Editors’ Top Picks for the Michigan’s Best Food Towns Plus More Michigan spots to Have a Great Meal

DES MOINES, IA (May 12, 2010) – Ann Arbor and Traverse City have been honored among Midwest Living magazine’s five Best Food Towns. Eight other Michigan communities made the list of 54 towns with meals “worth the trip.” The awards recognize the communities’ increasingly rich and varied food scene, according to Midwest Living® Editor-in-Chief Greg Philby.

In its annual Best of the Midwest issue, Midwest Living serves up editors’ top picks for the five best small to midsize food towns in the 12-state region. (Since most big cities have strong dining scenes, the magazine skipped metro areas of 1 million or more.). After eating more than 700 meals at locally owned restaurants, the foodies at Midwest Living ranked their favorites.

“Researching these awards was tough duty,” Philby joked, as he presented the Michigan awards recently at the Pure Michigan Governor’s Conference on Mackinac Island. Then, he explained, “We check everything out in person so we can be sure the restaurant will be a good experience from a visitor’s perspective. We looked for quality, for a rich variety of restaurants and prices, and for use of fresh and local ingredients. We particularly love when a restaurant or town really expresses its heritage and sense of place. Part of culinary tourism is about food that tastes great, and part is about personality and a unique experience.”

In addition, the magazine highlights 54 smaller don’t-miss destinations, such as great places to stop for pie, for comfort food, for fine-dining surprises, for coffee, and more.

Midwest Living’s Top Five Food Towns:

Traverse City, MI. This food town boasts farm-fresh menus, and its lake climate makes for bountiful harvests. It does an exemplary job of showcasing local foods such as cherries, fish, and wine.

Ann Arbor, MI. Led by Zingerman’s Deli, the town takes chances with food, has a lot of personality, and is consistently high quality. It has a terrific menu range.

The other top-five winners were Bloomington, IN, Des Moines, IA and Madison, WI.

54 More Meals Worth the Trip:

• Michigan towns/restaurants recognized include:
• Sawyer: The Lark and Pear (coconut-plum cake)
• Petoskey: Jesperson’s (cherry-berry pie with a perfectly flaky crust)
• Grand Rapids: Marie Catrib’s (fudgy chocolate pudding, extra-rich thanks to duck eggs)
• enton: Uncle Ray’s Dairyland (made-to-order frozen yogurt).
• Bay City: Krzysiak’s House (Polish golabki—stuffed cabbage rolls).
• Sault Ste. Marie: The Antlers Restaurant (steaks and burgers, eaten under of the gaze of 200-plus taxidermic critters).
• Wakefield: Randall’s Bakery (pasties—the UP’s trademark pastry pillows stuffed with meat, potatoes and veggies).

Traverse Bay RV Resort, Michigan’s Premier RV Resort, offers guests a laid-back, luxury lifestyle in beautiful Traverse City, Michigan.

We are now taking reservations for your weekend getaways or extended vacation stays so you can enjoy one of the midwest’s greatest tourism areas. Being an upscale site condominium development, you also have the opportunity to purchase and enjoy your own RV lot in our community. We have a wonderful selection of pre-owned RV lots available, including pondside, corner, back-in and fully landscaped lots ready for your enjoyment.

New for this season, we are happy to announce that Matt Geib and Steve Scheppe have joined our sales team as licensed real estate agents and along with Dave Scheppe will be able to handle all of your real estate needs within the resort. Matt and Steve have been part of the Traverse Bay team for many years and bring a great deal of experience, knowledge and enthusiasm about the resort.

With summer approaching, we have many great things planned for our guests at Traverse Bay RV Resort and we look forward to helping make your 2010 season one to remember!

Email us at: sales@traversebayrv.com.

By Reyhaneh Fathieh

With 401(k)s taking a hit, Americans are in no rush to retire now. But that doesn’t mean they’re not planning for their golden years. A recent survey of real estate agents, by Coldwell Banker, finds that many 50-somethings are buying their retirement homes now, well before they retire.

