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mathmama
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| Posted: Sept 09 2014 at 11:59am | IP Logged
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We are planning a week long vacation to northern MI for next July. We plan on renting a cottage on the NW side of the state, either near Traverse City or further up along the tunnel of trees (Good Hart area). We definitely want to go to the Soo, Mackinac Island, and the sand dunes. Anything other must see places up there, especially Catholic and/or historic places? Also, if you stayed up there and have a good recommendation for a cottage I'd love to hear that as well, we are a family of 6. Thanks!
Beth
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Beth, wife to Tom and mommy to 4 beautiful girls:
Therese 11/04
Anna Mary 6/07
Veronica 10/09
Theodora 11/12
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organiclilac
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Our favorite thing on Mackinac Island was renting a horse and buggy to drive around the road that goes all the way around the island. The fort there was interesting, too, and we learned some of the history of the island and fort by taking a carriage tour.
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Tracy, wife to Shawn, mama to Samuel (4/01) and Joseph (11/11), and Thomas (2/15)
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Servant2theKing
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Two places of interest to Catholics are The Cross in the Woods near Iron River and the Carmelite Monastery in Traverse City.
Ocqueoc Falls, near Onaway is another nice place to visit on your way up to the NW side of the Lower Peninsula. Ocqueoc Falls has a natural basin at the foot of the falls perfect for swimming. You can hike along the falls or wade in gentler portions of the falls.
We've stayed at cottages on both Spider Lake and Walloon Lake many years ago, but I don't have any current recommendations.
Steer clear of Northport and the Leelanau Peninsula unless you're interested in upscale shops where proprietors frown on small children. Traverse City is known all around for their cherries. Cherry Republic, with several locations in the region has great tasting tea, all sorts of cherry goodies including unusual items like cherry salsa. Roadside stands and farmers markets are usually abundant, and fresh produce is quite the welcome reprieve from usual travel fare.
Michilimackinac is a fun place to visit. Many Mackinaw City hotels now have water parks onsite which are included with your stay. Mackinaw City is famous for its fudge and the kite shop is popular with young and old alike.
We have many fond memories of the area. Hope you have a wonderful trip!
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Becky Parker
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I think everything that I know about has been mentioned. I would second the dunes and Michilimackinac. Great places for kids.
Stop by on the way up! 
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stacykay
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If you are going to go to the Soo, I would also recommend checking out the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum and Tahquamenon Falls State Park.
These aren't too far from Sault Ste. Marie. At Whitefish Point, where the shipwreck museum is located, there is an area of "beach" access. It is really cold! and full of great rocks, if any of you enjoy collecting!
One caveat on the Falls, there is a lot of walking and there are a lot of stairs, so the littles may not enjoy that so much.
In Sault Ste. Marie, the Soo Locks, and a bonus is that the visitor center is free. It is really neat, great displays for kids to learn a bunch.
If you are interested in buying fudge while vacationing  , my family is of the strongest opinion that Joanne's Fudge is the ONLY fudge to buy. They are located on both Mackinac Island and Mackinaw City. We have taste-tested a TON of fudge, and Joanne's is the best.
OH! If you go to Mackinac Island, go on a Wednesday!!! During the summer months, the MI governor's mansion is open for tours, I think 9:30 to 11:30 in the morning, as long as the Governor isn't there. My 16yods is a Boy Scout, and this past summer he got to "work" the Governor's Mansion. The Boy Scouts run the tours, and although pictures aren't allowed inside, they will take a picture for you of the family on the veranda, which has fantastic views!
Depending on your route to the north, there are many neat places to visit on your drive up!
Every other year or so, we take a "circle" tour, as my boys call it, of the UP (going up around the UP and back down either Lake MI side or Lake Huron side.) This past summer, we were visiting in Chicago, so we just continued through WI into the UP that way, and went around "backwards." Every time we go, there is a new place I spot, or another one I hear about that I put on the list for the "next" time. 
Enjoy planning your trip (you are so smart to start early) and don't hesitate to ask all us Michiganders if you have more questions!!!
In Christ,
Stacy in MI
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4 lads mom
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Oh how fun!! We are transplants to MI, and live on the West side of the state. It took 7 years, but we finally went to the Mackinac Island this past May. WOW!!! IT was so FUN!!!! I highly recommend it.
Also, if you take the Mackinac Bridge across to the UP, there is a really nice memorial to Fr Marquette that my kids also enjoyed. It is very close to the exit off the bridge. One of the my boys had just read a saint biography of Fr Marquette, and it was fun to “see” history right in our state.
Fr Marquette Memorial
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stacykay
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4 lads mom wrote:
.....Also, if you take the Mackinac Bridge across to the UP, there is a really nice memorial to Fr Marquette that my kids also enjoyed. It is very close to the exit off the bridge. One of the my boys had just read a saint biography of Fr Marquette, and it was fun to “see” history right in our state.
