Travel Blog
It’s that time of year… the sun goes down a little sooner, the night air has a chill, kids are getting ready for the first day of school, and Labor Day is just a couple weeks away. Though summer is drawing to a close, you know that fall on the Great Lakes is awesome. You might even look forward to fall for some cooler weather, brilliant colors, trick or treat, and fall sports. But no matter how fantastic fall is on the Great Lakes, there’s something special about summer...
A few years ago Daniel told Todd and I that one of his travel dreams is to see all of the water in the world and how it’s different. Todd and I LOVE the water and decided make this a family travel dream! When we set out to visit Lake Erie, Lake Huron, Lake Superior, and Lake Michigan in the summer of 2016, one of the things we looked forward to most was experiencing all the beaches.
We visited over 20 beaches on the lakes and rated all of them for sand, water clarity, size, access, atmosphere, and shallow water for swimming. What follows are our top picks!...
From the start of the trip we weren’t sure how we’d spend our last couple days. We knew we’d need to make it far enough south to be within 4 hours of home (we don’t like to drive more than 4 hours with the trailer) and assumed we’d end up in the Bay City area. As we looked for campground options and must see/do places nothing jumped out at us. Then we looked inland a bit and found a Yogi Bear’s Jellystone campground (Daniel’s favorite) within walking distance of Frankenmuth… perfect!...
We went canoeing on the Au Sable River. It was really cool. I never went canoeing before. My parents were the ones paddling… I didn’t do much paddling. We stopped about half way from our destination and I got to see fish and a few frogs. The frog were on sand dunes…it was crazy to see frogs on sand dunes!...
We spent lots of time on the Canadian side of Lake Huron… so what’s the US side like? Is the water clear, beautiful shades of blue, and cold? We got a little glimpse while in Mackinaw City and were anxious to explore the coast further. We found the same beautiful water, lots of open and natural spaces, and small towns with casual vibes...
Mackinaw or Mackinac? It depends on what you’re talking about! The Mackinaw bridge connects the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to the rest of Michigan. Mackinaw City is at the south end of the Mackinaw Bridge on the coast of Lake Huron. And Mackinac Island is the legendary island off the coast of Mackinaw City known for its no motorized vehicle rules, quaint but luxurious hotels and bed and breakfasts, natural beauty, great restaurants, and fudge. We spent 2 days exploring the Macks and had a great time… the area has a lot to offer!
