travel
SECRET SUMMER ON THE SUNRISE SIDE by KIM SCHNEIDER
Soak up September’s still-warm lakes and sunny days while you spend a three-day weekend exploring Northern Michigan’s eastern shoreline.
photo courtesy of Mai Tiki Resort
T
A colorful sunrise greets he state’s sunrise side has an guests at Mai Tiki Resort. obvious claim to fame—the chance to greet the sun as it peeks over the wide expanse of Lake Huron. But the most fascinating attractions along After your afternoon dig, head to the Churchill Pointe Inn. quirky and beautiful US-23 take some digging (or diving). With its nine guest rooms and shoreside setting on HubHere, we point the way to adventure. bard Lake, the inn is a worthy destination for an elegant stay. The fact that it’s also frequently named one of the top DAY 1: WATCH WAVES WITH THE BIRDS, two waterfront dining destinations in the state is just the THEN SNORKEL SOME MYSTERIES icing on the cake. A date-ready menu features offerings like Your adventure starts at the Purple Martin Lakeside Inn & crab meat–stuffed whitefish in Dijon sauce and blue cheese– Nature Center, within walking distance to Rogers City and crusted filet mignon. home to its own five-acre beachfront birding sanctuary. The owners nurture a colony of rare purple martins, leading to DAY 3: BEACH FUN BY DAY, AND SKY FUN BY NIGHT designations as a National Wildlife Federation accredited property, a purple martin sanctuary and a monarch butterfly Mai Tiki Resort near Oscoda proclaims “life is fun” with its way station. Eagle sightings are common from the secondstring of beach cottages painted vibrant shades of aqua, story deck that also offers views of Lake Huron’s iconic pink, lemon yellow and red, all near fire pits, volleyball sunrises—best enjoyed before the gourmet breakfasts. courts, cornhole boards and thatched roof palapas. Amid that Key West vibe, there’s also Northern Michigan familyVenture to Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary, where friendly fun, like outdoor movies on the beach. you can wade into the mysteries of some 100 wrecks below at spots like 40 Mile Point, where the wreck of the Joseph S. Fay Your adventure for the day is Negwegon State Park (ideally is a short swim from shore. Rent equipment from Great with a roadside pit stop along the way at the Paul Bunyan Lakes Divers in Alpena to see this wooden freighter, which statue). Then find blissful solitude while you wander the sunk in 1905, and other accessible wrecks. park’s hidden beaches and trails. The 4,000-plus-acre state park is a hotspot on the Sunrise Coast Birding Trail and is DAY 2: DIG FOR TREASURE, also a designated dark-sky preserve. Come dusk, the Milky THEN DRESS FOR DINNER Way reveals itself brightly overhead. Rockport State Recreation Area, once home to a limestone quarry, was abandoned because there were too many fossils Kim Schneider is a long-time travel writer specializing amid the limestone. The company’s loss is your gain. The 300- in Michigan adventures, food and wine. The Midwest acre former quarry has mounds of fossil-rich rock from the Travel Journalist Association has named her Mark Twain Devonian Period, the remains of what was once an ancient Travel Writer of the Year, and she’s the author of “100 sea. Each visitor can keep 25 pounds of fossils/rocks per year Things to Do in Traverse City Before You Die.” embedded with corals, plants and shelled creatures. NORTHERN MICHIGAN'S MAGAZINE
0922_TVM_travel.indd 23
23
8/4/22 12:38 PM
