'Tis the season for happiness and fuzziness, and there are few things happier or fuzzier than baby animals. Since we're all about enhancing holiday travel,, here are three zoos—each drawn from a different region of the country—where you can see recently born cute things:

· Following up an adorable litter of Giant River Otters from January, the Miami Zoo announced a few weeks ago that they had two more live pups to show off. The pups are about a foot long and weigh just under a pound, and are scheduled to go on exhibit sooner rather than later. While you're at the zoo you should visit Juanpur, our favorite escaping Indian rhino.]]> Omri 2011-12-02T15:40:05-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2011/10/7/133153/799

Real Steel and The Ides of March will battle it out that the box office this weekend, and even though the two movies seem like they couldn't be more different, they actually have one thing in common; they were both filmed in Detroit.

Real Steel, a family-friendly sci-fi flick set in the future when giant robots face off in the Robot Boxing League, was filmed at various locations around Detroit. Some notable spots are the Detroit Fire Department Headquarters (which was transformed into a boxing ring), the COBO Center, the Parkway Motel near Holly, MI, and Joe Louis Arena.]]> cmb 2011-10-07T13:31:53-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2011/6/1/151438/2374

A few months ago Newsweek published its list of "America's Dying Cities," putting Grand Rapids, Michigan at #10. The rust belt city is demographically upside down, having lost more under-18 residents than it gained in the last decade. Wikipedia says that the per capita income for the city is $17,661, with one in every five children living below poverty. Being mayor is a part-time job. Literally.

In an effort to show that Newsweek was wrong and that they were still hip and relevant, Grand Rapids responded with a YouTube video of thousands of residents lipsyncing to Don McLean's American Pie. And to think, there are people out there who think that the Internet is dumbing down public debate.]]> Omri 2011-06-01T16:21:17-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2011/4/15/13951/1329

Last summer we named Scream 4 one of the Top 3 Movie Sets To Stalk and now that the movie is finally hitting theaters, what better time to revisit a few of its most memorable filming locations?

Scream 4 was shot at various locales throughout Michigan, including Northville, Ann Arbor, Dearborn and Plymouth. Here are our picks for the top 5 must-see Scream 4 filming locations: ]]> cmb 2011-04-15T15:36:59-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2011/2/28/195442/486

Vermonters are serious about their syrup. When we posted a story last week about a national syrup festival in Indiana, which proclaims itself as the only national, multistate fest of its kind, Vermonters voiced their dismay about being overlooked. They do make some darned good syrup, so to give them love and pay homage to maple-sugaring season, we'll give you the other top syrup fest spots in the country.

Check out three tasty syrup festival destinations after the jump. ]]> Jennifer Kester 2011-03-01T15:01:34-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2010/9/22/152325/246

Tourism board cutbacks are becoming something of a trend, as the economic crunch cascades across different parts of the public and private sectors. The news from last week is that Michigan is ending their Pure Michigan campaign, which was supposed to be a long-term effort aimed at rebranding the state, because they're out of money. We were skeptical about this project from the get-go, thinking that the money might be better spent on actually making the state pure rather than telling people it is. But that's not not why they're stopping their campaign. They're cutting back because they were unable to get money for their travel advertising the way some other boards have, by fining tourists or shaking down corporations.

The campaign for the Texas governorship now involves whether the candidates can maintain the state's tourism budget by cutting services elsewhere or raising taxes, because that's what powerful hotel and restaurant lobbies want. Those lobbies have actually been doing quite the job finding creative ways of taking money from Peter to pay for Paul's tourism ads. ]]> Omri 2010-09-22T16:07:36-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2010/7/29/9014/78171

Head to the shores of Lake Michigan in a couple weeks, because the blueberry harvest is rolling into town. South Haven, Michigan is dedicating a whole weekend to one of the country’s best summer crops, and they’re pretty good at it since this is the 47th year for the festival.

This year’s National Blueberry Festival runs from August 12 to 15, and organizers are expecting at least 50,000 berry fans. Sure blueberries have loads of antioxidants and other good-for-you things, but we’re ready for the blueberry pancake breakfasts and blueberry bake-off. We’re sure all the healthy stuff can shine through the loads of sugar and butter. ]]> kjb 2010-07-29T16:51:15-05:00 Search Jaunted string http://www.jaunted.com/search/