The Michigan Road Trip You’ll Want to Add to Your Bucket List

Hey friends! If you are new here, we are Ashley and Erin, two girls from the Pittsburgh area who have been best friends since fifth grade. We co-write blog posts about fashion, lifestyle, travel, and everything in between. If you’re not new, welcome back! You have probably been following us on our most recent adventure via social media and playing along with our road trip games-– and for that we thank you! We’ve done a few road trips in the past and if you’re into that sort of thing you might like to read about our road trips to New England and The Inner Harbor of Baltimore, as well!

So, if you don’t already know, our latest road trip was to Michigan– no place in particular, but that’s just how we roll; we pick a place and just go. No planned hotel rooms, no planned stops, and no planned destinations– just a couple of girls in a packed-full Ford Escape and a full tank of gas on an adventure of a lifetime. Why Michigan? Great question. See that photo above? That blue water can be found in a lake in Michigan! Can you believe it? Both of us were recently in Hawaii and this lake water is bluer! BUT we’re getting ahead of ourselves. That lake was one of our many stops. Let’s just start from the beginning.

Ann Arbor was the first of many stops on our trip and was about 5 ½ hours away from where we live. Since we didn’t get started until later due to a horrible storm that swept through SWPA Wednesday evening, we ended up in Ann Arbor around 1AM. It would probably have been sooner, but the first hotel we stopped at had no rooms available, but hey, that’s the fun of not making reservations! We stayed at a new Hyatt Place and it was the perfect place to relax after our long drive; however, we could barely sleep that night because we were so excited for the trip that awaited us that we were up and at it at before 7AM, running on less than 5 hours of sleep. We grabbed some breakfast in the lobby and headed out the door to our first coffee stop in Michigan. We stopped at Zingerman’s Coffee Shop on a recommendation and snagged amazing coconut milk lattes to-go and hit the road; we were headed north.

Thursday morning, we drove north to Mackninaw City. It took us about 5 hours. We were speechless as we crossed the Mackinac Bridge, suspended over the Straits of Mackinac. The beautiful blue water was something out of a magazine and we were right in the middle of it. We unexpectedly found ourselves on St. Ignace, Michigan; part of the Upper Peninsula. We paid the toll going back and forth a few times between Mackinaw City and St. Ignace to cross the bridge, but there were beautiful places to see in both cities. We also really liked driving across the bridge… lol. We climbed to the top of Castle Rock, after stumbling upon it by total accident, and followed Paul Bunyan’s footsteps in our cutest shoes (lol)! We took beautiful photos from the top! We took photos by a lighthouse in St. Ignace and stopped at Bridge View Park for some photos of the gorgeous bridge and the flowers surrounding it. We checked out the shops in Mackinaw City and had a delicious pizza at Mama Mia’s Mackinaw City. We almost ate the entire thing we were so hungry! We ended up crashing back across the bridge in St. Ignace at a Holiday Inn Express for the evening. We had done a lot of walking and we ended up in one of their only rooms left– and it just so happened to have a hot tub. So, we watched Impractical Jokers, checked out our photos from the day, and relaxed in the hot tub until we were ready for bed!

The next morning, we woke up in the quiet little town of St. Ignace and headed to a cute little coffee shop we’d passed a few times called Harbor Hope Coffee, where every cup was served with a smile and prayer. We each had one of their latte specials. Ash had a breakfast sandwich with the Yooper Latte and Er tried one of the famous pasties (these are served all over the upper peninsula and we had no clue what they were. Erin compared them to a pot pie sandwich) with the Mighty Mac Latte. After breakfast, we headed toward Mackinac Island. While en route to Mackinac Island on the ferry (we took Shepler’s Ferry), we Pinterest-ed the top things to visit while there. This island is automobile free and the only means of transportation are horse and buggy, bicycles, or your own two feet. So in true Ash-and-Er-fashion, we took off on foot; we recommend walking if you are able because we were able to see so much, though we did put over 6 miles on our shoes in only a few hours.

