Take a curated walking tour, self-guided, at Dow Gardens in Midland! Find yourself immersed in more than 22,000 budding blooms and stroll through glorious acres including the Color Garden, Stream Walk, and Boulder Pass waterfall. Experience Whiting Forest with its unique canopy walk above the trees — including a glass-floor viewing platform 40 feet above an orchard!

Refresh at Chippewa Nature Center this spring. Enjoy a guided bike ride on the Chippewa Trail — or an evening kayak trip with a naturalist, spotting herons, hawks, and eagles as you paddle. With 19 miles of trails to explore, join a Spring Wildflower Walk or Full Moon Stroll!

Climb to new heights, test your limits, and feel like you're flying at Frankenmuth Aerial Park! A sky-high obstacle course with adventures for all skill levels, this wooded park is woven with ladders, rope bridges, and ziplines for a one-of-a-kind experience in the trees.

Put your toes in the sand along the shoreline at Bay City State Park. With a boat launch, picnic areas, and volleyball and basketball courts, stop into the on-site Saginaw Bay Visitors Center for even more nature exploration!

Climb two observation towers inside Tobico Marsh! Accessible through Bay City State Park, Tobico Marsh is a scenic, 2,000-acre wetland that’s home to migratory birds, wildlife, plants, walking trails, a beautiful boardwalk, and two 32-foot observation towers with panoramic views.

Go exploring to see where four rivers converge at Shiawassee National Wildlife Refuge! Located in the Saginaw Bay watershed, it’s one of the largest wetland ecosystems in Michigan and a scenic home to egrets, geese, warblers, and more.

Take on eight miles of winding bike trails that twist and turn over flat land and steep hills within Midland City Forest! A 520-acre mecca for bikers, runners, hikers, and outdoor enthusiasts, City Forest is home to Ray’s Bike Shop where thrill-seekers can test out Specialized, Salso, Surly, Trek, and other mountain bikes on the trails.

Enjoy a guided tour through the streets of Little Bavaria with Fantasy Carriage Company, located next to Zehnder’s Restaurant, or Frankenmuth Carriage Company, beneath the Bavarian Inn Glockenspiel Tower. With beautifully carved carriages and extraordinary horses, your leisurely ride with either will include history, lore, intriguing scenery, and insider gems about Frankenmuth.

Spot a peregrine falcon this spring! Bring your binoculars to the Saginaw Bay Birding Trail, a birder’s paradise of sprawling shoreline that is a natural habitat for more than 200 species of birds. Covering 142 miles, the Saginaw Bay Birding Trail is home to tundra swans and American white pelicans — and the best time to witness birds is often early morning.

Ride through fields of wildflowers on the 21-mile Bay City Area Riverwalk/Railtrail! Part of the Great Lakes Bay Regional Trail — which also includes the 30-mile Pere Marquette Rail Trail and 11-mile Saginaw Valley Rail Trail — this interconnected system offers spectacular scenery and even some waterfront views! Look to local Ray’s Bike Shop in Midland or Bay City to rent rides for your time on the trails!

Take a riveting route through public art with the Great Lakes Bay Region Public Art Passport. Uncover intriguing details about outdoor art on display throughout the region — from the Madonna Mural in Downtown Bay City to the enormous Matisse Mural in Old Town Saginaw — with photos, Google map locations, and aerial viewing opportunities!

Snap a photo by the wall-sized butterfly at Old Town Saginaw Street Art Park. Explore a mecca of murals and an impressive array of street art including mini-murals with bright flowers, a larger-than-life bright orange butterfly, and the colorful Court Street Bridge Mural.

Stroll through a garden of sculptures. Visit the Marshall M. Fredericks Sculpture Museum and the outdoor Jo Anne & Donald Petersen Sculpture Garden to enjoy beautiful bronze sculptures, botanical beds, and the sounds of water created by the Day and Night Fountain.

Ride the Iberschoff Special miniature train at the Saginaw Children’s Zoo! Swing like a capuchin in “Monkey Jungle”, climb “Kilimanjaro Mountain”, dive into an “Underwater Viewing Cave”, and spin around on the carousel’s hand-carved figurines. Enjoy lunch right on-site at the Train Whistle Café, and don’t leave without pictures of the peacocks!

See “lions and tigers and bears, oh my” at Wilderness Trails Zoo in Birch Run! With a “Petting Area”, “Picnic Area”, “Parakeet Encounter”, and “Rainforest Experience”, this 56-acre zoo is home to more than 200 exotic animals including a bird-eating spider, red-tailed boa constrictor, lions, reptiles, bears, and zebras.