Meandering Michigan Part 2 : Crossing the Straits of Mackinac Season 1. Episode 9 |
|
In this episode, I'll continue recapping our time in Michigan. This next destination was chosen based on wanting to visit Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. Traverse City seemed like a good jumping off point for some great Northern Michigan activities. |
|
DESTINATION: TRAVERSE CITY, MICHIGAN |
|
We packed up in Holland and headed further north to Traverse City, Michigan! |
|
The Campground: Holiday Park Campground Hookups: FULL! (Water, Sewer & Electric) |
|
The drive to Traverse City was uneventful, yet beautiful! The trees became more dense and we really started to feel like we were getting off the beaten path. We all wished we had more time at this campground. Parking next to cousins makes everything more fun! It was on the more expensive side at $65/night and with just three nights and two days, we packed in all the fun. |
|
Things to do in and around Traverse City |
|
Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore |
|
This could easily be an all day activity - there is a lot to do within Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore and in my opinion, it’s a must do when in the area. We started the day at the Philip A. Hart Visitor Center. Our kids love to get the Junior Ranger booklets first - it does take some time to do and at some point, will most likely involve your time and effort as a parent. Depending on the child’s age, a certain number of activities has to be completed in the booklet and then once completed, you return to the visitor center to take the junior ranger pledge and receive the badge. Do you have a 4th grader? If so, be sure to print off this pass before visiting any national park. Having a student that was just in 4th grade or is going into 4th grade gets your whole family into the national parks for free. This is a nice money saver! It saves us $25 for each national park! Once you print the paper pass, when you get to the park entrance or visitor center, they’ll give you a card and ask to talk with the 4th grader - they just say hey and engage with the student a little bit. |
|
Kids taking the Junior Ranger Pledge |
|
Empire Bluff Trail After going to the visitor center, we started at Empire Bluff Trail - an easy 1.5 mile round trip trail with gorgeous views at the end. I definitely recommend doing this trail. |
|
Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive If I remember correctly, this drive has 12 stops along the way. It’s basically a scenic loop within the park. If you download the NPS app, it gives you information about every stop which is super fun and helpful! Remember how I love a good driving tour? :) We didn’t stop at every single overlook but we had packed lunch, so we stopped at #2 - Picnic Mountain to eat and the kids worked on their junior ranger activity booklets. Then we stopped at a few different ones that came highly recommended by the ranger at the visitor center. Beware of the dune overlook - it made my heart race! Hundreds of feet above lake level with a steep drop off and $3,000 rescue fee, I’ve never felt more ill-equipped to be a boy mom. Why do they want to get so close to the edge?! More life-stretching for this mama. |
|
North Bar Lake This is kind of a hidden gem in the park. If you type in North Bar Lake Access in Google Maps, it should come up. It’s maybe a ¾ mile trail out to North Bar Lake from the parking lot but it is so pretty and if the channel is open, you can get right out to Lake Michigan through that waterway. Beware of lots of dead fish – they’re called alewife and are little fish that migrated over here in the 50’s but can’t survive in the lake waters so they wash up dead along the shore a lot. We saw them all over – on both the Wisconsin and Michigan borders of Lake Michigan. |
|
Dune Climb This is a few minutes down the road from the scenic drive and also a super fun area for kids! If you are into climbing dunes, this is the place to do it! You can actually make it all the way out to Lake Michigan from here but would take several hours and lots of trekking up and down dunes. We just went up the first dune and back down. The kids were all dying to climb dunes and this was the best place for it! |
|
Traverse City Driving into this city is so pretty with a view of the bays! We were a little too early for blueberry picking, which happens in later July but just in time for cherry season. Traverse City is the cherry capital of the world and it did not disappoint! We got to go cherry picking on opening day of the season which also happened to be Paxton’s 8th birthday. He LOVES cherries so this was the perfect adventure for his special day. We went to Cherry U-Pick at Third Coast Fruit Co. on the Mission Peninsula between the east and west bays. That was also a very scenic drive and picking from the trees on opening day was a special adventure. Our family alone went through 5 pounds of cherries in 2 days! |
|
