Need help planning trip to the UP of Michigan
 

We want visit Northern Wisconsin and drive over the top to the UP of Michigan. Somewhere along the way, we'd like to plot for about 4 days at a resort of sorts and fish. We will not have camping equipment as we will have flown into Chicago. Any ideas are welcomed

Clarification: Plop not plot

http://www.nps.gov/piro/

Make sure you spend at least a part of a day visiting Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. We camped there several years ago and had a wonderful time.

thank you. Anymore thoughts? What about the Apostle Islands?

Apostle Islands is located at a small town-Bayfield-- that I found to be okay but they didn't seem to be doing anything to attract tourists. There is an island that everyone goes over to by ferry. Once we got there, there wasn't much there either and everyone on the ferry just sat there waiting for the next ferry to take them back to Bayfield. I just kept thinking the locals were really missing a good thing.

I thought we would be able to drive along and see the great lakes from the road but you hardly ever can. You're just in a forest all the time. I'm sorry but I found it disappointing.

We did enjoy going up to see the Soo Locks in Sault St Marie.

Hopefully, someone will have a better suggestion for you.

Iron mountain area is good first stop out of Chicago, especially if you like white water rafting.

Try the Porcupine Mts. and stay in a town nearby.

Our favorite place in the UP is Au Train. There is a river and a lake - we stay at Coleman's Paradise Resort, but there are other options. The fishing is usually good.

And you are just a short way from a beautiful beach on Lake Superior. There are lots of National Forest hiking trails nearby, and you can go to Marquette for historic and University sights.

It's easy to drive to many other places for things to do, too.

Eat pastys. Joe's Pasty Shop in Ironwood is the best; it is on US2. If you take 45 North you can stop at Minoqua--if you are into little shops and tour"isty" things. Minoqua is really the last town that caters to tourists before you enter the UP. If you want to do some very mild hiking, Black River Falls is nice. People fish at the mouth of it (Lake Superior).

Check out Keweenaw Mountain Lodge up in the Keweenaw Peninsula, also fairly close to Porkies. Also, the Black River area is not to be missed: waterfalls, hikes and beautiful polished rock lakeshore. You would probably want to spend a night in Ironwood for that.

I like Bayfield too: cute little town, like a mini-Door County. Enough galleries and B&B's but not too much. Also, great sea kayaking opportunities and lighthouses if you're into lighthouses.

I live in the UP and would spend a few days in either of these places.

My husband and I spent a week in the UP last summer. Stayed at the Holiday Inn in Munising right on Lake Superior. The views from the HI were outstanding. We had a wonderful time taking the Pictured Rocks boat tours and the Shipwreck Tours. There are MANY lakeside parks and beaches to hike. We had wonderful lunches of Patsy's down by the boat docks. We ventured one day to Tahquamenon Falls State Park. It was a memorable day. We did miles of light hiking with breathtaking sites. You can also drive to falls or hike through rugged trails. We drive the other direction and spent the day in Marquette. We found it a quirky, but delightful town, did some antique shopping, found a wonderful bistro for lunch, and watched iron ore being loaded on large ships. We ended our time by driving up to Whitefishbay Point...loved it..then down to the Soo Locks. We loved watching the ships move through the locks, but the town was sad and crumbly. There wasn't much else to do and the eating options were VERY limited. Everything seemed to close at 5:00 and a local told us it wasn't really safe to walk around at night. We stayed in a Holiday Inn near the locks and I would NOT recommend it. We LOVED getting away from the business of our world. Everything seemed to slow down there.