Five days covering the northern tip of Michigan's Lower Peninsula — Mackinac City and the Bridge crossing to the Upper Peninsula, two days on Mackinac Island, Petoskey and its shoreline, and a day at Colonial Michilimackinac fort. This is the full Northern Michigan summer experience that most people who visit only do one piece of.
Arrive in Mackinac City. Colonial Michilimackinac is a reconstructed 1715 French fur trading post and fort at the base of the Mackinac Bridge — the archaeology here has been ongoing for 60 years and the site has become one of the most important colonial period excavations in North America. Costumed interpreters demonstrate period cooking, blacksmithing, and musket firing. Then walk the Mackinac Bridge pedestrian walkway (open Labor Day only, typically, but the view from the bridge ends is always accessible).
Days 2 and 3 on the island follow the Mackinac Island Bike Weekend itinerary — perimeter road ride, Fort Mackinac, Arch Rock, interior trails. Stay on the island at one of the mid-range hotels (Lake View Hotel or Mission Point Resort) for Early Morning quiet before the day-tripper ferry arrivals.
Petoskey is 45 minutes south of Mackinaw City on US-31 — a Victorian resort town on Little Traverse Bay with a well-preserved Gaslight District of independent shops and restaurants. Petoskey stones (fossilized coral, Michigan's official state stone) wash up on the public beaches in the bay; collecting them is the local version of treasure hunting. Stafford's Perry Hotel (1899, continuously operating) is the correct place for dinner.
M-119 from Harbor Springs south to Petoskey is called the Tunnel of Trees — a 20-mile two-lane road through old-growth forest so dense that in summer it closes over the road in a complete canopy. One of the most beautiful drives in the American Midwest, best in early October for fall color. Drive it slowly.
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