A Return to the Past at the Les Cheneaux Islands

Les Cheneaux Island fishing

When recently driving along the Upper Peninsula's highways, I saw a few abandoned resorts with their lonely cabins boarded up. I assume that these resorts, which are nothing more than clusters of tiny wood cabins, once were crowded with tourists who wanted to explore the U.P.'s wilderness.

What happened? Did they lose their luster as vacation spots when those tourists bought their own land and built their perfect U.P. vacation homes? Did their modest size and scant amenities fail to keep up with their customers' demands for the modern? Did fewer tourists stop each year, instead driving past in search of something bigger and better?

We chase the newer, the faster, and the more luxurious while discarding the old, the slow, and the modest. We raze perfectly serviceable homes to build state-of-the-art castles with vaulted ceilings and modern kitchens. We have to get a new smartphone every year to avoid being outdated. And we need to stay in the fanciest resorts and hotels that cater to our every need.

The simple beauty of the Les Cheneaux Islands

It's OK to want nice things, but we can miss out on the beautiful simplicity of life when we ignore the old and the modest. We can be consumed by the need for more while forgetting the distinct difference between wants and needs.

But there's a simpler way to live and a simpler way to vacation. Sometimes, the old way of doing things still has merit. Sometimes, simpler is better. Sometimes, an old resort can provide the simplicity that our lives often lack.

A Visit to Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore

Pictured Rocks

Michigan's Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore on Lake Superior stretches from Grand Marais in the east to Munising in the west. My family and I spent two nights in the beautiful town of Grand Marais and used the town as our home base to explore the area. Since we have two young children, my wife and I knew we would not be able to cover as much ground as we would've liked. We realized we wouldn't be able to hike or kayak, but our goal was to see the Pictured Rocks, the Grand Sable Dunes, and at least one waterfall.

When we first arrived in Grand Marais, we spent some time in town and on the beach before venturing into the national lakeshore. We drove on Alger County Highway 58. H-58 is a meandering road that runs along the lakeshore. It leads to parking lots along the park's hiking trail, allowing people without the time or luxury to hike the whole lakeshore to stop and see its highlights.

Since we were weary from a long drive from Metro Detroit, we only stopped at Sable Falls and the Log Slide Overlook on our first foray into the national lakeshore. We picked these spots because they are the two closest landmarks to Grand Marais, and they both have fairly short trails that we could handle with two tired girls.

Sable Falls

The falls were easily accessible for us, but reaching them requires descending a long set of steps built into the side of a steep hill. Our three-year-old could handle the steps, though we did carry her a little bit to speed things up.

Grand Marais: A Superior Vacation Spot

Grand Marais beach with the giant dunes on the horizon

During my recent visit to Michigan's Upper Peninsula, I repeatedly asked myself, "Why did it take you so long to come back here?" and "Why don't more people visit this place?" I try to live my life without regret, but I found myself regretting my failure to visit the U.P. since the last time I visited as a boy. I suppose I thought that I eventually would visit because the U.P. would always be there.

Fortunately, it was there, and it was better than I remembered. And I will be returning as soon as I possibly can.

My family and I stayed in only two places in the U.P. Our first two nights were in Grand Marais, a small but beautiful coastal town on the eastern end of the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.

The Mackinac Bridge

The only way to reach Grand Marais and the U.P. from the Lower Peninsula by car is across the majestic Mackinac Bridge. Crossing the Mighty Mac was always one of my favorite parts of my childhood U.P. trips, but I did not remember how breathtaking the view from the bridge was. We were surrounded by beautiful blue water spotted with green, tree-covered islands as we soared 200 feet above the straits. I turned to my wife and said, "I keep telling myself, 'This is so beautiful!' over and over again." As a kid, I was more impressed by the bridge. Now, I still appreciated the bridge, but I was most impressed by the view of the straits the bridge provides.

Driving along Lake Michigan on US-2

After crossing the bridge, we headed west along US-2 instead of heading east, as my family always did. The highway runs along the Lake Michigan coast and provides gorgeous views of Lake Michigan. We stopped at a couple of scenic overlooks and marveled at the tremendous body of water before us. We thought of stopping to swim, but I had the opportunity on the way back from Grand Marais toward Lake Huron to take a dip in Lake Michigan from a rest area on US-2 (so I could swim in all of the U.P.'s Great Lakes during our trip). We eventually turned inland and headed north along M-77, which took us over rolling hills through forests and farmland.

As we approached Grand Marais, we reached the crest of large hill and saw miles of blue water ahead of us. Lake Superior!

An Apology Letter to the Great Lakes

Dear Great Lakes, 

I underestimated you.

Lake Superior

I grew up loving the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. I lived in a little beach town in Massachusetts for part of my childhood, and my family spent a lot of time at and in the water. No matter how cold the water was or how huge the waves were, my brother and I loved bodysurfing. The waves could slam us down onto the sand and drag us, and we’d go right back in. I loved everything about the beach: the salty smell, the sound of the waves, and the feel of the sand, the rocks, and floating in the water. I loved exploring and swimming but could also just sit there and let all my senses take it in. I have always been in love with the beach.

So when I moved to Michigan in high school and people said lake beaches were great beaches, I scoffed. A lake can’t be a beach beach, I said. A few years later, I saw the Chicago side of Lake Michigan, and the lake itself was beautiful, with the shiny city skyline perched alongside it. But the beach area I saw—just a stretch of sand and water--was unimpressive. So I still wasn’t convinced. I didn’t doubt that the Great Lakes were gorgeous, but I doubted that lake beaches could have the feel of beach beaches.

Taking the Scenic Route Home

Me walking towards Lake Michigan at Point Betsie

On our way home to Metro Detroit from our recent trip to Traverse City, we could have come back the way we came, but we wanted to see something new. For my wife, it was her first time seeing Lake Michigan from the Michigan side of the lake. For me, it was a a stretch of highway that I had never driven before.

One last look at Grand Traverse Bay on the way out of Traverse City

Instead of heading south or east from Traverse City, we headed west on M-72 towards Lake Michigan. It rained on and off along M-72, but the rolling hills along the road made the drive entertaining.

In the village of Empire, we connected with M-22 and headed south. M-22 is a 116-mile-long highway along the shores of Grand Traverse Bay and Lake Michigan. From its eastern terminus in Traverse City, M-22 heads north along the bay towards the tip of the Leelanau Peninsula before the highway turns south and west along Lake Michigan's Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore towards its western terminus, just north of Manistee.

One of the many lakes along M-22

We missed out on the Leelanau Peninsula portion of the highway, but the stretch from Empire to the western terminus was one of the most relaxing drives I've experienced. The highway is mostly lined by forest, but every bend brought the possibility of blue waters. Crystal Lake was stunning, even with the wind kicking up whitecaps.

Point Betsie Lighthouse