Way OT: Summer vacation in Michigan

I will put in my plug for the Lake Huron side of the Thumb.  Less than 3 hours from Ann Arbor.  Not overly commercial or over-crowded.  Rent a cottage for the week and then head to AA.  Let Port Austin be your center point.  Rent a kayak on a calm day and paddle over to Turnip Rock.  Good reasonably priced golf in the area if that fits for you.  I could go on and on. 

Michigan's a great place. 

Mackinac Island is terrific, but your kids will probably find it less exciting. A day trip with a cab ride and some nice food, maybe, but nothing more. 

Other spots in the UP are great, too. Good recs above for how to do that.

The west coast of Michigan on Lake Michigan gets a lot of talk here, and with good reason: It's great. The sandy beaches, the dunes, the towns, there's a lot of good stuff. The Great Lakes in general are a treasure and the Michigan shoreline is one of the jewels. We do sleeping bear every few years with our kids and enjoy it a lot.

Doesn't sound like you'll run across this, but one note of caution: Many are generally familiar with the Labor Day walk on the Mackinac Bridge. I am vaguely aware of it too, but it has never affected me in any way until one year when I planned a vacation around labor day weekend and had to hastily turn my schedule inside-out when I realized I had planned to cross the bridge near when it would be closed. That's Labor Day Monday, so as long as you're not planning to transit peninsulas that day, you're fine. 

If you are strongly considering being in Ann Arbor for the opener, I would hesitate to stray more than 4+ hours from town

I'd suggest beach town vacation. Saugatuck, South Haven, St. Joseph are all very reasonable drives down 94 from Ann Arbor. You have a great combo of beaches, resort town vibes, brewery/winery country, stuff like that. And plenty within an hour or so for a day trip

Lots for kids and adults to do, and minimizing driving all over the state

Traverse City is great. So is Leland, Grand Haven, Holland, or basically anywhere along the Lake Michigan coast. Mackinac Island is fun but is really tourist-y. Pictured Rocks is beautiful, but the kids might not appreciate it as much, and it's a solid couple hours further than anything else.

East Tawas is pretty cool and not that far from AA.

I’d do a couple days in Traverse City (there’s an old asylum that’s been converted to shops/restaurants just a little bit outside of downtown that is really cool). From there head up to the UP for Pictured Rocks and Tahquamenon Falls (they really not super close together, but both absolutely worth doing). Maybe a night on Mackinaw Island or Charlevoix before heading down to A2?

Just don't go to Glen Arbor.  I hear the quaint downtown area, picturesque lake, access to Sleeping Bear Dunes and Lake Michigan all suck. 

People who actually have kids might firmly disagree with me, and that's legit, but I've always enjoyed swinging by Frankenmuth on the way up north only because I'm addicted to their chicken.  There'll likely be long lines and lots of people so I can definitely understand noping out of that, but it's a fun and cheesy thing your kids might like and you really don't need more than a few hours on your way up north or back down south

Also, good lord, that chicken.  When I was younger I once scarfed down six pieces of it in a single sitting.  

The pictured rocks are far and could be too much for a 6 and 9 year old.  Mackinac Island is fun for a day trip or spending a night and a couple of days; it helps if your kids can ride bikes.  All of the resort areas suggested seem fine.  I think it depends on what's available and how much you are prepared to pay.  Closer to Ann Arbor there is a Greenfield Village which could be a nice afternoon for you and your children.

If you're looking for an amusement park, other than Cedar Point, which you'll be driving by in Ohio, Michigan Adventure in Muskegon will keep you within reasonable distance of AA

I'd first ask what you want to do on vacation. Some people would rather be out all day hiking/shopping ect., others would rather sit on the beach all week. 

We rented at a nice little hotel in TC on the East Bay in front of the state park/campground that had a beachfront view, a small little beach to relax at that was private to the hotel and was close enough for a like 2 minute drive into downtown. That was fun for a few days. Mackinaw IMO is only fun for a day or two. Cool to see but you could do most of the island in a long day, certainly two days. 

My preference in terms of a single great Michigan vacation up north, is to rent a cabin or Air bnb on either Huron or Michigan and just cool out on a private beach for a week. 

You could also functionally do something similar on Glen Arbor and then be 20 minute away from going in and seeing Traverse City? Lots of options up there for how you do a vacation.

