First trip to Upper Peninsula-help with planning needed

We arrive by plane in Detroit on May 23 and depart from Detroit at noon on May 28. We have received so many wonderful brochures, maps, etc, from the different communities that make up the Upper Peninsula that we are confused now more than ever. What%26#39;s the best way to allocate the short amount of time we have? Your help is most appreciated.

First trip to Upper Peninsula-help with planning needed

That 5 days is going to entail a lot of driving. It%26#39;s about 5 hours to the bridge from the airport (I%26#39;m assuming Metro). I think that some definate ';to dos'; are Mackinac Island, Strait%26#39;s area stuff like Fort Michilimackinac (sp), Mackinaw City, St.Ignace. The Soo Locks in St.Ignace is about 2 hours from there going east. (There%26#39;s a casino on the way.). Further north is the Taqumanon falls, the shipwreck museum at Whitefish Point. Further West is Munising with Pictured Rocks Nat%26#39;l Lakeshore, Grand Island, %26amp; a casino in Christmas. On to Marquette (Sweet Water Cafe there is delicious). If you have time to drive to the Keweenaw peninsula then you%26#39;ll be rewarded with miles and miles of undeveloped coastline, many nature areas and parks, and the little towns of Copper Harbor, Eagle Harbor, and Eagle River.

So much to do in 5 days.

First trip to Upper Peninsula-help with planning needed

Oh Ya...try these sites:

http://www.coppercountry.com/

http://www.keweenaw.org/

http://www.straitsofmackinac.net/

http://www.mackinac.com/

Make sure you have a pasty while you are up there. Mmmmmm!

Stay at a cabin motel unit at Keeweenaw Mountain Lodge, Copper Harbor, during tour of Keeweenaw peninsula. Drive Brockway mountain drive. info available online

(You are early season for UP tour, wait a month for good weather. Wait 2 months and you can swim in Lake Michigan)

See Tacquamenon falls, both upper and lower parks. Sault St Marie locks are also interesting, in the same area

Ride a rented bike around Macinac Island, if it%26#39;s not too cool and rainy..also trails into the interior of the island. Take the ferry from the St Ignace side, stay at Holiday Inn Express St Ignace, a good value on the quiet north side of the bridge. Try the freshwater fish triple platter at Driftwood restaurant

1) Mackinac Island

2)Soo locks

3)Tacq Falls

4)on the Superior shoreline to Marquette, cruise Pictured Rocks

5]on to Keeweenaw peninsula inland and shoreline tour

I love the Keweenaw , but with your limited time and all of the driving you will be doing, I would stay in the central and East UP.

I second most of Lungfuits eastern UP locations (you spelled Michilimackinac correctly, though the geography was off a bit:-).

In general, look at Mackinaw City (Fort, lighthouse %26amp; Coast Cutter Mackinaw), Mackinac Island (Fort, horses, bicycling, Victoria buildings), Sault Ste Marie (Soo Locks %26amp; daytrip to Canada), Whitefish Point (Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum %26amp; lighthouse), Tahquamenon (two falls, hiking), Grand Marais (sand dunes %26amp; falls), Munising (Pictured Rocks), Seney (National Wildlife Refuge), Fayette (ghost town, state park). You will also pass by several casinos.

Along the way, try a pasty, and fried whitefish.

Be sure and take warm clothes!

I agree with the above posts. Lots of driving getting to the western side. You miss the Lilac Fest on Mac Island starting June 7.

With you limited time, the most west you should do is Pictured rocks and maybe Marquette. But the Keweenaw is fantastic with copper mine tours and Fort Wilkins at the tip.

I would say it takes a good week to explore the UP without a stop at the straits.

Where I live in the UP, it%26#39;s about a 10 or 11 hour drive to Detroit. I%26#39;m guessing that Marquette is about the same distance- it%26#39;s an hour north of me. If you only have 5 days, you%26#39;ll spend two of them driving. I would suggest going only as far as the Mackinaw Bridge, and remember that the Bridge is closed on Memorial Day for the bridge walk. (Oh, I see your flying from Detroit that day, so never mind!). If you want to really see the UP, you%26#39;d have to fly into Marquette or Hancock or even Green Bay, Wisconsin.

You can definitely go to Mackinaw Island and City, and cross the bridge to St. Ignace. There are some places in the northern lower peninsula that are gorgeous and may be easier for you to get to in just a few hours. I%26#39;m no expert on them- but I%26#39;m sure there are others who can tell you more. Just a place that comes to mind is Traverse City (I don%26#39;t know how far that is from Detroit, though)

Hello kernelbozo, Just to let you know the last post by yooperchick is a little misleading. I live in the Upper Peninsula, in Manistique. It takes aprox. 4 1/2 hours to get from DTW (detroit metropolitan airport) to Mackinaw City. From Mackinaw City to Manistique is 89 miles. So to get to the bottom center of the Upper Peninsula from DTW is aprox. 6 hours of driving.

yooperchick also says that the Mackinac Bridge is closed on Memorial Day for the Bridge walk. It is true they do have a day where you are allowed to walk across the Mackinaw Bridge but this is done over the Labor Day weekend. The bridge does not completely close. A lane is closed to car traffic and opened to people traffic.

Here is another web site that has information about the UP.

http://hunts-upguide.com/

From your post you don%26#39;t really say what interest you have. If say, you were interested in Light Houses, there would be routes you could take to see them. I am sure one of your brochures talks about the light houses we have up here. If your into waterfalls we have them to. Do you like camping? Fishing?

Thanks to all for your help-it seems we should already be planning our next visit. This was really the only time we could come this year and our air vouchers are just about to expire. We are primarily interested in enjoying the natural beauty of the area-WISH I had time to fish.

On May 15th it is opening season for walleye in Michigan. Maybe you should think about renting a cabin with a boat on a lake and go on day drives. A central area in the Upper Peninsula that is great for fishing is the town of Curtis. It is right between two large inland lakes. Check it out on your map. They have many different resorts there. There are many things to see from there and you would still be back to your cabin at night.

Here a web sites about the area

http://www.curtischamber.com/index.html

Thanks for correcting me on the date of the Bridge Walk- I don%26#39;t know why I was thinking it was Memorial Day! It%26#39;s always been Labor Day- again, thanks.

I still say that it takes 11 hours to drive from Detroit to Marquette, though! lol!