Favorites for Spring

Sugarbush safari
At nature centers, learn how to tap maple trees and sample the sweet results.

Schools of know-how
Go away for a relaxing weekend and come home with a new skill.

Serious reservations
Here's a guide to the lodgings, campsites and permits you should nail down early.

Where eagles land
Near winter gathering spots, towns capitalize on the birds' popularity by throwing festivals.

Road trip: Wisconsin River
The valleys and bluffs around Prairie du Sac draw paddlers, hikers and Sunday drivers.

Michigan's Pictured Rocks
There's a lot of scenery crammed into one stretch of Lake Superior around Munising.

20 great spring drives

When weather warms, the urge to hit the road is irresistible.

It's a beautiful spring day — finally. The trees are budding, the birds are chirping. What do you do?

Road trip! Somehow, the call of the highway is especially strong in spring. We want to feel the wind on our face and see something new and unusual.

There's a lot to do along the way: Walk through bluebells, spot birds, visit artist studios, sample cheese, watch a parade.

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The season's first ships

When the Great Lakes shipping season starts, boat nerds watch for salties.

Like robins and maple sap, Lake Superior ore boats aren't much affected by the never-ending winter that humans find so annoying.

Toward the end of March, ice-breakers arrive to clear the shipping lanes, allowing the first boats to leave winter layup, kicking off the spring shipping season.

Then traffic starts to move within Lake Superior. Normally, boats arriving from other lakes can go through the Soo Locks in Sault Ste. Marie after they open on March 25. But in 2024, after a virtually ice-free winter, the locks will open on March 22.

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Spring bird festivals

After a long winter, birders welcome the return of feathered friends.

By April, the harbingers of spring are on the move.

"The spring migration is well underway!" comes the report from wildlife refuges. "Eagles and swans, Canada geese, robins, sparrows, sandhills cranes have arrived!"

Where there are birds, there are birders — and bird festivals. Those are especially nice for beginners, who don't yet have the skills to find and identify birds.

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Wildlife reality show

Web cams open a window into the lives of bald eagles.

In the northeast Iowa town of Decorah, two pairs of nesting bald eagles have become an international phenomenon.

Not only do they have a constant stream of live video, but avid watchers are snatching the best episodes — capturing the many dramas that go on in and around the nest — and posting them on Youtube for everyone to enjoy.

The Raptor Resource Project has dubbed them Nestflix and posts links to the highlights on its Facebook page, along with regular and often entertaining updates and explanations.

In January, the eagles court and get the nest ready. In February, the females lay eggs. About 35 days later, the eggs hatch, and in April and May, viewers can watch the eaglets grow.

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Best of spring

When warm weather arrives, it's time to tiptoe through the tulips.

Winter seems interminable, and cabin fever hits hard. When spring finally gets here, the challenge will be to get out there and enjoy it in the short window before summer gets here.

What to do? Go on a spring drive, see fiddlehead ferns unfurl and surround yourself with that delicate shade of chartreuse that seems to tint the air green.

Look for wildflowers, kayak on cattail-lined creeks, stalk morel mushrooms and watch Dutch dancers clogging on the street.

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20 great spring hikes

The scenery along these lovely trails will put a spring in your step.

What's so great about hiking in spring? That's easy — there's so much to see.

Move your feet in any direction and you'll run across wildflowers, waterfalls and, best of all, sweeping views that last only until the trees leaf out.

Head out before summer makes its brash appearance, with walls of greenery and fleets of bugs.

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