OT : Michigan Vacation
I was fortunate enough to fly my family from Atlanta to Michigan for a 10 day vacation up north. I’ve been married for 17 years and although we have been to Ann Arbor several times and north Oakland county where I grew up this was our first time as a family going up north. My wife born and raised in California has been asking for years and we finally made it happen!
We rented a cabin on little Traverse Bay between Charleveaux and Petoskey, beautiful but that water is still cold! We did sleeping bear dunes, my 8 year old son made it up the big dune in just under 30 min. We did Kilwins more times then I can count! At the end of the trip we spent 2 nights at The Mission point resort on Makinaw Island. On Saturday we did the bike ride around the Island starting from our Hotel and making our first stop arch rock and making the trip to the top.
As we were finishing the backside of the island and just heading into town, it happened...Coach Jim Harbaugh walking down the street! I said Coach would you please take a picture with my kids, he said sure! I shook his hand introduced myself and my kids, he was more than gracious with his time he went up several pegs in my book! Needless to say it was a trip I will never forget for the rest of my life for so many different reasons.
I recommend no matter where you live that you bite the bullet and take your family on this trip preferably in a June or July although the Fall is special too.
Awesome story, OP! Probably better as a "diary" next time. Go Blue!
It was a great story but a few short paragraphs does not make a diary.
Sounds like a great trip. Since you were in the area, i would have recommended taking your kids to the sand bar in Torch Lake. It is the clearest/cleanest lake in Michigan, and probably cleanest/clearest in the United States. As long as you don't take them fourth of July weekend, you are ok.
Gah, how fond memories of youth fade. Crystal (Edit:not Torch) Beach was awesome growing up; now when I drive through I see about 20 boats and 100s of young people out there. Wasn't really my style when I was 25, definitely not interested at twice that.
Now get off my lawn.
Also Edit: this felt very negative after posting it, was not meant to be so much that as an observation on how things have changed over the years. And also hoping people will tell me when it's not so busy).
Torch Lake is an amazing place. I've got a few places here in Alaska (still in the USA) that get my clean/clear vote though.
I went to Torch a few years ago and it wasn't nearly as wild as it had been a couple years prior. That said, I'm not sure I would describe it as family friendly. It is by far the most beautiful lake I have seen in Michigan.
If you live there you never have to leave it, you can enjoy it all 365 days a year!
Amen to that!
Northern Michigan is one of the nicest places on earth for about 60 days a year. But living there would be rough. Metro Detroit winters already are too much for me. I'm forced to take at least two southern vacations every winter just to feel again.
Maybe i'm weird, but i love winter.
Yes, yes you are weird.
False. I love winter and am definitely not weird (allegedly).
If we got more than 9 hours of daylight and if I didn't have to drive in the snow I'd love winter, too.
I'm with you. No one likes to *feel* cold, except maybe me on my forehead, but people who love winter aren't cold, they just wear the right stuff to be out in all that beauty and still feel warm.
The hardest season for me is summer. It's beautiful. And I hike and swim, etc. But I am loathe to sweat like this. I won't wish away my time, but when it's late-fall and winter, I know I'll be geeked about it.
This is me. I sweat hardcore being in an air conditioned gym. I can sweat walking down the street when it 70 degrees out. The sooner the temperature drops below 60 the more i enjoy being outside.
I used to not mind it. Now I can't stand it. Age will do that.
Right with you. The colder and snowier the better.
I'm not just saying that, either. When it's warmer snow turns to slush and everything's gross and dirty. When it's cold the snow stays powdery and doesn't turn into ice when it packs down. You can do more with it.
me too, i love winter too.
Bad winters are SO overblown. Yeah they can suck at times, but there are draw backs to every place you live. Fall and summer in northern Michigan are second to none, and I have spent some time in other places that were good but just not the same. Living right in harbor towns on Lake Michigan is worth the extra money.
I agree. This little piece of weather hell we live in in Kansas will cure all you winter whiners. When you have day after day of 100+ degrees and a relentless south wind at 25-40 mph you learn to appreciate the fact that you can dress for the cold and get out of the house but you cannot dress down enough for this heat. We now look forward to our worst winter weather and will often dress up and hike our property in the midst of it-it really is quite exhilarating...enchanting. And there really are only summer and winter seasons here-and the de facto state color is brown.
Last week we took our two grandsons camping on the shores of Lake of the Woods. My nephew lives in Baudette, just up the Rainy River, and has a nice boat. We fished and tubed and boated to our little hearts content-can't beat fresh walleye...out of the lake and into the pan! So, returning on Saturday it was 105 when we hit the Kansas state line. After a week of high 50s to the high 70s we thought we were going to die.
