I was born and raised in beautiful state. It’s also a state that isn’t big on most people’s travel radars, unless you have a personal connection to it. I’m not quite sure why that is – it’s probably a combination of location and lack of a major big city that people actually want to visit.
But as Michiganders know, there’s a lot to see, and a lot to love. In-state vacations are very popular in Michigan, and I don’t think residents mind that their favorite places aren’t crawling with pushy tourists.
Here are some of my favorite places, some of which have been a big part of my life:
- Mackinac Island
- Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore
- South Haven beach on Lake Michigan
- Kal-Haven Bike Trail
- The Mackinac Bridge
- Hartwick Pines State Park
- Michigan State University campus and gardens
- Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park
Beyond this list here’s also the Holland Tulip Blossom Festival, the Traverse City National Cherry Festival, the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library, the Henry Ford Museum, Isle Royale National Park, over 100 State Parks, and 3,126 miles of Great Lakes shoreline (we have the most fresh water coastline of any state).
Michigan is also now known for a thriving craft beer culture. Bell’s and Founder’s are the biggest craft beer manufacturers, and their beer is distributed across the country. But we also have over 150 microbreweries all over the state, and Michiganders enthusiastically support them.
The last decade has also seen a revitalization of many of our smaller cities such as Kalamazoo and Grand Rapids. The downtowns of each were struggling as a result of urban sprawl, but are coming back to life thanks to a growing local business and arts scene.
In short, it’s a pretty damn good state. And it’s shaped like a high five! What more could you ask for?
So there’s a bit of Michigan 101, now I’ll tell you about my most recent trip there.
I’ve only been into camping for about 3 years, and until this summer never had the opportunity to plan a camping trip in my home state. I used this guide from MyNorth.com to plan our camping for this trip. It was really fun to get to experience my home state in a new way.
We started off by driving about 3.5 hours north from Kalamazoo, up to Fisherman’s Island State Park, near Charlevoix. We booked an epic campsite – right on the Lake Michigan waterfront. We had a view of the lake from our site, and a private path to walk down about 40 feet to the beach.
After we built our campsite, we spent the late afternoon walking along the beach and skipping stones.
That night we cooked hot dogs for dinner, made s’mores, and watched the sunset over the lake.
We then wrapped up in extremely warm clothes and hunkered down the tent, where we proceeded to shiver as we fell asleep.
An hour later, we both woke up. Absolutely freezing. Our bags weren’t warm enough and our usually warm tent appeared to have a draft coming in – not something you want when the wind is blowing off of Lake Michigan 40 feet away.
We laid there for a bit, wondering what to do. It was so very cold. We decided to bail out of the tent and drive into down and find a motel. It was midnight.
We found a place that had a 24 hour phone reception, and they luckily had fantastic preparations for after-hours check ins – they gave me a code for the side door, and directed us to a mailbox that had a key to an available room.
We turned the heat up to 75 and then promptly fell asleep.
We couldn’t help feel a bit impressed with how cold it got. We’ve camped in the Andes at 14,000+ feet, in Yosemite at 9,000+ feet, and it took Lake Michigan winds to break us. Pretty impressive, Michigan. (Next time, we won’t try camping off season without 4 season sleeping bags. Although I think we were just unlucky – the next weekend it was above 60 degrees at night).
The next day we explored Charlevoix and Petoskey, both charming towns. We visited four independent bookstores, stopped for incredible slices of pie from Grand Traverse Pie Company, had a tasting flight at a local tap room, and went for a short walk along a nature reserve. Here are some photos from our day:
The next day we set out for Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, driving across the 5 mile long Mackinac Bridge that spans the distance between the lower and upper peninsulas.
We reached the town of Paradise, Michigan in the late afternoon and checked into the little cabin on Lake Superior that we had booked.
This is what Lake Superior looked like while we were there. If we had known, we might have had a hint about how cold our camping would be.
