<p>If you are going as far as the UP up from Milwaukee, the Door County peninsula north of Green Bay is lovely–both the bay and lake sides.</p>
<p>Lots of great suggestions. The last time we went to Chicago we stayed at the Hotel Allegro which is in the theater district. The rooms were nice but small but they do accept dogs. I thought that all the Kimpton hotels accepted dogs but I’m not sure. </p>
<p>Second the suggestion of the Indiana dunes, very nice. Silver Lake in Michigan is also nice. </p>
<p>My S interned one summer in Osh Kosh WI and we live near Luddington. He never used the ferry even though the route was easy. The times were not convenient but my neighbors who lived in Madison used it often and loved it. When we went to visit him or he us, we went through the UP. Very scenic drive, the distance and time were the same as going through Chicago but we are further north than you are going to be.</p>
<p>I second the idea of stopping in Ann Arbor for lunch. It’s one of the best college towns and fun to go downtown, have lunch and people watch.</p>
<p>This is off topic but we are having a late spring here. Late June, early July is prime season for cherries but I think they will be later this year. We were at Sleeping Bear Dunes this weekend (stunning) but the cherry trees are in bloom now. Morels are in season and this is very late. At least here, cherries are first then blueberries and finally peaches. But I think everything is going to be pushed back. But the farmers are telling me that it’s going to be a bumper crop which is great because there was no crop last year. Now you know more than you ever wanted about Michigan fruit. Back to the discussion lo!</p>
<p>My oldest just finished his first year at The College of Wooster… my second will be starting at Lawrence in the fall. He was also accepted at Kalamazoo. I love these schools. They are awesome with merit aid! The personal attention they get, and we as parents get, is amazing.</p>
<p>It will be hard to get a good feel over the summer… these campuses are pretty empty.</p>
<p>Board the dog. :)</p>
<p>These are such great suggestions! I really, really appreciate it, and will make a big list!</p>
<p>Thanks also for the great and much appreciated advice about the ferry.</p>
<p>I so very much wish we weren’t bringing the dog!!! I don’t see how I can get around it. My friend is driving us with her car, nicely volunteering to do so, while my H needs ours at home. It’s her dog. If she doesn’t bring it I have to pay the dog walker $50 a day for 2 walks. . (NYC – if you want to earn a fortune become a dog walker. Kids, don’t go to college, be a dog walker in NYC.) so, maybe $700. Yikes! I doubt boarding would be any cheaper . . I wonder if she would go for that? She thinks the dog will be ok . . . I’m not so sure.</p>
<p>Rent the car. Board the dog unless it is a helper dog & ALWAYS has to stay with your friend.
If you wish you were boarding the dog * now*, just think how much you will wish it later.</p>
<p>redpoint, does your friend have a plan for what she will do with the dog when you are sightseeing or touring schools? Does she realize that the Midwest gets very hot and that she can’t leave him/her in the car?</p>
<p>How about this for a solution: if boarding or dog walking are too expensive in NYC, find a reputable boarding facility an hour or two out of the city that you can drop the dog at on your way out of town. The dog can have a taste of country life and it won’t cost as much as a similar service in the city. </p>
<p>Alternately, I bet if you started a thread here you could find a student who is in the city for the summer (perhaps the child of a CC poster?) who would walk the dog for less.</p>
<p>Given that there are so many places where you will have to leave the dog in the car–maybe you could make the argument that the dog would be better off boarding. </p>
<p>My stepson graduated from Kalamazoo College–it was a great place for him, especially because he went there from a very large HS. I’d second a visit to the Lake Michigan dunes, stopping in Ann Arbor and visiting U of Michigan–big contrast to the small LACs you’re visiting. I would also nix the ferry–too slow. Mackinac Island is fun, if you go that route. I worked there one summer when I was in college (back in the dark ages).</p>
<p>Oooh. I like the idea of boarding the dog at some nice country farm outside the city. I will bring that up to her . . Her dog is quite anxious so she would be hesitant to have just anyone walk it, but the country would be great. On the plus side, if we do have to bring her, the dog loves the car, and is used to long rides, so that’s why my friend considered to do it.</p>
