Mom Explores Michigan: Michigan Must: Touring the University of Michigan

The Law Quad (Hogwarts anyone?)

Moving to Michigan was never in my life plan. As a Rocky Mountain girl, the only thing I really knew about Michigan was from a few TIME magazine covers showing Detroit in ruins. My husband promised me I would like Ann Arbor, and I did. It was love at first sight.

Our first experience was taking a tour of the University of Michigan campus. While this tour is geared to prospective students, it is open to the public and I think it is a MUST see if you live in Michigan or are visiting Ann Arbor. You will be amazed at all the fun facts and distant and current history it has to offer. You can't visit Ann Arbor without exploring the University.

The tour always starts with an information session. If you are just a visitor, you will not need to attend this, unless you are interested. The walking tour takes place one hour after the info session with a very knowledgeable student guide. Come with questions and be prepared to be wowed. The tour lasts about 1 hour.

You must sign up to be part of the tour. You now do it all online.

1. Visit http://campusinfo.umich.edu/article/campus-tours...you can read up on the tours here. You can also choose if you want only main campus or north campus too. That choice completely depends on your interests and your time. You will notice that they are on, rain or shine. It's Michigan, we don't stop for weather.

2. Create an account. This is no big deal, but you MUST create an account in order to register for a tour date. Don't worry about not being a student, the tours are open to visitors too.

3. Choose your day. You will need to register for your day and time. Tours often fill up during peak visiting times, so you will want to book as early as you can!

4. Get directions and parking info. If you have not been to Ann Arbor, parking is a completely different animal. Read through the directions and suggestions HERE carefully.

4. Tour on your own. If you don't have time for a guided tour, you can give yourself a tour with this brochure, but I promise it won't be nearly as good; if you can, take the real tour.

The University of Michigan campus and the city of Ann Arbor are such beautiful places, absolutely picturesque. Aside from the campus tour, I would also suggest that you take some time to walk down the streets and drive through hidden neighborhoods. The whole city completely charmed me. Here are a few of my favorite pictures of places you might see. If you want to see more of Ann Arbor from this great photographer (and you do, believe me), click HERE.