Fr Marquette Memorial |
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This will definitely be on our next tour list!!! We've stayed in St. Ignace (staying this side of the bridge is way less expensive than the Mackinaw City side,) but haven't been to the memorial. I think the first year we started exploring MI's UP, was a couple of years after the museum had been destroyed  , so I put it off the radar. Now it will go back to the top!
I thought of something else, too, regarding timing of your trip, Beth. The hotels and cottages anywhere near Traverse City skyrocket in rates during the Cherry Festival (next year's is July 4th to the 11th.) We found this out this past summer. Our Chicago trip was a set date, so we couldn't avoid Cherry Festival week coming back down. We ended up coming down the Lake Huron side, and hotel rates were much more reasonable.
In Christ,
Stacy in MI
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mathmama
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Thanks for all the great tips! We will be traveling from the Port Huron area, so I'm not sure we will hit much on the way up. I was aware of the Cherry Festival since we went to Elk Rapids 3 consecutive years when I was growing up and always went during the festival. Our trip is pretty locked in as far as dates since we have a family function the last weekend in June and on the 4th down in the PH area and the Thumb. So, if we have to go Sat to Sat it looks like we will just miss the festival Right now it looks like we will do 4 activities and the front runners are the dunes, the Soo, Mackinac Island, and Mackinaw City/St. Ignace (including the Fr. Marquette memorial). Because of this, it looks like we are going to try and rent in the tunnel of trees.
Stacy, thanks for the tip on the beach. One goal with this trip is to dip our toes in all 5 Great Lakes. Huron is a given, Michigan will be easy, we will hit Superior when up at the Soo, and we will hit Erie on the way to MI (driving through the states), and Ontario on the way back to PA (driving through Canada)
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Therese 11/04
Anna Mary 6/07
Veronica 10/09
Theodora 11/12
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stacykay
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mathmama wrote:
Stacy, thanks for the tip on the beach. One goal with this trip is to dip our toes in all 5 Great Lakes. Huron is a given, Michigan will be easy, we will hit Superior when up at the Soo, and we will hit Erie on the way to MI (driving through the states), and Ontario on the way back to PA (driving through Canada) |
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The trip we took two years back, we swam in our four Great Lakes (we have never made it to Lake Ontario, but hoping to get there next summer.) Our lake Superior swimming site was much further west than where you will be. It was a little area called Eagle Harbor that we found on the way up to Copper Harbor. It had really nice sandy beach area, and the water was surprisingly tolerable.  We went to the same beach area this summer, and erosion has ruined a lot of it. I thought the winter we had might have played a role, but in talking to a man who visits there almost weekly, he said it all happened over the course of the summer.
If you are going to be in the Port Huron area, there are a few places nearish there that you could take in- one of the jack pine forests which are home to the Kirtland Warbler. There is canoing available on the Au Sable River, which goes through some of these forests.
Also, The Lumberman's Monument in Oscoda. This is a fun place to visit, with logger exhibitions and activities for children.
Guessing you would be heading up 75, but if you get over on 275, we are just a half mile off the road, and would love to meet up with you (or any of you all who might venture over this way!)
In Christ,
Stacy in MI
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mathmama
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I doubt we will hit 275. At times in the past I have taken it to avoid Detroit, but now that we are traveling with 4 kids I need to take the most direct route to my family's house (75 to 94) My sister is going to Oscoda in a couple of weeks. She was trying to talk me into it for our vacation, but I really want to head farther north. We will be at Port Austin in the Thumb, so still an hour from Oscoda. There is a chance we will be spending more than a day or two at Port Austin and if we do, we might be able to head up to Oscoda. It is weird being such a tourist in MI. I grew up there until I was 13, but actually haven't been back in a couple of years. When we are at my family's we will be heading down to the D to go to the DIA and to the Zoo (always a hit). So, maybe we could meet up at the Zoo 
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Therese 11/04
Anna Mary 6/07
Veronica 10/09
Theodora 11/12
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Pilgrim
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Don't know if this place is more expensive than where you are planning on renting a cottage, but it looks really nice, so I thought I'd put it out there. And it's closer to the main hits of your trip that you mention, a plus when traveling with children.
Hope you guys have a WONDERFUL time. MI is such a beautiful state, great for traveling. We go up through the UP and down through the LP every Fall at least to visit my parents/brothers and I have enjoyed seeing the suggestions here, as many of them are doable additions to our trips, and things we would love to see. It's perfect timing, as we are getting ready to go on our Fall trip soon!
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guitarnan
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We did the five Great Lakes thing a couple of years ago. It was fun.
If you are going home through Canada, plan a stop at the North American Martyrs' Shrine in Midland, Ontario. Across the road, you'll find Sainte-Marie Among the Hurons, which is a living history museum that shows life in a Wendat (Huron) village and in the French colonial settlement there. We were glad we stopped there because the re-created village includes the actual gravesites of St. Jean de Brébeuf and St. Gabriel Lalemant.
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4Real Forums : Tea and Conversation
Topic: Northern MI vacation
