N.W. Michigan and the U.P.
White Sand Dunes, beaches along three of the Great Lakes, bike riding paths, hiking trails, boat rides, canal locks, wineries, breweries, islands, lighthouses, Caribbean colored water, and wonderfully quaint towns= a trip to Michigan. My husband and I rented a car and spent 2 weeks exploring N.W. Michigan and its Upper Peninsula. This was an excellent vacation.
What I can do for you:
- Provide you with a driving route that will stun you with beauty at every turn.
- Save a bit of money on your N.W. hotels.
- Share with you info about wonderful hikes and bike paths for all ability levels
- Locate lighthouses are worth the drive and which are not
- Inform you about collectible rocks and where to find them
- Pick out excursions to meet your interests
Budget
- You will be flying into Chippewa County Airport (this is where we flew into-$480 rt from DFW) or Traverse City Airport-$414 rt from DFW. Flights to these cities are a bit more expensive, but you save time not having to drive 4-5 hours from Detroit to begin your vacation.
- car rental was fairly expensive because you are renting from small airports, about $50 a day for a small car. Ours did NOT have unlimited mileage.
- hotels were expensive $225 and up in the tourist towns of Petosky, Traverse City and Mackinaw Island. Hotels were $125 and under for cabins and motels in the U.P. (Upper Peninsula)
- food was inexpensive to moderate. about $40 a day per person. We saved even more by packing lots picnic lunches.
The town of Petosky has a scenic bike path (and I know where to rent electric bikes), great restaurants, and breweries, a lavender farm, beautiful homes, an active harbor, hiking trails and a wonderful man who can help you find the infamous Petosky stones (fossilized coral).
Traverse City is becoming a hot spot for tourist travels. It has little breweries, wineries with expansive views, stores that celebrate all things cherry (in case you miss the Cherry Festival). There are fun shops selling unique gifts. There are lighthouses and sand dunes to climb and crystal clear water to cool off in after your active day!
A visit to Michigan must include a stay on Mackinac Island. This island allows no cars, so you arrive by ferry and get around by bike, foot or horse drawn carriages- even your luggage off the ferry is delivered by bike. Many people day trip over there, so it gets crowded, but I suggest staying a night or two to experience the quiet in the evening. We enjoyed biking the island to see the arch and the fort, having a beer on the porch of the Grand Hotel (very very expensive to stay there) and just wandering the streets people watching.
Next we headed north to the Upper Peninsula, the U.P. We headed to a state park noted for its super clear lagoon that has a human propelled glass bottom raft- this was fun!! Then we headed up to Pictured Rocks National Seashore for a sunset boat tour and got up the next morning for a 10.3 mile hike along the cliffs of Pictured Rocks.
Then we headed east and rented a cabin on the banks of Lake Superior where you can have a campfire every evening. We visited a shipwreck museum and a state park with a brewery and a nice waterfall . We spent many hours hunting for agates along the shores- we think we found one agate- but it didn't matter the regular rocks there were beautiful!
On the way to our final stop we saw an interesting Native American burial ground and climbed to the top of another lighthouse for a great view, before reaching the American side of Sault Saint Marie's famous locks. It was great fun watching the freighters go through the locks.