PULLOUT

Buy now, retire later in these hot markets

1. Helena, Mont. (pop. 28,726): This town has a local symphony and fine-art galleries. Nature lovers can trek 1,000-plus miles of mountain and forest trails. Median home price: $191,500.
2. Pensacola, Fla. (pop. 54,283): The sun always shines on its white beaches, it’s super-safe (the crime rate is well below the national average), and the American Association baseball team boosts hometown spirit. Median home price: $137,200.
3. Creve Coeur, Mo. (pop. 16,933): Its 320-acre lake is a boating haven surrounded by picnic sites and an archery range. And St. Louis is a half-hour drive away. Median home price: $355,000.
4. Traverse City, Mich. (pop. 14,339): The “cherry capital” is famous for its vineyards. Plus, its health services are top-notch; the Munson Medical Center is consistently named one of the top 100 hospitals in the nation. Median home price: $129,500.
5. Butte-Silver Bow, Mont. (pop. 31,967): This area’s 29 recreational facilities (golf courses, parks, pools) keep residents active. And Butte will host the National Folk Festival again next summer. Median home price: $108,500.

Source: Onboard Informatics for USA WEEKEND

Driving that trend: plummeting home prices and low interest rates. “The areas hardest hit by the recession can be prime spots for second-home seekers,” says Jim Gillespie, Coldwell Banker CEO. Among them: Cape Coral-Fort Myers in Florida, where prices have dropped 59.1% in the last year; California’s San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos area, down 29.6%; and Las Vegas-Paradise in Nevada, down 37.3%.

Above is our surprising list of the top five cities for young retirees (55 to 59), compiled exclusively for USA WEEKEND by Coldwell Banker and data experts Onboard Informatics. Rankings are weighted, in order, based on recreation, weather, health resources, crime and cost of living (in all five towns, it’s below the national average).

See this article at the Traverse City Record-Eagle

TRAVERSE CITY — Before they left Denmark, Kirsten and Mogens Hermansen dreamed of buying a boat and sailing around the world.

Instead they settled in the U.S. and bought a 45-foot motor coach — the “big rig” of the RV world.

“This is our sailboat,” said Kirsten Hermansen, an amateur artist whose summer “studio” is the windowed storage shed on the couple’s lot at Traverse Bay RV Resort in Williamsburg.

More than 8 million households own RVs, according to a 2005 University of Michigan study commissioned by the Recreation Vehicle Industry Association. For some, it’s a way to travel without breaking the bank. For others, it’s a grown-up form of camping, with all the comforts of home.

“You start out with a tent, a pop-up, a little camper. Then it’s a motor home,” said Dennis Sheridan of Rochester Hills, owner of a sleek 40-foot motor coach. “I used to laugh at people who have boats that are more expensive than their houses. Now I hang around people who have RVs that are more expensive than their houses.”

Prices for new RVs range from $4,000-$13,000 for folding camping trailers to $58,000-$400,000 for “Type A” motor homes like Sheridan’s and the Hermansens’.

“You can say it’s expensive, but it’s like buying a second home,” said Mogens Hermansen, a global manufacturing director for International Paper. “People say, ‘Why do you spend all that money on this?’ It’s investing in your lifestyle.”

Ray and Maggie Russell went from a 19-foot camper to a 40-foot motor coach that easily pulls their “toad” — a car or other towed vehicle in RV lingo. Then they bought two lots at Traverse Bay RV Resort, a luxury RV park complete with clubhouse, fitness center, tennis courts, pool and spa, cable, satellite and wi-fi.

“To me it seemed like a good investment,” said Maggie Russell, a retired high school teacher who enjoys the park’s planned activities, from potlucks and wine tastings to movie and card nights. “We love the people, the relaxed atmosphere, the environment.”

The Highland couple’s pond-side lot includes neat landscaping and a concrete patio with iron patio set, grills, gas fire pit and swing. It’s where park friends often gather when the Russells aren’t cruising the neighborhood in their golf cart or taking in a Beach Bums game or an Interlochen concert.

“It’s a nice life,” said Russell, who prefers a Florida RV park in the winter. “We’re very fortunate, especially at our age.”

The Hermansens put 57,000 miles on their Honda Gold Wing motorcycle while criss-crossing the country before buying their first RV.

“While we were on the road, my husband saw these monsters and said, ‘Wouldn’t that be nice?’” said Kirsten Hermansen, who gave up her dental practice in Denmark to come to the U.S. with Mogens. “After two years, he convinced me.”

