<p>I am really asking that you spend your time in Michigan. It really is beautiful here, and there are lots of deals to be found with this struggling economy.</p>
<p>Michigan is great in mid-October and you have been given many excellent suggestions.</p>
<p>May I add one - get up to Ann Arbor, preferably on a Saturday and go to a football game. It is an experience! Even if you can’t do a football game, enjoy a visit to Ann Arbor and the University of Michigan campus.</p>
<p>Roman - you are so correct in your plea. Some of the most beautiful counties with dunes, empty beaches that rival the Carribean and restuarants that are regularly featured on TV and in gourmet magazines have over 20% unemployment. They will welcome visitors with some of the best hospitality, open arms, and wonderful food in the country. Mario Battali has a place in Northport -</p>
<p>A couple of lodging suggestions:</p>
<ul>
<li>Portage Point Inn on the western side of the state, about halfway up Lake Michigan. I’ve stayed there a couple of times and enjoyed it.<br></li>
</ul>
<p>[Historic</a> Portage Point Inn and Yacht Club in Onekama, Michigan on Lake Michigan and Portage Lake](<a href=“http://www.portagepointinn.com/]Historic”>http://www.portagepointinn.com/) </p>
<ul>
<li>The Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island is open until October 26 (and there are probably other less expensive hotels on the island that are open as well).</li>
</ul>
<p>If you get there in time, visit Redamak’s in New Buffalo, MI (a resort town in the SW corner). Great burgers and fun “road food” atmosphere.</p>
<p>Thanks for the suggestions. I will study them more closely and followup with some questions later. (I am at work now.) We have decided to take our driving trip before the wedding so it will be earlier in October and thus better weather and folliage. Our D is at UMich, so we will probably visit with her for a day or so, and then head to Lake Michigan and surrounding areas for about a week. (As to the Henry Ford Museum, we will be there is June as the UM Solar Car Team, of which my D is a member, is unveiling its 2009 solar car, Infinium, which will compete in the World Solar Car Challenge in Australia this Fall.)</p>
<p>Beaver Island would be a once in a lifetime getaway, too, and the 2 hour ferry ride from Charlevoix can be fun if the waves aren’t too big that particular day, the plane rides are fun too but then you don’t have your car. The island will be pretty empty and the color should still be wonderful. We’ve taken some newbies-to-Michigan there who didn’t have a clue just how vast Lake Michigan is (they thought you could see across it like a “regular lake”)</p>
<p>If you get up to Traverse City, be sure to take in Hartwick Pines State Park near Grayling (about 1 hour east of Traverse City) on your way back to the metro Detroit area. Michigan was once covered with seemingly endless old-growth white pine forests. Very little old-growth is left. The largest remaining old-growth stands in the Lower Peninsula are at Hartwick Pines, which with nearly 10,000 acres is the Lower Peninsula’s largest state park. A quiet walk through these 300-year-old giants is awe-inspiring, and a small logging museum in the park evokes the glory days of Michigan’s lumber-producing past.</p>
<p>If you have time, you might also head up the coast from Traverse City through Charlevoix, Petoskey, and Harbor Springs, up to the Mackinac region. Charming little resort towns, gorgeous scenery, and around Mackinac especially, lots of colorful history. The ferries to Mackinac Island run until late October. You can also cross the Mackinac Bridge to the Upper Peninsula (“UP”) if you like, just to say you did it, but I agree with those who say in mid-October you’re likely to find more color and slightly warmer weather a bit further south. The stretch of US-2 along Lake Michigan just west of the bridge is quite beautiful. Stop for some smoked whitefish, a local delicacy.</p>
<p>Greenfield Village and Henry Ford Museum are NOT to be missed! I grew up in Dearborn MI and never really appreciated how special they were. I am now much older and have traveled the country and the world and can honestly say that they are unique and special.