The following day we headed to Tahquamenon Falls State Park. We enjoyed seeing the falls, but had the most fun hiking in the park.
We hiked from the Lower Falls to the Upper Falls, a 4.5 mile trail that winds along the riverbank. It’s a beautiful trail, and it climbs up and down the banks so that your vantage point over the river changes as you hike. A lot of the hike looks like this:
And the view of the river often looked like this:
We were there in the middle of May, so spring was just bursting into bloom all around us:
We saw a good variety of wildlife as well: red squirrels, chipmunks, sparrows, a turtle, and frogs.
Sometimes you have to keep a keen eye out to spot things:
The other delightful thing about the hike is that it ends by Tahquamenon Falls Brewery, where you can partake in a much needed meal, and a cold draft root beer or microbeer. We had a great meal, and then headed back downstate, across the bridge, and back to my parent’s house.
//
We will likely be returning to Michigan this summer, so I’ll continue to share photos from my home state.
Have any of you been to Michigan? Or do you hail from another state that’s also under-appreciated/visited?
This made me so nostalgic! I’m from the Lake St. Clair area, so we always went up north in the thumb, but when I was at Western, summer trips to South Haven and Silver Lake were pretty constant. I haven’t been up to Traverse City or the UP in years, so I love seeing the pics!
I haven’t spent enough time on the east side of the state – I need to explore it more! I LOVE love love South Haven, but I haven’t been there in years. I’m hoping to make it back to Michigan in July (squeezing everything out of my last few months of unemployment that I can) for the 4th, and am hoping to take Graham to South Haven.
Do you get back to Western/Kalamazoo very much? It’s been really awesome to see downtown revitalized – there are so many wonderful local places downtown now.
It’s so sad, but I don’t think I’ve been to Kalamazoo since I graduated in 2006. We have good friends who ended up staying there, though, so I’ve heard about some of the big changes and it sounds amazing! I always said if I had to stay in Michigan, that would be where I would want to live.
In-state vacations were certainly popular in my family. My father believed in taking his children on vacations to see the world, but there was so much to see, to learn about, and to come to love in Michigan that we seldom crossed any borders! And now that I’m grown up and can choose my own vacations, I don’t feel I’ve had a truly good summer unless I’ve spent some part of it in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.
I feel that way too – but about the state as a whole – not just the UP! It doesn’t feel like a good summer unless I’ve been to Michigan. :)
What a lovely tribute to a lovely state. Feeling a bit homesick now…
Thank you! I hope to post a part two soon and feature some fourth of July photos – one of my favorite times of year to be in Michigan. :)
I’m from Wisconsin, so yes, I get the under appreciation you speak of. Last summer the hubs and I went to Saugatuck, MI for a few days and had the BEST time! Dunes, Mt Baldy and the million steps to get there, beaches, and some amazing restaurants!!!! Gorgeous photos!!!
It’s so great to hear that you got to go to Saugatuck & the Dunes! I’m glad you had a blast!
I love Wisconsin too – I’ve been to Milwaukee, and Graham and I also drove through it last year on our road trip, but I’d love to explore it more, especially Madison and the towns along the “other” side of the lake!
These photos are gorgeous! I’ve never been to Michigan, though I’ve heard it’s beautiful (and now I have proof). Also, it appears it’s worth the trip just for those pies and the beer.
I know what you mean about not exploring your home state, though–I was born and raised in Maryland and have never been to the parts of the Appalachian trail, here, or camping in Western MD, or explored most of the Eastern Shore, or or or or or. There’s so much I haven’t done.
The Pies + Beer ARE reason enough to make the trek to Michigan, everything else is a wonderful bonus!
I’m in the same boat with NY state: I’ve lived in New York for 9 years now, and have seen so little of the state. I have explored the Hudson Valley a decent amount, but it’s mostly during long weekends, so we don’t venture too many hours away. I’d love to go up to Lake Placid, Buffalo, and Saratoga Springs, and explore more of the state parks. Graham and I might ponder getting a car once we’re employed again, so that would help with the explorations.