Now the couple divide their time between their home near Memphis and RV parks in Traverse City and Gulf Shores, Ala., where living quarters is a jumbo motor coach with a 525-horsepower engine. Amenities include a king-size bed and a cherry-paneled kitchen capable of cooking a whole turkey.

In northern Michigan, Kirsten likes to Roller-Blade, knit and take art classes at Artcenter Traverse City while Mogens indulges his photography hobby. Together they take frequent day trips around the area.

But Mogens said the biggest reward of their RV lifestyle is the opportunity to connect with people.

“We’ve been living in Memphis for 10 years and I don’t know my neighbors,” he said. “But here it’s natural; you meet people and hear where they’ve been.”

“Everybody has a story,” added Kirsten, “and I think that’s fascinating.”

Socializing is an important part of RVing, agrees Sheridan, who worked in financial services before retiring.

Besides meeting up in different parts of the country for club rallies and other events, RVers are known to gather daily for drinks and dinner at one another’s “fancy tents.”

“When you come up here, you chill out,” he said. “Everybody waits for 4 o’clock and happy hour. Everybody has an excuse to get together.”

Ray Russell once met NASCAR star Jimmie Johnson in a Wal-Mart parking lot, where both were “dry camping” overnight, said Russell, a retired Ford engineer. The driver even offered to pose for photos.

“RV people are like campers,” Russell said. “They’re just wonderful.”

Resort Services was busy with spring cleanup and mulching as well as finishing up on some custom designed  lot upgrades in the South and North loops. They are also designing a customized model lot located in the Northwest section of the resort.

Traverse Bay held their first rally for the season hosted by Sue & Kurt Hurson for the Michigan Great Lakers on May 15th thru the 17th. The rally held a breakfast and 2 dinners at the Main Clubhouse hosted by Sue Hurson herself. Aromas from the kitchen drifted through the clubhouse and reminded everyone of the many events that will soon be happening in the upcoming season.

Traverse Bay will soon be hosting the annual Memorial Weekend events. On Saturday will be a Pancake Breakfast with all the trimmings. And on Sunday afternoon at 5:00 will be the Annual Memorial Weekend BBQ. The menu will be picnic style fare with hamburgers, hotdogs, potato salad, baked beans, fruit salad, bevrages and desserts. This is a free event held each year and owners as well as visitors are all welcome.

Want to meet and chat with the butchers and bakers, fishermen and brewers, cheesemakers and candymakers whose creations have helped to turn Traverse City into a “foodie’s paradise?” Here are a few places where you can do exactly that. This guide is by no means exhaustive, but it offers a wide variety of food experiences that you can enjoy any season of the year.
Be sure to stop in to our Visitors Center, conveniently located on the corner of Union St. and Grandview Parkway (right at the base of West Bay on the edge of downtown), to get a great local map and our Tasty Traverse – a self-guided foodie tour brochure to assist you in your discovery of these local treats.

TRAVERSE CITY DESTINATIONS
Within the compact waterfront area of Traverse City you can enjoy discovering many unique culinary treats created by local artisans. Many can be explored by foot and a few only a short drive away.

Bay Bread

601 Randolph St. ~ Traverse City ~ (231) 922-8022
Just a block from the beach on a quiet side street, Bay Bread occupies a handsome two-story building of pale brick. Inside, Stacy Wilcox and her crew create an astounding variety of breads – from crusty boules and sweet baguettes to great crusty ciabattas and dense multi-grain loaves – as well as scones, cookies and other treats. There’s a small café serving sandwiches featuring those awesome Bay Breads, too.

Grand Traverse Pie Co.

525 West Front St. ~ Traverse City ~ (231) 922-7437
Since 1996, Mike and Denise Busley have been making pies of all kinds (27 varieties of fruit pie, including six kinds of cherry pie) as well as seven kinds of cream pie, pot pies, quiches, cookies, scones and muffins. Grand Traverse Pie is now a major chain with branches throughout MI & IN, but this cozy shop on Front St. is the original. It includes a café with soups, sandwiches and other items – but the real draw is still that signature pie with its light, flaky crust.

Deering’s Market

827 S. Union St. ~ Traverse City ~ (231) 947-6165
Located in a residential area just a few blocks south of downtown, Deering’s looks like nothing more than a modest neighborhood convenience store. But it’s the home of “Deering’s Famous Jerkey,” a line of more than 26 varieties of cured and smoked cured meats – everything from beef, turkey, chicken and pork to venison, elk and buffalo, prepared in a bewildering variety of styles and flavors. (The eccentric spelling of jerkey is deliberate, because Deering’s version is more moist and tender than the leathery substance most people think of.)