To see each one fully will take you a solid day apiece. I went back recently and was amazed at how wonderful they are.</p>
<p>I love how we are all so willing to plan your trip for you!!! :)</p>
<p>Maybe if you tell us some of your interests, we could give better suggestions.</p>
<p>^^Yes, and if you let us know which suburb, we can also recommend some excellent restaurants (also a Detroit-suburb native who frequently visits family in the Detroit area).</p>
<p>M-22=awesome. In fact, there’s a whole M-22 store in Traverse City. But before you get to TC, you get to Frankfort, and you have to leave M-22 for a few to miles to drive over to Beulah to eat at the Cherry Hut. Best cherry pie in America (not just me, Gourmet magazine said so too.) Then you keep going up M-31 until you get to the Cherryland Drive-In, because how many drive in movie theaters are left in the world? Then you can go back to M-22 or stay on M-31 and get to Traverse City either way. And if you’re there on the right night (I think it’s first Friday of the month), the main drag is closed off to cars and they have bands and a street fair and lots of food. Suttons Bay is also really, really nice. Oh, and eat some Moomers ice cream.</p>
<p>In the Detroit area, you should visit Cranbrook - my high school. There is a neat science museum and an art museum but the grounds are simply magnificent, particularly the fountains that stretch from Jonah* to the Orpheus Fountain down the back of the Art school and museum.</p>
<p>Other sites to visit that I don’t think have been mentioned include Edsel Ford’s house in Grosse Pointe. It’s quite an estate and gives you a feeling for the decent man he was. In contrast, you can also visit Fairlane - mentioned? - his father’s house in Dearborn. The original HF was not a nice man, but the house and grounds are well worth seeing. (I heartily second or third or fourth the HF Museum and Greenfield Village.)</p>
<p>If you don’t see Diego Rivera’s murals at the Detroit Institute of Arts, you’ve missed one of the great works in the history of art. </p>
<p>Frankenmuth has been mentioned. If you go, realize much of their niche is Christmas stores. But the giant chicken restaurants are worth going to, if only to realize the scale. Traverse City, Sleeping Bear, Petosky are all nice but realize the drive is long. I’d go to Ann Arbor first.</p>
<p>*Jonah is a large cement pond in the rough shape of a whale, with bubbles coming out in a cascade downhill. It’s actually a swimming pool. There’s a cave in the larger bubble into which we’d put furniture in the winter. There’s a fantastic statue of Jonah & The Whale up top, near the beautiful Orpheus Fountain (the one with hands raised is Beethoven). The great Swedish sculptor Carl Milles lived at Cranbrook. He was close with Eliel Saarinan, who designed the place. If you can tour the schools, do it. Kingswood in particular - the Green Lobby - is ridiculously beautiful.</p>
<p>If you get to Grayling (someone mentioned Hartwick Pines earlier, which I second), you also might want to take a couple hour canoe trip on the Au Sable River if the weather is good. My parents have a cabin on the river, and it is a very beautiful and remote waterway. You can rent canoes right in Grayling (not sure when their season ends, so you might want to check ahead of time on that).</p>
<p>RE52,
I love Ford museum, but it just me. I would spend whole day there.</p>
<p>While in the Detroit area, visit the Detroit Institute of Arts. The building was totally renovated 2-3 years ago and it is fantastic, as is the collection.</p>
<p>MiamiDAP, it is not just you: The Ford is fantastic; we used to allow a day for the Museum and a day for the Village. </p>
<p>Second the DIA and the Rivera murals. I also have a soft spot for the Detroit Zoo, the first zoo in the nation to have cage-less exhibits.</p>
<p>Hartwick Pines is beautiful, but be prepared for the sounds from the nearby National Guard camp. I recall camping there one week when they were doing training with rocket launchers!</p>
<p>If you decide to head to the west coast of Michigan, feel free to PM. There are lots of lovely places besides more well known tourist destinations.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone. I think we will take the suggestion of the western coastal area, wth the specifics to be determined once I get a good road map and the AAA guide book (and a better sense for how much time we will have). Being from southern CA (Los Angeles), until my D started at Michigan two years ago, I never understood about “seasons.” I must confess that I love the changing seasons (especially the Fall) and the fact that every time I visit Ann Arbor it is completely different from the last visit. (My D says I have a tendency to visit only during the bright blue cold winter days and that I thus have no appreciation/understanding for weeks on end of grayness. She is probably correct.) I love taking pictures and it sounds as if Western Michigan is about as scenic as it gets. I just hope we get clear, crisp Fall days when we visit. Once I have narrowed things down a bit, I will be back on this board seeking more specific recommendations. Until then, thanks for your informative responses!</p>
<p>Here’s a web site that will help you.</p>
<p>[The</a> Official Website of the Sleeping Bear Dunes Visitors Bureau](<a href=“http://www.sleepingbeardunes.com/index.php]The”>http://www.sleepingbeardunes.com/index.php)</p>
<p>There is a places to stay section on the site. I’ve stayed at The Homestead (long ago)and it was lovely. The second weekend in Oct. is known as “color tour” time “up north”
in Michigan, so you should make reservations asap.</p>
<p>The Homestead is a good spot if you decide not Traverse City. Climb the dune climb at Sleeping Bear in the AM - Art’s Tavern for lunch afterwards. The climb isn’t too tough, we saw an older couple with walking sticks making their way up. Just did that a couple weeks ago…</p>