Also, tons of people love the camping/hiking/biking in that region as well. 

Depends on the kind of trip you want to have. I am from (born and raised) West Michigan and have taken most summer vacations in the state over the last 8 or so years (all my family still lives in the state and my Best Friend Coaches CC/Track at MI Tech), so I know the state fairly well as a resident and a tourist and have a Florida wife and North Carolina 4 year old who also love visiting the state. 

If you want to do the Museum, Zoo... more or less "city" experience Detroit, obviously has a lot to offer (DIA is really great IMO but might be a bit boring for 6 and 9 year olds). I would also recommend Grand Rapids (GRPM is great and affordable. Parking is easy, city is less crazy than Detroit has a good zoo and some cool historical homes etc. and there's some good breweries if you're into that. If you want to do both, Lansing is a good home base to hit Detroit (about 1.5 hours) and GR (about 1 hour) on I96 which is much less insane than I94. And despite it being enemy territory the Capital Tour is pretty cool. I would also recommend Michigan's Adventure (a theme park a bit north of Muskegon). Your kids will have a blast there and you can get your tickets a bit cheaper through Meijer (I'm pretty sure I'm not lying to you there).

If you're wanting a more outdoorsy, the UP is hard to beat but a much longer trip. Some really great hiking and sights up there (some of which you've already identified). The one thing I would caution about the UP is that if you want to hit the big lakes, even in August, that water is likely going to be colder than you'd like. Grand Haven on Lake MI is about as far north as you'll want to go for fun all day swim-able water depending on your tolerance and the kind of summer temps the state is getting.  When visiting the West Coast I typically make Holland my home-base (very familiar territory for me). Again some great breweries/food and good beaches. If you go a bit south of Holland to Fennville there is some great orchards (might be a bit early for apples but peaches should be in) and blueberry picking and if you go further south to South Haven you get slightly warmer water but also more crowded beaches. If you want the best lake MI experience, rent a boat and get out on the lake and pick an unoccupied spot of beach. Lots of fun to be had there. 

As for Mackinaw, it's a cool place and worth visiting (kids will probably find the trip over the bridge exciting), but it is very touristy and pricey. For my taste, it's not worth the drive and cost but YMMV. If you're set on hitting the UP, I would recommend it. If you're not going to the UP, I don't think Mackinaw is worth the trip alone. 

MI has a lot of fun and cool spots but they are spread out with not a lot aside from farms and forests in-between. That said, every year I go back I find more stuff to do and places to visit, so you really can't go wrong. 

Yes, avoid Torchlake and Traverse City because, like Ben Johnson, they aren't really that good. Move right on by.

I think a lot of it depends on what the family is into. Are you camping / hiking people? Would you prefer more touristy stuff?

Personally I would recommend spending 4-6 days in Sleeping Bear Dunes, staying in Glen Arbor. There’s beaches, hikes, cute towns, camping, etc. - fun for the whole family. One of the coolest and most beautiful places in the country, let alone Michigan. Plus you’re just about 30-45 minutes from Traverse City if you want to add that on to your trip.

I wouldn’t recommend the pictured rocks that time of year. After the 3rd week of august the weather gets far less predictable, with hard northwest blows being frequent. Hard to see the rocks from the shore and in bad weather the boats won’t be taking passengers, and kayaking won’t be an option. I’d recommend saving it for July and first half of august when it takes longer for Superior storms to kick up. There are other things to do in the area but if the pictured rocks are the reason you’d go there, it’s not the best time of year for it. 

Three recommendations from life long Michiganian with three kids (now 13, 9, & 7 (girl-boy-girl)):

1) If you want a pretty "set it and forget it" type of vacation with kids that age, you can't go wrong with Traverse City. You can go big resort with pools and onsite restaurants and family activities at Grand Traverse Resort. You can go "northern Michigan small town" feel by walking up and down downtown Traverse City and all the public beaches. You can go for short or long kayak trips at reasonable rental rates. You can take under an hour jaunts to Sleeping Bear Dunes, Suttons Bay (Suttons Bay brewing company is a very family friendly brewpub with good food), the winery tour on the peninsula, go on a fishing charter, or hiking in multiple state parks nearby. Parasailing in Grand Traverse Bay. Cherry or other fruit orchard pick-your-own-fruit (I can vouch for Rennie Orchards north of Grand Traverse Resort on the way to Elk Rapids). Cherry Republic in Glen Arbor is fun for the kiddos since they have free samples of every type of cherry product you  can imagine, and they now have a small counter service restaurant with kid friendly options (good to lump this with Sleeping Bear Dunes). Food choices aren't limited (everything from unique gourmet restaurants to all your standard fast food and trusted chains), and if you want to do to the airbnb thing to cook for yourselves, there are plenty of options at multiple price points and amenities. 3-4 hr from Ann Arbor depending on route and traffic.

