Was up in northern Michigan last weekend and hit up Traverse City for a day. Delightful time. Went to Slabtown for a burger, which was great. It was on some TripAdvisor list of top 10 burger joints in the US. Also went to North Peak for a beer, Bonobo for some wine and views, and ate dinner and bought a shirt at Jolly Pumpkin. Nice little day trip.
Hello. I am leaving on Thursday and will be up there for about five days. First night we are just hanging around Bellaire and probably going to Short's. i believe Friday we are going to spend the day at Torch and go kayaking and whatnot. Gonna try to go to Mackinac Island one day because why not. Then the last day we are gonna hit up Traverse City. Have most of it planned out but still open to suggestions if there's any must-sees or must-dos in Traverse or Mackinac.
Just based on my recent trip, Slabtown is a good casual burger joint in TC. Before or after that, you can just go walk the streets checking out the stores downtown. Cherry Republic is a big touristy one that has everything cherry and had a lot of free samples, including cherry based wines. Old Mission Peninsula has various wineries and is a very pretty drive to the lighthouse at the northern tip. Jolly Pumpkin/Old Mission Brewery is also located on the peninsula. It has very good pizza and brew, the rest of the food looked decent as well.
My sister runs the Grand Rapids farmers market and brought some heavenly corn last weekend when she visited. Best corn I’ve ever had.
I think it would’ve been closer, but the label “democratic socialist” is tough for a lot of people to overcome. I may be mistaken but i don’t believe the term had been fully embraced and pushed when Bernie won the Dem primary in 2016.
Greetings Michiganders. My wife wants to vacation on the Great Lakes next summer. Neither of us have ever done so, and neither of us have ever been to Pure Michigan. So I’m looking for recommendations/feedback for a spot to spend a week. We will have two young kids with us. My wife’s biggest request is a white sand beach (or just generally a high quality beach), and I just want to make sure we’re someplace family-friendly so the kids won’t be bored. The plan would be to go sometime in August. Appreciate any feedback you may have.
Benton Harbor Spoiler but for real I’d recommend traverse city and hit up sleeping bear dunes as well
I’d do like 4-5 day trips. Hit up Macinac Island too. Go over the bridge. Hit up the Niagra Falls of Michigan
South Haven is nice. But really anywhere along the Lake Michigan shoreline fits your bill. The UP is fantastic, but maybe not the thing with little kids.
St. Joe/BH is actually pretty great beach wise but yeah, further north is better. If not for kids I'd say New Buffalo area, but listen to these guys.
In reality If I was you I would fly into South Bend (or maybe Kalamazoo) and rent a car to roll up the coast, stop where your want. There are huge sand dunes and beautiful beaches all the way up. In August you can likely stop almost anywhere and get a room. There is also a ton of wine up here for you and the misses. That is dependent on the kids being car cool though. It's about 6 hours drive time from South Bend to Mackinac drive time as the crow flies. running the coast is longer.
Traverse City / Sleeping Bear Dunes ... check out some of the small towns around the Leelanau Peninsula. Beautiful scenery and tons of outdoor activities.
My buddy was just there & said it was a dump. Basically townie bar and grills masquerading as legit places, with $500 red-roof inn hotel rooms.
Mackinac Island is great for kids. It's expensive and touristy, but they have lots of kid activities and you take horse carriages everywhere. Mission Point Resort was perfect for us and our 3 year old. But I would only go there for a couple days. I'd spend the rest of the week in and around Traverse City.
Yeah, that's probably right. Honestly, I'd like to go back for a day - maybe stay a night. It's definitely a cool place. But if I only have a few days in the area, I'm going to focus on either TC/Leelanau.
How young will the kids be and how physically active are they for their age? Do you want to be localized and stay in one place for a week or would you be up for a night or two in a handful of places? Also what is your budget? Are you renting a house on the water or staying in a hotel or Airbnb off the water?