Two days in Traverse City just wasn’t enough but it was time for us to keep moving. Heading north to St. Ignace, we drove along the Michigan coast on Highway 31 through Charlevoix which was, you guessed it, another beautiful drive! |
|
St. Ignace is just across the Mackinac Bridge - a highly anticipated drive across! This suspension bridge opened in 1957 and is currently the 5th longest suspension bridge in the world at 5 miles long connecting the upper and lower peninsulas across the Straits of Mackinac. For us, the main attraction for staying in this area was to visit Mackinac Island. |
|
DESTINATION: ST. IGNACE / MACKINAC ISLAND |
|
The Campground: Tiki RV Park Hookups: Water & Electric |
|
When visiting Mackinac Island, you have the option to stay on either side of the famous Mackinac Bridge. We opted to cross the bridge and stay in St. Ignace at Tiki RV Park. This campground was within walking distance to downtown St. Ignace and to the ferry to get to the island. |
|
Things to do in and around St. Ignace |
|
Mackinac Island No transportation other than horse carriages are allowed on the island, so naturally, we took the ferry. We took Shepler’s Ferry and chose to do the Mighty Mac boat ride that goes under the bridge. I recommend buying your tickets online (I think you save a few dollars per ticket) but I didn’t realize that until after we purchased tickets. We were there about an hour before the time of our ferry ride because we wanted to get on the top portion of the boat and get on the Mighty Mac tour. We visited on July 3 and arriving one hour in advance seemed like a good amount of time to get the seats we wanted. |
|
Everything on Mackinac Island is very pricey. As beautiful of an island as it is, and you can absolutely visit without spending much money, it can be a tourist trap for sure! I would love to go back some day and bike the island but since we aren't traveling with bikes, and with our crew of 13, keeping everyone together would have been pricey and a little nutty, so we did a lot of walking. I included a map of the island below and the blue circled portion in the lower half of the map is the area we walked - we barely scratched the surface of all there is to see! |
|
The Grand Hotel The Grand Hotel was built in 1887 and continues to preserve the original architecture and charm of the bygone era. After 6:30 pm, a dress code including suit coats for men and dresses for women is enforced. Unfortunately, without paying $10 per person to walk in front of the hotel, you can't walk past a certain point. |
|
Arch Rock This is a cool rock formation and picture worthy! We were on the island the Sunday before the 4th of July so it was fairly busy…there was a long line to even just take pictures in front of the rock. We didn’t want to stand in line but we were able to get up on the overlook and take in the breathtaking views. We aren’t the people you’ll find standing in line for hours among crowds to take a picture in front of a rock formation. From Arch Rock, there’s a staircase that goes down to the shoreline. I would definitely recommend going down there but if you bike your way around the island, you would be going past this area anyway. From there, we walked back down along the main road to the downtown area to wrap up our day with a little shopping, fudge tasting, eating at the Great Turtle Brewery, and indulging in ice cream. |
|
My final thoughts about Mackinac Island I am so grateful for the opportunity to visit the island and to get to experience it with our family. That being said, I’m not sure the kids appreciated it as much as we did. I’m not saying I don’t recommend visiting with kids, but everything does cost so much money. I think it would be a really fun couple's trip! The Real Reel Paxton is our wild and tender-hearted child. He’s a busy body but also has such a compassionate heart. On our walk to Arch Rock, there were really pretty wild flowers through the forest area. He so kindly picked some for me so I was carrying a few of the flowers along the way. A horse-drawn carriage tour was traveling by on the road next to us and the tour guide, with her microphone on, looked directly at me, in front of her entire group on the wagon, and said over the loudspeaker, “Oh my!!! You didn’t pick those flowers here, did you?!” Stunned, I just honestly did not know how to respond but in the split second I had to think, I think I may have thrown Paxton under the bus and said that my son picked them for me. Anyhow, I tell you this embarrassing story, mainly because all our adventures don't happen without some misadventures. In hindsight, I probably should have told Paxton not to pick the flowers on this age-old island. Oops! So a word to the wise: don't pick the flowers on Mackinac Island! |
|
Next time I'll wrap up our last destination in Michigan. I realize I need to speed up the pace at which I write these e-mails in order to catch up to current times. Ha! No one has ever accused me of being brief. There's just so much to share but I'll try my best to pick up the pace! |
|
|
