to make the journey: Megabus.com. Featuring “low cost daily express bus service in the US and Canada,” Megabus was a suggestion of my wife’s cousin, and a most pleasant surprise. The outbound trip from Ann Arbor, Michigan was fast (under five hours, including two brief rest stops) and, even though we were picked up for the return trip an hour late (in front of Union Station), we still got home a mere 15 minutes over schedule.
I had no idea we’d see movies — Air Force One and The Core, the former of which I’d have preferred my 4-year-old not be subjected, as it’s way too violent for kids — on drop-down screens during the trip into Chicago, but it did while away the time for many passengers. Overall, we were happy to not have to drive ourselves, and the round trip ticket price for the three of us was reasonable at $144.50. Not a whole lot more, frankly, than we’d have spent on gas, and we didn’t have to find a place to park in the city. Better still, we shared the ride on a packed double-deck vehicle, obviously better for the environment. I suspect Megabus and other services will see plenty more business in coming months and years, especially if current trends continue. Next time we travel to Cincinnati, another one of the many cities Megabus serves in the Midwest and around the country, we’re likely to book with them again. Much better than the “foreclosure bus tours” that I referenced in these pages earlier this month.
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