Fall is a great time of year in Northeast Michigan.

All four seasons offer something great: the sweet smells of spring, the sunny splendor of summer, the white crispness of winter.

But fall is when Mother Nature really seems to put on a show, dressing up in all her colors and dazzling the horizon in reds, golds, browns, and greens.

It’s a great time to get outside and enjoy all the splendor that God has gifted our region.

In Tuesday’s edition, we learned from reporter Steve Schulwitz that meteorologists expect our fall colors to peak in the second or third week of October.

We also learned from Schulwitz that fall is an increasingly big player in Northeast Michigan’s tourism industry, which The News has earlier reported plays an increasingly important role in our economy.

So we encourage you, dear readers: Over the next few weeks, invite some friends and family up from downstate, stop in downtown Alpena to pick up a cup of coffee, head out on our many scenic highways and byways and forest trails to take in one of God’s greatest shows, and then cap off the night with dinner at one of the region’s restaurants.

Get outside, Alpena. It’s a great time to do it.

(THE ALPENA NEWS)