LOVE this post. My mother was raised for much of her life in Grosse Pointe (Little Known Fact: Tom Selleck’s family was a great customer of my family’s dry cleaning business there; something my mother saw fit to tell me TWO WEEKS AGO), but I’ve never been. But I am fascinated by Detroit and really really want to visit some day, so this is a post to keep in my back pocket!
WHAT! That’s insanely awesome. We’ve got Madonna, Eminem and Tim-the-Tool-Man Taylor, but my favorite Michigan native is without a doubt Tom Selleck.
I hope you can take a pilgrimage to Michigan someday! It’s lovely, and the Grosse Pointe area is great. Detroit, despite its rep, has a lot to offer. There are some great local businesses working hard to help the city recover and re-establish its identity. And it has nowhere to go but up!
Fellow bibliophile here who currently resides in MI! I just came across your blog today and am SO glad I did. I’ve been in MI 3 years now, as my husband completes a phD program at MSU. He’s originally from MI, but I am from NC and spent the first 28ish years of my life there. Now that I’ve been here for several years, I feel like I can say with some authority that MI has SO much to offer! It’s an amazingly beautiful state with 4 VERY distinct seasons (even if you might miss spring if you blink), and I am not at ALL upset that we will be here for another 2 years. We’ve done a fair bit of camping on the western side of the state… we love Holland and camping/hiking up at Tahquamenon Falls is probably the best camping trip we’ve been on together. Last summer I also finally got to experience weekend on Mackinac Island, which was MAGICAL. I didn’t know about Kal-Haven bike trails, though, and cannot wait to whisk my husband away to enjoy a day of biking. Mmk, enough gushing about the great state of MI… looking forward to reading more of your blog!
I’m so glad to meet you, Katie! I love that you’ve had a chance to explore Michigan, and am very jealous that you get to spend time at MSU as well! (Oh how I miss that campus.) Isn’t Mackinac Island just the best? You’re right – it’s magical!
I hope you enjoy the Kal-Haven trail, it’s so lovely! I love how it ends in South Haven and you can bike to the beach, and spend the day relaxing in the sand & water.
I should have ask you to keep an eye out for Petoskey stones while you were up there. One of the joys of a childhood in Northern Michigan was coming across a Petoskey stone while playing with rocks and pebbles. I have two or three of them in a drawer down here in Kentucky, but I wish I had saved up a big box of them to bring down with me.
here is a link that will put a smile on the face of anyone who grew up in Michigan.
http://www.tribal-software.com/petoskey.html
I found a few Petoksey stones, but I need to get the special stuff that you polish them with – it’s hard to see their beauty when they’re dry!
What a lovely trip! I especially liked your ‘Where’s Waldo?’ frog pic. :)
I’m absolutely floored by those ice chunks, though I probably shouldn’t be since I went to college near Lake Michigan and know how cold those Great Lakes can get.
Also, PIE. I want all of it!
Thank you so much! :)
I was floored by the ice too – was not expecting that in MAY! I knew the water would be super cold, but I didn’t think there’d still be ice. We’re going back to Michigan in July, so hopefully Lake Michigan will be swimmable by then!
Hi Emily! I’m a fellow Michigander who now lives in AZ (only since 2007), and I love all the sunshine here! That said, much of my heart (family, friends, sports affiliations) all reside in MI, and I go there to visit almost every year. We’re traveling later in the summer, so as to hit the Woodward Dream Cruise. We’re also planning a trip up north to Oscoda–I want to take my fiance, who will be my husband by then, where I used to go when I was a kid. We’re staying right on Lake Huron. I’m so glad Lauren brought my attention to your blog! BTW, I grew up near the Zoo.
It’s so nice to meet you Patti! My cousin and his wife recently went to Oscoda – I need to get there myself sometime soon! What HS did you go to? I’m a Plainwell grad.