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Lake MichiganLooping the LakeBy Sandra ScottFall is a perfect time to visit the Great Lakes area; there are fewer tourists and low season rates are in effect. Plan at least two weeks to drive the 1000 miles around Lake Michigan. In the process you will see parts of all five Great Lakes, the largest fresh water system in the world. Dutch Treat
A shore thing
A sweet placeNear where the Mackinaw Bridge connects the Michigan’s upper and lower peninsulas, take a ferry to Mackinac Island, a pricey destination that preserves its Victorian ambiance. You will awake to the clip clop of horses, the island’s main means of transportation because motor vehicles are banned. Most people can’t afford to stay at the exclusive Grand Hotel, where they still require formal attire after 6 p.m., but can splurge on afternoon tea at the hotel, $20 pp for champagne, tea, sandwiches and desserts served by the liveried wait staff. Fudge seems to be the island’s main source of nourishment; there are literally fudge shops every few feet that sell 5 tons a day during the summer. YooperlandMichigan’s Upper Peninsula, also known as “The UP” or “Yooperland,” makes up one-third of the state and most of it is wilderness. After a cruise through the locks at Sault Saint Marie, head for Whitefish Point, on the southeast corner of Lake Superior. The ill-fated Edmond Fitzgerald lies off the point and is remembered along with the 5000 other Great Lake tragedies at the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum. At nearby Tahquamenon Falls, the second largest falls east of the Mississippi, after Niagara, rent a row boat to get to a little island and walk the trail to view all five of the Lower Falls before making the short drive to the Upper Falls. This is the area Longfellow used as the setting for his poem, “Hiawatha.” Boil Over
LoopedComplete the loop of Lake Michigan with a visit to Chicago. The best view of the city skyline is from atop 150-foot Ferris wheel on Navy Pier. From the visitor’s gallery, watch the frenetic exchange of millions of dollars take place on the floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. The hop-on-hop-off trolley will allow you to visit all the major sites. A two-day pass is available. End your trip on an up note with an evening at the Chicago Symphony. If you go:Windmill Village, 7th Street and Lincoln Ave, $6 for adults, $3 children 5 – 12. The Star of Saugatuck, 716 Water Street, $12, (616) 857-4261, www.saugatuckboatcruises.com Mac Woods Dune Buggy, $12.50, (231) 873 2817, www.oceana.net/dunerides Soo Lock Boat Tours, $17.50, (800) 432 6301 Great Lakes Ship Wreck Museum, $8 adults, $5 children, closed November to May, (877) 744 7973, www.shipwreckmusuem.com Pellitier’s Restaurant, $14.95 fish boil dinner, nightly, (920) 868 3313 Images by Sandra Scott |
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Depart from Chicago, head up the eastern shore of Lake
Michigan, Michigan’s Gold Coast. Visit the quaint town and stroll the sandy
beaches but for a Dutch treat plan to spend some time in Holland, Michigan.
The early Dutch settlers would be justly proud of the Holland that has been
created on the shore of Lake Michigan. Stroll on the recreated Dutch Village
at Windmill Island and visit the 230-year-old DeZwaan Windmill, the only
authentic Dutch windmill in the US. If you are lucky they will be grinding,
if not notice the burlap bags of grain piled high waiting to be ground when
the wind picks up. From the top of the windmill listen for the authentic
Dutch street organ far below, which can be inspected after descending the
windmill. Don’t forget to buy a ornate hand-made candle as a memento of the
trip. Nearby, visit a factory that makes authentic Delftware, watch wooden
shoes being fashioned, and purchase tulip bulbs to brighten your yard next
spring. 
The beaches and sand dunes of Lake Michigan’s eastern
shore form the world’s largest area of freshwater dunes. From the quaint,
artsy village of Saugatuck take “The Star,” a paddle wheel boat, down the
Kalamazoo River out into Lake Michigan past mounded dunes that cover what
was once the village of Singapore. Near Silver Lake stop go bounding over
Sahara-like dunes in a 12-passenger dune buggy with Mac’s Dune Buggy.
Occasional stops are made so the driver can explain the dynamics of the
shifting sands. What looks like five-foot saplings are really the tops of
the 20-foot trees sticking out of the sand. Traveling northward, stay on
Route 30 driving stopping in picturesque towns where you can strolled along
their river walk to one of Michigan’s long sweeping beaches then out atop
the break wall to the lighthouse. Michigan has 131 of them!
Continue south into Wisconsin. On Lake Michigan’s
western shore, is Door County, the “Cape Cod” of Wisconsin, a narrow
peninsula dotted with little harbor towns, quaint shops, and cherry
orchards. The early Swedish settlers created the region’s gastronomic
specialty, a Fish Boil. At Pellitier’s Restaurant, in the courtyard with
guest gathered around the boiling pot, the cook, determined the pot of
potatoes, onions and fish was ready. He clanged the dinner bell, shouted,
“Boil over,” threw kerosene on the fire, which blazed high causing the water
to boil over taking all the fish fat with it, creating a hearty fish dinner
that was topped off with cherry pie, made from Door County cherries, the
other regional specialty.