2) If you want a small remote town lake vacation without having to bring everything along, I can recommend Birch Lodge in the UP on Trout Lake (about 45 minutes north of St Ignace). The lodge has both a traditional multistory lake lodge with hotel type rooms or they have a 50's era refurnished "motor lodge" style building on property that has pet friendly rooms. There's a restaurant and bar on site, they have a beach right on Trout Lake with safe swimming area for kids, complimentary kayak and rowboats for guests, and the town of Trout Lake has two very traditional UP bar restaurants less than 5 mins from the resort. I stayed there in summer of 2020.  Additionally, you're in the middle of all the main Eastern UP tourist sites-- 1.5 hr drive to Munising for Painted Rocks boat tours, 1 hr to Whitefish point / Taqumenon Falls, 1 hr to the Soo Locks, 1 hr to the Bear Ranch or Kitch-iti-kipi which are all kid friendly for your age of kids.  ~5 hr from Ann Arbor to Trout Lake. 

3) If you want something closer to Ann Arbor for a stay, just stay in Ann Arbor. Greenfield Village and Henry Ford Museum are awesome for kids that age, will be a whole day activity, and are less than hour away. Natural Science museum on campus has a new building that has great kid friendly exhibits. Downtown Detroit will have Tigers games and Michigan Science Center to offer and is 45-60 minutes away from Ann Arbor. Go kayaking / canoeing in the Huron River with one of the companies and you can stop at Dexter Cider Mill for a snack. If you want a day at the lake, Whitmore Lake and Silver Lake just north of Ann Arbor have public beaches. If you want to go on a day trip to a great beach on Lake Michigan, we've done a day trip from Ann Arbor to Saugatuck Dunes State Park (2.5 hr drive each way)... great beach, dunes to run up and down, allow dogs if you have it, and there's easy eating with a Subway and Burger King right off the highway or a couple good brewpubs that are kid friendly to/from the highway. If you're going to stay in Ann Arbor, can recommend the Hilton Garden Inn by Briarwood Mall-- they have a kid splash pad pool indoors that shares with the main pool and you can always walk across the parking lot to the Briarwood Mall food court for quick eats with the kiddos (Chipotle, California Pizza Kitchen, Panda Express, PF Changs all there, and everything else in Ann Arbor nearby). 

i'll start with the homeland, da U.P., and with your 6 and 9 yr olds in mind.

marquette - some really cool hikes up trails that your kids can make with awesome views in town, and then head north to big bay and do some of the same.  if you fish, go up the 510 and fish the yellow dog.  superior is likely to still be warm enough to swim, and will definitely be warm if you go next to the power plant just below marquette drive.  i've swum there in december.  

mackinac island - boat ride out and bike ride around the island.  rent a horse and carriage to take you sightseeing.  touristy stuff right in town like shops, frozen yogurt, fort mackinac, etc.  

below the bridge - sleeping bear dunes nat'l park.  very pretty shore, and tremendous hikes to tire out your kids (and you).  east side of the northern lower is a bit sparse for kid stuff, but cheboygan and lake huron can be fun.  both lake michigan and huron will be warm enough to swim in then, as will literally any other inland lake (glen lake, charlevoix, higgins, etc) that might work into your plans. 

little towns like harbor springs and charlevoix are touristy, but still pleasant that time of year as even around the holiday they will be noticeably less crowded than mid-summer. 

We went to Mackinac Island every year when I was growing up and it's cool but I dunno how much your kids would be into it.  We'd walk through 'downtown' and bike around the island.  It was paired with camping at Wilderness State Park and I always looked forward to it.