<p>I know, I know. Ditch the dog . . . </p>
<p>So glad to have a consensus on the ferry!</p>
<p>Dogs do love riding in cars. Up to a point. Can your H walk the dog for her?</p>
<p>To your point about making a good living as a dog walker…my dog walker has an old conversion van. She drives around a couple neighborhoods picking up dogs. She takes all the dogs to a dog park and let’s them run around for a couple hours then drops them all back off at home. She makes two runs a day with about 20 dogs in each run. She charges $400 per month for each dog and only works about 5 or 6 hours a day. She also boards dogs for an additional fee. She makes a very nice living…</p>
<p>Another suggestion for around the College of Wooster - it is near Ohio Amish country so if you into that sort of thing there are many good restaurants and shopping not to far away from Wooster. There is also the Rubbermaid Company if you need some storage items in downtown Wooster. We were at a basketball tournament there and were very impressed with the University, everyone we talked to was genuinely thrilled with their school and so happy to help outsiders.</p>
<p>You’ll be visiting a lot of small towns where “dogs allowed” motel choices are limited, and Hampton Inn (no dogs) is usually the best accommodation available nearby. Secondly, summers are HOT in Midwest, and dog can’t stay in car while you’re walking about nor welcome on campus, in restaurants, at tourist spots, etc. The dog will be a huge bother, and possibly at risk.</p>
<p>In Wisconsin: Kohler (near Sheboygan, on way to Appleton) is an interesting resort-company town; try to sign up for the factory tour and enjoy the spa too. Oshkosh, next to Appleton, has an excellent aircraft museum that hosts a nationwide “fly-in” each August. Milwaukee’s lakefront art museum is a must. There are a number of state parks, whether along Lake Michigan (Kohler-Andrae) or inland (Horicon Marsh) that are worth a stop if nature appeals to you.</p>
<p>Beloit town is unimpressive. But if school is on shortlist, then it’s important to consider its town environment too. Ditto for Knox, Earlham, Wabash, DePauw and other Midwest economically-depressed small towns. Appleton is a small pleasant city with strong corporate sponsorships, and an altogether different experience.</p>
<p>If you’re driving all the way to Midwest, try to go to Minnesota, and see St Olaf (match to your list of schools) and Carleton, both in Northfield (a truly charming and beautiful small town) and Macalester in equally nice section of St.Paul. Drive from Madison Wisconsin to Northfield is exceptional, particularly for scenic drive along Mississippi River. If you do so, you can stop in LaCrosse Wisconsin at Company Store and buy yourself some goosedown comforters. Also, you can stop at Winona and Red Wing Minnesota, equally charming small cities, with famous potteryworks. We visited Minnesota last summer for first time, and were impressed by its beauty, prosperity, and charm.</p>
<p>And consider driving to Cornell College and Grinnell College in Iowa too. Cornell’s town setting is Mayberryesque pretty and Cornell seems to be a peer school with the others on your list, while Grinnell’s town is more blue-collar rural. Highway speed limit in Minnesota and Iowa is usually 80 MPH, with many drivers going faster, so you can cover a lot of miles fast. The fast driving was a fun experience, if your car can handle it.</p>
<p>And if you stop in Sheboygan, skip the brats. For Gourmet Magazine caliber food, go to the three restaurants (all owned by same guy) that it’s featured: Cafe Stefano (dinner), Il Ritrivo (lunch/light dinner) or Field to Fork (breakfast/lunch). Sheboygan also has excellent small but nationally-recognized Kohler Art Museum, if you’re a contemporary art or outsider art fan.</p>
<p>Bromfield2, I worked on Mackinac for a summer during college, too. Hotel maid… definitely gave me incentive to finish my college degree! We go back every few years and rent bikes/visit the fort/etc.</p>
<p>Your friend might not take too well to the dog boarding suggestion, some people think their dogs just cannot be left with anyone else… but you really should consider renting a car instead (or going a different week when your H does not need the car?). Someone else suggested your H walk the dog, could he take care of the dog at your place while you are gone?</p>
