This August my honey + I took a quick little trip to Michigan for a college friend's wedding and decided to take a few extra days to explore pure Michigan... and it was gorgeous. So, I put together some of the highlights of our trip for some travel inspiration-- enjoy!
Day One: celebrated our friend's marriage with a beautiful wedding on the Lake Huron shore... so obligatory wedding date pic. (I am wearing the Collins dress)
Day Two: headed for Mackinac Island... such a quaint place to visit. No cars are allowed on the island only bikes and horses. So, we parked our car and headed over to spend the night on the island.
Where we stayed: the Island House Hotel a unique and charming place with (very) clean rooms. It has a great view of the lake and had a delicious restaurant with outdoor dining... after dinner we headed out to explore the island. The island can be a little hectic in the "main downtown" but the rest of the island has great spots for walking and bike riding. We noticed after the day trippers leave for the day it calms down.
What we did: hiking + walked around the shores and took in the views of this gorgeous blue water
Day Three: we planned to leave the island around noon so we got up early to grab some pancakes at a local restaurant and rented bikes for the morning. The island has an 8.2 mile bike trail all the way around it full of amazing views. I HIGHLY recommend getting up early and doing the biking trail because we almost had the entire island to ourselves until about 10 am when the other tourists started moving about.
Day three adventures continued...after we left Mackinac Island we headed north to the Upper Peninsula and the first stop was the Kitch-iti-kipi spring. It is in a state park so you have to pay a few dollars to get in and wait in line but it is for sure worth it. The spring is Michigain's largest freshwater spring with over 10,000 gallons a minute gushing at the bottom of a crystal clear 40 feet deep "spring pond". It is a natural wonder and for sure a must see along the way.
Day three was a busy day... after the springs we headed to our final destination of the day Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore and checked into the Holiday Inn and Suites in Munising (note to self this is the only clean and modern hotel to stay in this area so make reservations ahead of time)
We did a sunset cruise of the Pictured Rocks and it was gorgeous to view the cliffs and lake shore from the waters of Lake Superior.
Day Four: hiking at the Pictured Rocks Lakeshore and WOW was it worth it. We did a 12 mile hike but there are many other shorter hiking options. We took in the sights of a few waterfalls and the best part was hiking right along the top of the Pictured Rocks shoreline.
Then after our exhausting hike we headed to Marquette, MI where we were staying for the night (lots of hotel options we stayed at the Country Inn + Suites by Raddison) and explored the cute downtown starting with grabbing dinner at this local hidden gem the Iron Bay Restaurant
Day Five: we got up early to watch the sunrise and get in some fishing. After we hit up a local coffee shop and drove to explore the Keweenaw Peninsula. We ended the day with a tour of an old copper mine.
Then it was homeward bound from here-- thanks for reading!
xo- Kianna