Definitely depends on what the kids are into.  If your family likes the beach, definitely plenty of options.  I'm partial to Grand Haven, downtown is close to the beach and there are things to do.  Holland and Muskegon are a little bigger but the beach is a bit further away.  One advantage of these three options is you're close to Grand Rapids and its museums, Meijer Gardens and other activities if the weather turns out to not be beach-friendly.  They're also a lot closer to AA than Up North is and an easy drive down 96/196 to US23.

Glen Arbor:

a day at Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes

a night at the Cherry Bowl Drive in

lunch at Cherry Republic and shopping in Glen Arbor

• My family drove from NY two summers to Glen Arbor, then Ann Arbor (though unfortunately one of those trips was the App State horror).

If you make to the "pinky" area of the lower peninsula, I'd highly recommend the Sleeping Bear Dunes Park, specifically the Pierce Stocking drive.  There are stops on that loop where you walk out to the dunes, overlooking Lake Michigan, that are absolutely jaw dropping.  At one of the stops, which is arguably the best one, you can watch those who make the trek to go down, and climb back up the dune, which is pretty interesting to witness due to the cliff-like shoreline.  When I was young, my parents took us there and it was miserable, you had to park and trek up a sandy dune and walk, what seemed like an eternity as a child, and it wasn't pleasant.  Now, you can drive thru, park, and have a very short walk right up the edge.  It's fantastic.

There are few places as awesome as northern Michigan in the summer. 

Hit Traverse City, Mackinac Island, and Sleeping Bear Dunes. 

None of these places are near Ann Arbor but they're all relatively close to one another. So do those and then drive the 3.5 hours from TC to A2 the night before the game. 

In 2021, we flew from SoCal to Chicago, drove past Green Bay, hit the west side of the UP and drove to stayed in Drummond Island. Nice resort there.

Crossed the bridge, stayed in Traverse City, visited Sleeping Bear Dunes, and then drove back to Chicago. On the way, stopped in South Haven, which we loved.

I would either do South Haven and Saugatuck if flying to either Detroit or Chicago, or head up to Drummond Island and the UP if flying to DTW. Both places with young kids would be a lot of traveling.

Go to SE Michigan (New Buffalo area). About 2.5 hours away. Amazing beaches, awesome, walkable towns, and good food/beer options. 

Pick nearly any west coast beach town... St. Joseph/South Haven/Grand Haven.  Excellent beaches.   St. Joseph has a nice splash area for the kids.  Warren Dunes has a nice dune climb where you can see Chicago skyline, albeit incredibly small. 

Silver lake (Mears, MI) has the Mac Woods dune rides.  Kids will love it.  You can also rent ATV/Dune buggies for the sand dunes.  They've got like 2000 acres of dunes.  It's amazing.

As others have said, Sleeping Bear Dunes.  There are two dune climbs, the most well known drops 400 feet into lake Michigan. 

Tahquamenon falls in the UP... upper falls are fun to look at but the lower falls, you can hike THROUGH... 

Picture Rock has the best hike (Chapel Loop) I've ever been on, with incredible views of Lake Superior.  It's genuinely stunning. But the hike is 10 miles long.  Kids may need to a bit older. 

Unpopular opinion: Traverse City is overrated.  The bay is a second rate beach compared to all the others along the western coast.  Restaurants were run of the mill... even worn out.  We were pretty uninspired last time we were there.  But people flock there, so maybe it's just me. 

Stay in Charlevoix.

There are multiple wonderful options to choose from. My Top 5 list: 1) Copper Harbor-way, way up and over in the UP with a spectacular option of including Isle Royale, 2) Munising/Pictured Rocks, 3) Mackinac Island 4) Petoskey/Harbor Springs to Cross Village and 5) the greater Traverse City area

Petoskey and Charlevoix areas can't be beat over the summer. Weather is perfect, the lake is beautiful. Mackinac is good, too. A little touristy, but its still a great place to visit if you've never been. 

There's also a great place to eat in between Petoskey and Mackinac called the Legs Inn. Really darn good Polish food, and if memory serves, its right on a cliff overlooking the lake. Beautiful place to go eat, and if its nice out, to go sit outside. Highly, highly recommend. 

I'm personally a bit biased, but I think northern Michigan is the best place in the country to be during the summer. At least when I've been, the weather has always been perfect. Not too hot, not too cold, but the sun's always out and it just feels great to be outside. Can walk around during the evening and the sun is still out at 8:30-9pm.