Right Brain Brewery

221 Garland St. ~ Traverse City ~ (231) 944-1239
Tucked into an alleyway in the city’s edgy Warehouse District, this microbrewery is paired with a hair salon next door. (Their motto is, You sip, we snip.) That’s because owner Russ Springsteen is a licensed barber who learned the brewer’s trade working at two other area breweries. The 70-seat pub at Right Brain features at least 10 handcrafted ales, beers, stouts and porters at a time – the selection changes regularly — and brewmaster John Niedermaier is famous for putting all manner of things in his recipes: from chocolate and heather to coffee and raspberries.

Grand Traverse Distillery

781 Industrial Cir, Ste 5 ~ Traverse City ~ (231) 947-8635
It’s not easy to find the Grand Traverse Distillery, hidden away in a nondescript industrial park off Three Mile Road, but if you’re passionate about vodka, this is a very special place. Working with small handcrafted batches, Kent Rabish has taken top-grade northern Michigan rye and clear glacial water, and created True North Vodka, a triple-distilled “super-premium vodka that was awarded a Gold Medal at the 2007 International Review of Spirits Competition in Chicago. Rabish has a small tasting room and loves to talk about his distillery, but be sure to call ahead.

Moomer’s Homemade Ice Cream

7263 N. Long Lake Rd. ~ Traverse City ~ (231) 941-4122
Selected by viewers of “Good Morning America” as the best ice cream store in the country, Moomer’s is the brainchild of Jon and Nancy Plummer. In this rural setting near Long Lake, just west of Traverse City, visitors can watch the dairy cows grazing outside as they sample some of the more than 100 flavors made here. (Their signature flavor, Cherries Moobilee, features black cherry ice cream with chunks of black sweet cherries, red tart cherries, chocolate fudge swirl and chunks of homemade brownie pieces.)

THE VILLAGE AT GRAND TRAVERSE COMMONS DESTINATIONS

Just a very short drive from downtown Traverse City you will discover one of the regions most unique destinations. Formerly the Northern Michigan Asylum this auspicious 63-acre site with magnificent century-old Victorian-Italianate architecture is being transformed into a mixed-use development. Here you can park and explore these beautiful grounds and enjoy the scents and tastes of some truly unique experiences. Be sure not to miss the Mercado area where you will find more to explore.

Higher Grounds Trading Co.

806 Red Dr. ~ Traverse City ~ (877) 825-2262
Many of the area’s foodie attractions are located in The Village at Grand Traverse Commons, a vibrant new multi-use development on the site of what was once the local mental asylum. Located in the former laundry building, Higher Grounds is a coffee roastery that features only fair trade and organic coffee. Founders Chris & Jody Treter designed their coffee bar like a wine tasting room, featuring brewed-to-order coffee and large viewing windows into the roastery so you can watch the beans being roasted and prepared for sale.

Left Foot Charley

806 Red Drive ~ Traverse City ~ (231) 995-0500
Sharing the former laundry with Higher Grounds this is Traverse City’s first “urban winery.” Owner/winemaker Bryan Ulbrich buys his grapes from selected growers on the nearby Old Mission Peninsula, but all the wines are made here in the old laundry building. Stop in at the tasting room to sample some of their Rieslings, Pinot Grigios and other whites. (In warm weather, the winery also runs Café Leftique, a patio bistro where you can enjoy a plate of bread and cheese with your wine.)

Pleasanton Bakery

812 Cottage View Dr. ~ Traverse City ~ (231) 941-1964
The asylum’s former fire station is now home to this unique bakery, where bakers Gerard Grabowski and Jan Shireman use an enormous wood-fired brick oven to bake hand-shaped loaves made with organic Michigan grains and natural leavening agents. Their flavorful and deeply textured breads include such varieties as Parmesan Olive Herb, Cranberry Pecan, Sesame Whole Wheat and Village Rye.

Underground Cheesecake Co.

