Michigan trip. What to do?
Printed From: Unofficial Allis
Category: Other Topics
Forum Name: Shops, Barns, Varmints, and Trucks
Forum Description: anything you want to talk about except politics
URL: https://www.allischalmers.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=193683
Printed Date: 22 Aug 2025 at 7:35am
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 11.10 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: Michigan trip. What to do?
Posted By: thendrix
Subject: Michigan trip. What to do?
Date Posted: 22 Feb 2023 at 7:01pm
|
Around the first of June we're heading to Mackinaw. We're staying in St. Ignace. Definitely going to the island, going to at least go look at Lake Superior, and going to take a lock tour. We would like to go into Canada while we're that close. We've heard there's a chance we could see the northern lights but we've also heard it's to early in the year. What else is there around there to do and what is a good spot to cross into Canada that's reasonably close? Thinking within 2 hrs drive. Closer would be better. Looks like we'll be going 75N to 23N. Anything on the way that's to neat to miss? ------------- "Farming is a business that makes a Las Vegas craps table look like a regular paycheck" Ronald Reagan |
Replies:
Posted By: klinemar
Date Posted: 22 Feb 2023 at 7:57pm
| Go to Munising and take the Pictured Rocks Boat tour. Quite a sight from the water. If you do go to Canada you'll probably go to Saut Ste Marie. The Soo Boat Locks are there allowing Ships to sail between Lake Huron and Superior. You probably won't see the Northern Lights as too early. They usually can be seen in October. |
Posted By: thendrix
Date Posted: 22 Feb 2023 at 10:53pm
|
Thanks klinemar. I'll look into those things ------------- "Farming is a business that makes a Las Vegas craps table look like a regular paycheck" Ronald Reagan |
Posted By: DonDittmar
Date Posted: 23 Feb 2023 at 6:15am
|
You'll be an hour from my house LOL. I am a half hour south and a half hour east of the bridge. Island is cool, but is a tourist trap. Things over there are expensive and it will smell like horse barn. I was there at Mission Point for my niece's wedding in September and that was my first time back to the island in probably 20 years. Go North to the Soo and check out the Soo Locks. Watch some freighters come through. Its pretty cool. ------------- Experience is a fancy name for past mistakes. "Great moments are born from great opportunity" 1968 D15D,1962 D19D Also 1965 Cub Loboy and 1958 JD 720 Diesel Pony Start |
Posted By: Dusty MI
Date Posted: 23 Feb 2023 at 6:43am
|
You can stop at our place, we are only 2 miles off I-69, old US-27. Dusty ------------- 917 H, '48 G, '65 D-10 series III "Allis Express" |
Posted By: Tbone95
Date Posted: 23 Feb 2023 at 7:06am
|
You say you're going to take a lock tour (good choice!), so you'll be in Sault Ste. Marie, and there's a bridge to Canada right there. I went to college in that town! If you want to get the "UP" experience, heading over to Munising is a couple hours west, but probably worth it once you get there. The Pictured Rocks are beautiful, and there's some waterfalls and such around there. Munising is a beautiful little town nestled right on Lake Superior. And I can tell you from experience, first of June it will still be WAY too damn cold to swim in!! No matter which way you head up, you'll be passing within ~ 25 miles of me. Honk if when you go by, or if you need a driving break, give me shout and stop by!