<p>As long as you are going to be going from Chicago to Wisconsin, maybe you could add Lake Forest to your college search. It’s an LAC like the ones you are already looking at, but with a lot to offer because of its location.</p>
<p>It’s right off the road to Wisconsin, in a very pretty and affluent suburb, right on the train to downtown Chicago.</p>
<p>We were very pleasantly surprised when we visited the campus. The students we met there seemed very happy and very focused on academics and opportunities…of course, while still having a good time.</p>
<p>These are great suggestions, and getting me excited. I will use them to plot out my trip. I’m pretty ignorant of this area of the country.</p>
<p>My cats wouldn’t be happy with the dog. It’s a disaster when she has been in the house. And my h can’t walk the dog during the day. My friends boyfriend works long hours so he can be with the dog at night, but it’s going to have to be walked. My friend is crazy with her dog, treats it like a child, so I have to be careful with my suggestions. She is also doing me a favor, not the other way around. I will mention the country idea tho, she may like that, always so guilty about having the dog in the city.</p>
<p>Maybe I’ll spring for the dog walker. . . Yikes, tho</p>
<p>Higgins–I love Outsider Art . . Did a big project on it in grad school. Thanks for the tip!</p>
<p>Higgins-- Cafe Stefano!! One of our faves when we lived in Fond du Lac. Ditto re Sheboygan’s art museum. A hidden jewel. Elkhart Lake is nearby, too, which is pretty and fun.</p>
<p>Just to be clear, there are 2 ferries across Lake Michigan. The SS Badger between Manitowoc and Ludington is the old, slow one; it’s an old-fashioned coal-fired steamship, now about 60 years old, that crosses in about 4 hours. The Lake Express ferry between Milwaukee and Muskegon is much newer and faster. It’s only about 9 years old and it crosses the lake in 2.5 hours. Driving between those two points takes at least 4.5 hours, assuming you don’t get hung up in Chicago traffic which can easily add an hour, sometimes much more. It’s also less wear and tear on the driver. I took it frequently driving between Minneapolis-St. Paul and Detroit when my father-in-law was ill. It can be a very sensible transportation option; for me, it reduced a grueling 11+ hour drive, the worst part of it slogging through Chicago traffic, to a much shorter 5 hour drive to Milwaukee, then a relaxing 2.5 hour trip trip across the lake in which I was not behind the wheel, followed by a quick 3 hour trip across Michigan, not feeling exhausted on the last leg because I was coming off a nice break from driving. Total travel time wasn’t much less, but total driving time was reduced by a lot. And it’s pretty. And you can watch movies, or read, or get a coffee or a snack. </p>
<p>I’m not necessarily recommending the ferry to the OP because it’s pricey, and because you’d miss Chicago which IMO should be one of the highlights of the proposed road trip. But the posters who keep saying “the ferry is too slow” are providing inaccurate information. The old ferry is slow. The newer ferry is not slow. And depending where you’re going, even the old ferry can make sense. It would take about 7 hours to drive from Manitowoc to Ludington, or more with Chicago traffic. If you were going from Lawrence to Michigan’s Sleeping Bear Dunes, for example–which I view as perhaps the most spectacular locale on all the Great Lakes–the S.S. Badger would be the most efficient way to get there. But certainly not to get from Kalamazoo to Beloit, which would be a natural stopping point between Kalamazoo and Lawrence.</p>
<p>That’s very helpful, thank you.</p>
<p>I think it’s great that your friend is willing to drive you. However this is a one time trip where your D is could end up deciding where she wants to go to college. I think the dog factor could end up being a big distraction. I would say rent a car and if your friend wants to go without her dog that’s great, otherwise I would do the trip with just your D.</p>
<p>The UP is very pretty. Also I like Mackinaw Island,Warren Dunes, Sleeping Bear Dunes and Frankenmuth! I lived in Chicago for an number of years there is lots to see there too.</p>
<p>I’VE GOT IT. Rent a camper that you can pull the car behind. Everyone rides in the camper, even the dog. When you and your daughter want to go tour a campus, you can leave the friend and the dog at the campsite. Or she can leave Spot in the camper if the power can be left on. </p>
<p>I don’t know anything about campers or campgrounds but it would solve some of the problems…</p>