Metro Detroit is getting into the belt of weather where it's just pure shit all winter. Cold rain and wintery mix all the time, and overcast when it's not. Northern LP now has the winters I grew up in the Detroit area with where everything actually freezes most of the time and is IMO a lot easier to deal with. Give me a fresh dusting of snow vs slush any day, even if it's 10 deg colder on average. Not to mention you get it back in Summer by missing out on the 90s temps for the most part.
You must really hate the snow and cold, because Metro Detroit winters are not that bad as compared to Chicago, Minneapolis or Boston. SE Michigan gets it pretty easy as far as winter goes.
I have family who just spent like $500k building a home on Lake Michigan in the UP, and after one Winter there they decided to also buy a home in Arizona. They said Summer is great, but they will never again spend another second from November to March up there.
I agree on northern Michigan in general. It's really really nice during Summer, but now that I've traveled all over the world, there are so many nice places out there for significantly less money. Obviously families have to play it safe with vacation destinations, but considering that it's like $5000 to rent a house for a week up there during peak Summer, you could do a month trip to Vietnam with three of your friends for quite a bit less than that.
It would cost you more than 5K to fly a family of 4 to Vietnam and back. I will put in a plug for Vietnam...fascinating place-we're going there and to Laos in November for most of the month to visit friends.
If you pay attention to flight deals(and have some airport flexibility), you can definitely get over to Vietnam/Thailand for $500-600 per ticket.
Going to Vietnam?
-Sa'Pa, a must, take the night train into the mountains, little luxury sleeping cabins straight out of the 20-30's, like a little Orient Express
-Hoi An - also a must, SUCH great food and culture, pretty decent beaches
-Ha Long Bay cruise - get a nice boat and cruise this bay for 3-4 days, absolutely stunning
Everything else fairly obvious, but amazing...Saigon, Hanoi, very cool cities.
A 1 month trip for 4 to Vietnam for quite a bit less than $5k?
Suffice it to say that we can’t be travel buddies!
Let's just say this...... if you are spending more than that, you're living a hell of a lot better than you ever would in Northern Michigan.
Sounds like an awesome trip even before meeting Harbaugh! I bet your kids will remember this vacation forever.
You are talking my favorite places in the whole world. Charlevoix and Mackinac. Glad you had a great vacation.
I like Lake Charlevoix just fine, but the town is a little tourist trap - one long, slow moving stripe of shops and the like. I’m more partial to Boyne City on the southeast corner of the lake, better mix of working town and tourist amenities, feels more lived in.
Awesome story, incredibly poorly crafted thread title.
Pics or it didnt happen
I tried to copy and paste it here. Not sure why it won’t work?
Yep, I'm interested to see the photo as well.
Next time around make it all the way up over the bridge to the true north. The UP is like a completely different place in almost every way from the lower peninsula. The Keweenaw peninsula is a personal favorite of mine (I am a little biased being born in Houghton) to tie it into sports Houghton is the birthplace of U.S. professional hockey. The foliage and scenery in the fall is unmatched and the sunsets on lake Superior are breathtaking.
Agree! However, you are not in the "true north" until you cross the second bridge.
That would be the Great White North......
take off, it's a beauty way to go
Sounds like a great time, but was Harbaugh vacationing in Michigan too? That's cool. He could be soaking up the sun in the Maldives if he wanted.
There was an event held on Mackinac Island last weekend. He mentioned it on his podcast.
EDIT: See post below for details
Swapping offensive strategies with the Mackinac Island High School head coach. Some very innovative stuff is being done in one man football.
One man football. The game of the true football disciple.
Elemental
Can confirm he was on the island. Also, I’ve stopped telling people how great Michigan is in the summer. When the oceans swallow the coasts I don’t want those people moving here for the shoreline.
Someone I know very well was on vacation with the Harbaugh's last summer. Lots of good stories. One I will share....a back yard wiffle ball game took place with full teams. Harbaugh was clearly out at first base, but demanded to everyone he was safe and refused to be called out. LOL classic.
Weird Harbaugh tweeted a picture of himself with the OP's kid.
Charlevoix and Mackinac, from the Northern Michigan spelling police. Great vacation story though!!
My wife and I took the Traverse to Charlevoix to Petosky to Mackinac via the "tunnel of trees" route a few years ago right before we had our first kid. It's awesome up there. I used to go up regularly in HS because my friend worked as a camp counselor in the summers outside traverse city but hadn't been in 15 years.
If you are feeling more adventurous and like camping/backpacking, take a trip to the UP. Picture Rocks and Porcupine Mountains are unreal. Isle Royale is supposed to be on even another level as far as unspoiled wilderness goes.