|
Posted By: Tbone95
Date Posted: 23 Feb 2023 at 7:09am
|
If you head over to Munising, when you head back east, go to the southern side of the UP, come back through Manistique. There's a bridge that floats, and there's Kitch-iti-kipi, it's pretty interesting and beautiful. |
Posted By: Joe(OH)
Date Posted: 23 Feb 2023 at 7:35am
|
Head up to Paradise and check out the ship wreck museum. There is also a great place there to get fish! ------------- Life is simpler when you plow around the stump. |
Posted By: DonDittmar
Date Posted: 23 Feb 2023 at 9:59am
|
Going to Munising on M28 you get to experience the "Seney Stretch". Long, flat, and straight LOL. But Munising is a nice little town. Lake Superior has never been warm enough to swim in IMHO, Lake Huron, which is only about 15 minutes from my house, is mid-late summer before its warm enough for my liking ------------- Experience is a fancy name for past mistakes. "Great moments are born from great opportunity" 1968 D15D,1962 D19D Also 1965 Cub Loboy and 1958 JD 720 Diesel Pony Start |
Posted By: DonDittmar
Date Posted: 23 Feb 2023 at 10:01am
If you do this, might as well check out the abandoned town of Fayette, you will be pretty close to it. Check it out on google maps and Wikipedia. Pretty interesting....... ------------- Experience is a fancy name for past mistakes. "Great moments are born from great opportunity" 1968 D15D,1962 D19D Also 1965 Cub Loboy and 1958 JD 720 Diesel Pony Start |
Tbone95 wrote:Posted By: Tbone95
Date Posted: 23 Feb 2023 at 10:34am
| "Seney Stretch", lol oh yes! Aptly named because if you don't stop and stretch you'll probably fall asleep. Honestly, except for the Straits area, and then Sault Ste. Marie itself, the eastern UP is kind of boring. |
Posted By: thendrix
Date Posted: 23 Feb 2023 at 11:31am
|
Wow I didn't realize there was that much there. I kinda thought several of you fellas were in that area. Thanks for the suggestions. We'll go through them and figure out where/what we have time for. May have to make another trip. ------------- "Farming is a business that makes a Las Vegas craps table look like a regular paycheck" Ronald Reagan |
Posted By: Greg (Hillsboro, OH)
Date Posted: 23 Feb 2023 at 11:52am
| Not that I recommend Detroit, but a stop at the Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village is always a good stop. |
Posted By: tadams(OH)
Date Posted: 23 Feb 2023 at 11:59am
|
You could go out the UP and come back down through Wisconsin and Chicago then south home
|
Posted By: Tbone95
Date Posted: 23 Feb 2023 at 12:11pm
Ya. . . depends on how much time you want to spend. It's a long day's drive to go across the UP even if you don't stop and do anything. The Porcupine Mountains and Lake of the Clouds is Beautiful on the west end of the UP. See the Wisconsin Dells on the way home. But, Chicago?
  |
Posted By: WF owner
Date Posted: 23 Feb 2023 at 12:58pm
|
If you are planning to go to Canada, make sure you have a passport, passport card or an enhanced driver's license. You will need one of the three for customs. https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/international-travel/International-Travel-Country-Information-Pages/Canada.html#:~:text=Entry%20into%20Canada%3A%20Canadian%20law,need%20proof%20of%20U.S.%20citizenship." rel="nofollow - Canada International Travel Information (state.gov)
|
Posted By: thendrix
Date Posted: 23 Feb 2023 at 2:35pm
|
We're working on getting passport cards. I understand that's all we need to cross into Canada. ------------- "Farming is a business that makes a Las Vegas craps table look like a regular paycheck" Ronald Reagan |
Posted By: WF owner
Date Posted: 23 Feb 2023 at 2:49pm
I live about 5 miles from the Canadian border, and I have a daughter and her family that live in Quebec, so I cross often. I use a passport card, because it's easier to carry .
|
Posted By: Herb(GA)
Date Posted: 23 Feb 2023 at 3:45pm
|
In mid 1970's when I worked at GE in nw Illinois we took a two week vacation camping vacation around Lake Michigan. Michigan campgrounds were great; well designed and well maintained. Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes (in Glenn Arbor, Empire, Frankfort area) are very unusual and worth at least a day. We drove into Canada long/far enough to say we were there; no special papers needed at that time. Enjoy your trip.Herb(GA)
|
Posted By: klinemar
Date Posted: 23 Feb 2023 at 6:05pm
| My Dearly Beloved and I camped near Ontonagon pre Covid. In all the years I have lived in Michigan that was my first time in that beautiful town. And the Porcupine Mts. are worth the drive! The year before we pulled the Camper into the Keweenaw Peninsula to Copper Harbor,Calumet, Houghton and Hancock. Went to the Quincy Mine. Learned a lot about the Upper Peninsula. My sister in law is from Trenary and made Pasty's. They were better than the one's they sell along the highway! |
Posted By: alan-nj
Date Posted: 24 Feb 2023 at 9:03am
Many years ago, drove from Macinac to Pictured Rocks. I didn't mind, but to this day the wife still reminds me about how much she hated that drive. ------------- If ignorance is bliss, than happy days are here again. |
Posted By: Tbone95
Date Posted: 24 Feb 2023 at 10:12am
M 28, named for going through the Seney Wildlife Reserve. About as flat and straight and desolate and boring as anything outside of a dark desert highway as you can get. As tempting as it may be, do not speed! Is a spot that they love to patrol, because they know there will be action!
