Things to do / Travel Guide
Northern Michigan offers a vast assortment of tours and organized excursions - from guided birding and lighthouse tours, to self-guided driving tours of Michigan wine country. Below is a list of the most recommended:
Guided Tours
The Michigan Audubon Society offers various specialty-walking tours for birdwatchers. The bird tours, which can be somewhat physically taxing, focus on the watching of rare species in the Eastern Upper Peninsula; tours in search of the rare Kirtland Warbler are offered during specific seasons. Birding tours near Grayling in the northern Lower Peninsula are also available.
For people intrigued by the diverse history and architecture of the region's lighthouses, Soo Locks Boat Tours and Dinner Cruises offers a six-day northern Michigan lighthouse tour, of the most interesting lighthouses in the region. Stops include Traverse City, Mackinac Island, Sault Ste. Marie, the Soo Locks, Tahquamenon Falls and Whitefish Point.
From June through early October, Altran Bus Service offers two-to three-hour tours of Grand Island National Recreation Area, which is about a 10-minute ferry ride from Munising. This tour visits Echo Lake, the Trout Bay Overlook, and Mather Beach, and is particularly good for travelers with limited mobility.
Self-Guided Tours
The Michigan Hemingway Society has mapped out a very detailed list of Hemingway-related sites in the Horton Bay/Walloon Lake/Petoskey/Harbor Springs Area, with driving directions and descriptions.
You can take yourself on driving tours of the wineries along the Leelanau Peninsula and Old Mission Peninsula, as provide enjoyable excursions. The Leelanau Peninsula Wine Trail, sponsored by the Leelanau Peninsula Vintner's Association, includes eleven wineries; and the Old Mission Peninsula Wine Trail incorporates five wineries situated along the 45th parallel. It is sponsored by the Wineries of Old Mission organization.
The Midland Center for the Arts (itself an interesting Guggenheim-style building) in Midland (northern Lower Peninsula) sells a self-guided tape for the Midland Architectural Tour. The tour includes interesting Midland architectural locations, ranging from Victorian-style houses to a strange, “space-agey,” 1957 dome.
Cruise Excursions
Given the astounding number of waterways and lakes in Northern Michigan, the region offers a vast amount of cruise excursions. Perhaps the most popular cruise excursions are through the Soo Locks, under the International Bridge, and along the lower harbor of Sault Ste. Marie on Lake Superior.
In Bay City, travelers can embark on sailing excursions upon majestic 85-foot-tall sailing ships. Departing from the Munising City Pier, the tours along the varicolored sandstone formations of Pictured Rocks are a favorite excursion.
For extremely scenic excursions try Isle Royale. Cruise excursions offer tours of popular historical and remote sights around the island's pristine wilderness.
The Glass-Bottom Boat Shipwreck tour is reputed to be one of the best activities available in the Munising area. The boat's 8- to 10-foot-long windows provide a remarkable view of shallow-water shipwrecks. The tour takes approximately two hours and is offered by Grand Island Shipwreck Tours.
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