1333 Yellow Dr. ~ Traverse City ~ (231) 929-4418
This business actually did begin underground, when Lori Dawson and Mary Vickerman decided to start making designer cheesecakes in their basement. Today their cheesecake emporium occupies two handsome brick buildings at the Grand Traverse Commons – one for baking and another for sales. On any given day, they produce 42 different flavors of cheesecake, from Turtle Sundae to Mocha Mudslide, nine cake varieties, five kinds of brownies and a frozen concoction called “cheesecake on a stick.” There’s also a café serving soups, salads and sandwiches.

LEELANAU COUNTY DESTINATIONS

To the immediate northwest of Traverse City is Leelanau County – a beautiful peninsula of rolling hills and spectacular Grand Traverse Bay and Lake Michigan shoreline views. This area is rich in agriculture and offers more Tasty stops on your Tasty Traverse Foodie Tour.

Grocer’s Daughter Chocolate

12020 S. Leelanau Hwy ~ Empire ~ (231) 326-3030
On a hillside overlooking the picturesque village of Empire, former social worker Mimi Wheeler has attracted a cult following around the country for her intensely-flavored “artisan chocolates” in which powerful Ecuadorian cocoa is blended with local herbs, flowers, fruits, nuts and honey. Her tiny candy factory, Grocer’s Daughter Chocolate, offers such delicacies as lavender and rosemary truffles, and even a Mayan truffle flavored with a subtle but unmistakably warm dose of chili.

Cherry Republic

6026 S. Lake St. ~ Glen Arbor ~ (231) 334-3150
The Traverse City area is America’s “cherry capital,” and nowhere is that more evident than in the village of Glen Arbor, in the heart of the Sleeping Bear Dunes. Here you’ll find The Cherry Republic, which features more than 150 cherry products, from soda pop and wine to ice cream and salsa. Free samples are plentiful! Beautiful perennial gardens connect each of the hobbit-style buildings, and there’s a charming café. Open seven days a week all year. (The Republic also has an “embassy” in downtown Traverse City.)

Carlson’s of Fishtown

205 W. River ~ Leland ~ (231) 256-9801
Fishtown is a quaint shopping district at the mouth of the Leland River, where century-old fishing shanties and sheds have been converted into galleries and boutiques. Here you’ll find the region’s last full-time commercial fishing operation, Carlson’s of Fishtown. If your timing is good, you may be there to watch them unload boxes of iced whitefish from the tugboat out back. The store sells fresh and smoked fish and even a smoked fish sausage (it’s better than it sounds!)

Pleva’s Meats

8974 South Kasson St. ~ Cedar ~ (231) 228-5000
The interior of the Leelanau Peninsula was settled by Polish and Bohemian farmers who dearly love the sausages of their native countries. But in the village of Cedar, butcher Ray Pleva took things a step further in the 1980s by mixing cherries and crushed pecans into his smoked sausage. Today almost every grocer in the region carries a version, but the original recipe is still followed at Pleva’s Meats, along with a wide selection of their other cherry-enhanced meats.

Tandem Ciders

2055 N. Setterbo Rd. ~ Suttons Bay ~ (231) 271-0050
In the apple orchard country at the northern end of the Leelanau Peninsula, Nikki Rothwell and Dan Young have revived the traditional art of making and bottling hard cider. A clear, fresh-flavored, slightly carbonated beverage that’s usually served in bottles or fresh from the tap, hard cider has little in common with the sweet brown liquid sold at farm markets. It’s a traditional favorite in Europe and was America’s beverage of choice in colonial times, and is making a comeback in many parts of the country.

Leelanau Cheese

10844 E. Revold Rd. ~ Suttons Bay ~ (231) 944-1270
Black Star Farms is a fascinating “agricultural destination” in the hills south of Suttons Bay that includes a winery and distillery. It’s also the home of the Leelanau Cheese Co. founded in 1995 by John Hoyt and his French-born wife Anne. Their aged raclette, made with milk from local cows and mellowed for months in a cool underground “cave,” has been named the Best Cheese in America. They also make a variety of French style fresh cheeses, and you can watch the process through a set of picture windows in the winery tasting room.

How else to explain the literary impulse that comes over residents of this tiny Lake Michigan coastal village every year when they see the first brave spears of spring asparagus pushing up from the sandy earth?