|
Posted By: only AC orange
Date Posted: 24 Feb 2023 at 4:08pm
| White fish point on Eastern end of L. Superior is also interesting. Wreck of Edmund Fitzgerald history is discussed there. As others have said, trip across UP to Green Bay area and head N.E. to Dorr County in Wisc. is interesting. |
Posted By: thendrix
Date Posted: 26 Feb 2023 at 9:24am
|
I would like to see the Edmund Fitzgerald stuff. We'll definitely try that ------------- "Farming is a business that makes a Las Vegas craps table look like a regular paycheck" Ronald Reagan |
Posted By: Dave (Mid-MI)
Date Posted: 02 Mar 2023 at 7:15pm
| While you are in St Ignace, pay the dollar and climb up Castle Rock. And I highly recommend the whitefish dinner at Driftwood Inn restaurant. You will enjoy the drive up US23 along the Lake Huron shore. You will see a sign near Rogers City directing you to a limestone quarry. It is one of the largest limestone quarries in the world, and worth driving a couple miles to look over the edge. |
Posted By: thendrix
Date Posted: 02 Mar 2023 at 8:08pm
|
We'll look into those Dave. The trip may be put off due to my mother in law having some medical issues but we'll definitely check those out ------------- "Farming is a business that makes a Las Vegas craps table look like a regular paycheck" Ronald Reagan |
Posted By: DonDittmar
Date Posted: 03 Mar 2023 at 5:57am
|
Yes, Rogers City is only about 15 minutes from me. Calcite, the limestone quarry, is a very large hole in the ground. There is a "quarry view" if you follow the US23 business route through town you will see. Current quarry level is over 200 foot below Lake Huron level. Pumps run 24/7 to keep it from flooding. Pumps are driven from 400HP electric motors. Not sure if ya'll have seen a 400HP electric motor, but its A LOT of motor LOL. 460 volt 3 phase. In fact everything at the quarry but the interior lights is 3 phase. At one time they generated their own power. Power plant building is still there, not sure whats in it. It was coal back in the day...... ------------- Experience is a fancy name for past mistakes. "Great moments are born from great opportunity" 1968 D15D,1962 D19D Also 1965 Cub Loboy and 1958 JD 720 Diesel Pony Start |
Posted By: Ken(MI)
Date Posted: 05 Mar 2023 at 11:49am
| In Sault Ste. Marie, right next to the Soo Locks Boat Tour dock is the Museum Ship Valley Camp, a retired Great Lakes Ore Carrier converted to a floating museum with displays of all kinds relating to Great Lakes shipping, well worth the stop. An hour and a half north west is Whitefish Point with a lighthouse and Coast Guard lifesaving station and the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum, 45 minutes west of there is Tahquamenon Falls, another worthy stop. The hot tip on the Island is to go out in the afternoon and stay the night, once the tourists leave for the day, it takes on a completely different atmosphere, I recommend staying near town and not at the Grand Hotel. The Palace restaurant in the Soo is top notch for relaxed dining, if you want to sample Lake Superior Whitefish at it's finest, make the 20 minute drive west to Brimley and visit the Cozy Inn, but the kitchen closes promptly at 8. If lighthouses are your thing, there are several close to the Soo. And there are the Casinos if you're into that. In any case, there is plenty to do. |
Posted By: alan-nj
Date Posted: 06 Mar 2023 at 10:02am
Somewhere along the way we pulled into a state park or something similar that had a small museum. Had a long driveway, wasn't right along the road. Got stopped for speeding on the driveway. Wife told officer she was pregnant and sick, trying to get to the closest restroom as fast as possible. He let us go. ------------- If ignorance is bliss, than happy days are here again. |
Posted By: Ben (MI)
Date Posted: 08 Mar 2023 at 6:55pm
|
I hope your mil will be ok. If you go to the locks June 30 you will be able to see and do many things not allowed on all other days. Check out Engineer's Day on line. Also, if you do venture west in the UP consider stopping by Oswald's Bear Ranch near Newberry. I'm generally anti tourist trap but my whole family and I love this place. In the Mackinaw City area Historic Mill Creek and Fort Michilimackinac are worth visiting. For natural beauty on the Superior shore Grand Marais between Paradise and Munising is hard to beat. On Mackinac Island be sure to take the narrated carriage ride and rent bikes to ride around the island perimeter and inland. If you get the right ferry from Mac City it will take you under and around the Mighty Mac Bridge which is great. I could go on. Enjoy your trip. ------------- Part time farming with a 1980 7060 and 1984 F3 hydro. |
Posted By: Aintizzy
Date Posted: 12 Aug 2024 at 9:31am
|
If you're planning a trip to Michigan and want to explore some cool spots, make sure to check out Mackinac Island. It’s a car-free island, so you'll get around by bike or horse-drawn carriage, which is pretty fun. There's also the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore for some amazing hiking and views. While you're planning your trip, you might find http://www.fairmontresort.com.au/" rel="nofollow - fairmontresort.com.au useful for checking out some other interesting destinations and travel tips. Hope you have a great trip! |