Touching down at Iron Mountain Ford Airport in Iron Mountain makes it easy to explore, with Upper Peninsula forests, rivers, and lake towns close enough for simple day trips. Iron Mountain and its neighbor Kingsford grew up around iron ore, and the mining past still shapes the town's character. The feel is small-town and practical, with pasty shops, deer camps, and a strong Italian heritage from the miners who settled here. Winters are long, snowy, and embraced rather than endured.

Favorite ways to spend time around Iron Mountain: - Ride the cart tour deep into the Iron Mountain Iron Mine in nearby Vulcan - Watch the big ski jumpers fly off Pine Mountain during the annual February tournament - Hike or raft the whitewater at Piers Gorge on the Menominee River near Norway - Order a Cornish pasty with gravy and a side of Italian porketta - Walk to Fumee Falls, a roadside waterfall just east of town - Catch the evening bat flight at the Millie Hill mine shaft in summer - Spend a winter weekend snowmobiling the groomed trail network

Iron Mountain sits on the Wisconsin border, so both states are in play. Escanaba and Lake Michigan are about an hour east, Marquette and Lake Superior around 90 minutes north, and Green Bay about 90 minutes south. Crystal Falls and Iron River offer more lakes and quiet trout streams to the northwest. Locals swear by the pasty, a hand-held meat pie that fed miners underground and still fills lunch counters today. Bring a jacket, an appetite, and plans to slow down.