Each May, residents of Empire dress up in asparagus costumes and parade down their short three-block downtown. They hold huge asparagus cook-offs featuring everything from soups and soufflés to casseroles and crepes. They sing, dance, compete in athletic events, and consume respectable quantities of beer and wine. But the spotlight event of the two-day Empire Asparagus Festival is the annual “Ode to Asparagus” competition, where local bards outdo each other in paying homage to this beloved vegetable.

Consider, for example, the eloquence of Tom Ulrich, assistant superintendent of the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, who won the contest a year or two back:
I stand over the bed and imagine you arising
Green and slender, uncurling towards me,
Stretching with the pleasant ache of carbon, newly fixed.
It’s been nearly a year since I’ve seen your face
And a long winter since I’ve tasted anything that astonished me
The way you always seem to, no matter how you’re dressed.
The iron clouds skid by, hiding the sun in their pockets.
In this cold, flat light my fingers are pallid and numb,
Trembling until your emergence proves everything anew.
I blow into my cupped hands,
And wait for you.

Was ever a side dish so sweetly serenaded?

After California and Washington, Michigan is the nation’s third-largest producer of commercial asparagus, a crop worth some $29 million a year to the state. But Empire doesn’t really have what you’d call an asparagus industry — just one local farmer named Harry Norconk, who has a 240-acre operation about two miles south of town. Named for an ill-fated schooner that briefly served as the village school after running aground on the beach in 1865, Empire is best known as an artsy summer resort in the heart of the Sleeping Bear Dunes.

Still, asparagus is an opportunistic vegetable, and every May its perky green spears start showing up in fields, ditches, meadows and hillsides all over this part of the region. That’s all it took for the citizens of Empire — all 400 of them — to devise a celebration. (They already have a festival honoring a big anchor that was recovered from the bottom of the lake in 1977.)

“It’s mainly just an excuse to get out and enjoy ourselves,” says festival organizer Paul Skinner, a British expat who owns an antique store in the town. “We don’t really need a big reason to have music or eat.”

But the festivities do have their earnest save-the-world side, too. Like many other communities in the fruit-growing region around Michigan’s Grand Traverse Bay, Empire is a hotbed of advocacy for small-scale local agriculture and regional cuisine. Other towns in the area celebrate cherries, wines and wild mushrooms; Empire opted for the humble asparagus.

This year’s festival, the sixth, will be held May 15-16. In addition to the asparagus poetry contest, it will include such events as a 5K “Kick Ass-paragus” Fun Run/Walk, an asparagus recipe contest and cook-off, a tour of local art galleries and studios, the making of asparagus-garnished parade hats, the annual Asparagus Parade, an afternoon concert and dance, and a massive asparagus-based food, wine and beer tasting that will include such treats as asparagus focaccia, asparagus pizza, asparagus croissants, asparagus scones, asparagus bratwurst, asparagus slaw, asparagus & morel risotto, and asparagus beer. (Yes, it’s true – asparagus beer from the too-creative-for-their-own-good brewers at Traverse City’s Right Brain Brewery.

WHAT ELSE TO DO:
Empire is the headquarters of the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, a breathtaking symphony of water, sky and towering sand dunes – some as much as 500 feet high – on the Lake Michigan shoreline of the Leelanau Peninsula. Part of the national park system since 1972, Sleeping Bear is one of America’s most profoundly beautiful landscapes: a 64-mile curve of beaches, coves, islands, forests, meadows and lakes. Its grandeur can be viewed from well-placed overlooks along the Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive — but it’s even better to see the park close up and personal by visiting its fascinating museums, hiking its trails or even taking a ferryboat ride to the unspoiled Manitou Islands.

In most years, the Empire Asparagus Festival coincides with the arrival of spring blossoms in the cherry orchards of the nearby Leelanau and Old Mission peninsulas — one of America’s most impressive (and least-known) floral displays.
It’s quite a spectacle itself: 2.6 million blooming cherry trees climbing the steep glacial ridges like battalions of tidy white clouds, their soft lines contrasting with bright new grass, acres of yellow dandelions and the cobalt blue waters of Grand Traverse Bay.

May is also prime bird-watching time. Thanks to its coastal location along the northern shore of Lake Michigan and its many inland lakes, marshes and ponds, this region is also a favorite destination for thousands of migratory birds. Like their human counterparts, some of these visitors are only stopping for a few days of relaxation and refreshment while others settle down for the whole summer.