Shops lined the streets of Mackinac Island and the smell of old-fashioned fudge filled the air… well, when you weren’t smelling the rear of a Clydesdale..haha. (Mackinac Island reminded us both of Martha’s Vineyard, which we visited on our road trip up the coast of New England two years ago.) We walked up and down Main Street, checking out the shops and hitting the lone Starbucks on the island. It was busy, just like any other! We had some of the BEST fudge either of us has ever tasted at Kilwin’s in Mackinaw City and Ryba’s on Mackinac Island. The Grand Hotel was one of our “must-see” stops on Mackinac Island. We walked up a long driveway to a perfectly manicured lawn, water fountains, and old-fashioned street lights. Have you ever heard of the movie “Somewhere in Time?” It was filmed right at the Grand Hotel and honestly, the inside décor probably hasn’t changed much since then. It’s beautiful in its own classic way, but it definitely isn’t like the Nemacolin Woodlands Resort we are used to. It cost $10 to walk inside the hotel and the gardens of the hotel. We talked to a wonderful woman named Cindy inside the hotel’s oil painting store (the hotel owner’s wife does all the paintings in beautiful pastels of sights in Michigan) and she took some photos for us and told us about some other places we needed to see in Michigan! The gardens led us back to the little town and we trekked to Arch Rock where we climbed 207 stairs to the top (we definitely earned all of the Iced Coconut Milk Mocha Caramel Macchiatos we ordered from Starbucks). We had a light dinner (chicken salad pitas) later that evening on the island at a little restaurant called Bistro on the Greens and headed back to St. Ignace around 8PM. Upon returning via ferry, we were ready to get back on the road.

Er posed at one of the stations at the beauty salon and boutique at the Grand Hotel.

As we would meet new people, they would recommend places to visit and stay; we were told to visit Harbor Springs. Sadly, we could only drive through the next evening because all of the rooms were full at every hotel we tried in Harbor Springs and Petoskey. Actually, we tried 14 hotels that night until we finally found a resort (we’re talking 2AM) that just happened to be over an hour away from where we originally wanted to stop. But that’s how it goes when you don’t have any definite plans. As luck would have it though, we were close to our next destination for the following day, Torch Lake. Shanty Creek Resort is really the only place nearby to stay, other than Bed & Breakfast places, and we paid a pretty penny for a good shower, a night of rest, and a breakfast buffet… but we didn’t mind when we saw what Torch Lake had to offer the next morning.

We took a million pictures like this.. just of boats and random people because we could NOT get over this beautiful transparent blue water!

Two nights before we left for our road trip, we stumbled upon a suggested post on Pinterest about Torch Lake. This was the one place we deemed a must for our road trip. We continuously said “there is no way the water there is really that blue.” We would see tag lines like “the Carribbean of the North” and “No sharks. No salt. No problems.” We just kept laughing, thinking, “OK, but this is Michigan, not Hawaii.” Jokes on us… lol. We kid you not; it really was that blue. Due to our recent trips to Waikiki, we just kept saying, “This water looks just like Hawaii!” So, if you aren’t really wanting to do a 14 hour flight across the Pacific to see crystal clear water, just hop in a car and head to Michigan! The funny thing is you won’t be disappointed. We were looking for an adventure– something we haven’t done before, so we rented a kayak and headed out on the lake. This was both of our first times and it was quite an arm workout, but we did pretty well. We did a little kayaking and a lot of laying out and it was the perfect day for both. We only ran into a few boats trying to get back to Butch’s (where we rented the kayak from) and at least, the folks on the dock found us entertaining. Oops? lol

After staying on the beautiful Torch Lake for about 4 hours that afternoon, we changed out of our wet clothes with a make-shift tent by the vehicle, packed up the car, and hit the road heading back toward Ann Arbor to break up the following day’s trip home. Only, things never go exactly as planned. Ann Arbor’s rooms were all booked that night and when Ashley received a text from one of her best friends, Elizabeth, who was in Toledo, we decided to stay in Toledo for the night instead so we could grab breakfast with Liz in the morning before heading home! Saturday evening, we made a stop in Frankenmuth, MI! It was such a cool little town, but since we arrived so late, there were many places that had already closed– but not Bronner’s Christmas Wonderland, which just happens to be the size of 1 1/2 football fields! The lights and decorations were beautiful and we each bought a few items from the world’s largest Christmas store! We walked around the other shops and absolutely adored the area. We plan to head back, as we both decided we would love to spend more time in Frankenmuth!

Sunday morning, we met Elizabeth and her husband for breakfast at First Watch in Toldeo, OH! It was so yummy and good to catch up with our friend. Then, since we were finally back in civilization (there were no Wal-Marts, Targets, McDonald’s, TJMAXX, malls, etc. in Northern Michigan), we hit a few of our favorite places up on the way home– 6 TJMAXX/Marshall’s/HomeGoods to be exact– and found some amazing Rae Dunn items. <3

When we finally made it home around 8PM Sunday evening, we were exhausted, but it was so worth it. On the way home, we talked about our trip a lot and we both said Torch Lake was probably our favorite stop of the trip! Above is a map of our approximate path! We definitely recommend making a road trip to Michigan. You don’t have to be quite as spontaneous if that isn’t your thing, but these places are absolutely a must-visit! We’re so glad we checked Michigan off our list, but don’t worry– we will definitely be back.

xo,
Ash & Er