Almost 4 and almost 2. Active for their age, but not old enough to do too much fun stuff like serious hiking or kayaking or stuff. I think we’d prefer localized so we’re not spending the whole time loading and unloading kid shit, but maybe we wouldn’t mind spending half the week one place and half in another. Would prefer to rent a house instead of a hotel, but are open to what makes most sense. We wanted something on the water or within walking distance. Our accommodations and entertainment budget will likely be $2-3k, but I’d prefer to keep it on the low end if possible. If we have to re-evaluate waterfront accommodations on that budget, then so be it.
Plenty of options for you - just plan it, and you’ll have time to book. I think a few days in TC, and a few days in leelanau county make the most sense - but you may be able to get on the water the entire time...which would be best. July through the first week or so of Aug will be the busiest, but you’ll be fine.
Any of the beach towns from South Haven to Traverse would be fine for you. There are nice beaches all over and good hiking. I know Holland well and think it would be good for a young family like yours. It is a little pricey because it is pretty popular, but I suspect that will be true in each town you look at (supply and demand and all that). By August the lake should be bearable for a Texan, but it won’t be “warm”. Keep in mind the further north you go, the colder the water will be. If you’re planning on spending time on an inland lake, then water temperature shouldn’t be a problem.
If you're on Long Lake, Duck Lake, Bass Lake or Lake Leekanau for a week, you can do TC, Leelanau County and the dunes without changing abodes. Those are the lakes where my family would rent for a week before my parents ended up buying a place up there. You can get on the water in that area for a wide variety of price ranges and quality and you'll end up going back every year.
Got back last night. I'd give my trip a 10/10. Weather was perfect and we had a great time. - Stayed in Bellaire. It was a cool little town and we were in an airbnb at Shanty Creek Resort. Went to Shorts the first night, ate at Bellaire Bar & Restaurant, went hiking at Glacial Hills, etc etc. Sorta got lost while hiking and it was getting dark so that was sorta terrifying. Plus I saw a bear when we were seemingly in the middle of nowhere. Thought I was going to get mauled. Shorts wasn't busy when we went at 4:30 on Thursday but it was packed every other time we walked by. There was a Pelican's Nest and Blue Pelican Inn restaurant (~ taylor ~) both within about 15 minutes from where we stayed, but we tragically didn't make it to either. - Ate at Dockside one evening. That was a neat place with good food. Think I had the Shorts Huma Loops IPA and the Bellaire Brown when we were there. It was pretty busy at the time. Went to a place called the "Bee Well Meadery" in Bellaire. No clue what mead really is but the shuttle driver told us to go there and I got pretty drunk so it was good. Also went to a place called the Muffin Tin in Alden. Was hoping to get a cupcake or something but they were mostly sold out when we went so I just got some coffee. - Torch Lake was awesome. I was a little worried since we didn't have a boat, but we rented kayaks and the marina dropped us at a location that was only a 10-15 minute paddle to the sandbar. Spent a couple days out there just messing around. I befriended multiple dogs and that's always good. Really cool to see how much the water colors change as you go out from the sandbar. So weird going to a lake and not dealing with any fishy smell whatsoever. Wanted to stop at Higgins Lake at one point but we didn't make it. Think I saw that listed as one of the "10 best lakes" or whatever on some list I had checked out. - Spent a day at Mackinac Island. Had never been there before and overall it was pretty great. Did the whole bike ride around the island twice. Watched some lady crash her little rascal scooter thing into a bench and then proceed to fall off the thing whilst knocking over about six other parked bikes (she ended up being fine but the noise she made while crashing is something I'll never forget). Ate breakfast at Chuckwagon and dinner at the Seabiscuit Cafe. Both places had great food. Also ate some fudge at one of the 900 fudge shops. Went to the butterfly house which was also pretty cool :aero: - Yesterday was the last day we were there and we drove to Traverse City before heading home. Ate at Sparks BBQ and spent way too much money on random cherry things (cherry bbq sauce, cherry salsa, etc). Bought some weird but delicious popcorn flavors for my nieces at one of the shops. Lot of cool little places there but we spent the entirety of our time downtown and didn't get to venture elsewhere. Would like to go to some of the breweries next time we're in town. I'll definitely make it up there again. Everyone was incredibly friendly from the shuttle driver to the people at the marina to all the people we met on the lake. Overall a very fun and successful visit to meatchicken/scum.