Lean in to the perfect Michigan memory day

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Hey travel friends,

Take a look outside. We are locked into a perfect summer pattern for the next several days. Daytime highs kissing 80 degrees, with all the stormy skies behind us.

I don’t have to remind you it’s prime vacation season – or that you probably have some days off stacked up, just waiting to be used. Schedules can be hectic, and you might not feel like you can do a multi-day getaway right now. That’s OK. Just don’t forget to carve out a little time for summer fun close to home.

Last weekend, it was time to take my own advice. I wove past endcaps stacked with school supplies at the grocery store (Ugh … too soon) and picked up some big inflatable pool rings that were already on clearance. I coerced one of my teens to help me blow them up, then packed the car with picnic staples. We headed to a remote county park beach along Lake Michigan that is so heavily forested, it makes you feel like you’re in the Upper Peninsula. Before sunset, we drove down the coast for a pier walk in Grand Haven. We splurged on giant ice cream cones.

By the time we got home, I was so relaxed I was not even perturbed by the sand all over my floor mats. It had been a perfect Michigan-memory day.

Here’s hoping you can find your own little summer adventure this week. We’ve got lots of ideas to get you started.

Happy Travels,

Tanda

Have you done everything at Sleeping Bear?

Joel Bissell | MLive.com

A visitor looks out onto Lake Michigan near the Treat Farm Trail at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore in Empire, Mich. on Sunday, May 26, 2024.

There aren't many Michigan destinations that fill us with joy and fill us with pride as much as Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.
Just the mention of Sleeping Bear around here will overtake the mind with images of hot dune and the endless blue water of Lake Michigan. Good Morning America, please, we've known our whole lives.
So for those of us who've done the climb as kids and then with kids, for those of us who know their order at Art's Tavern, for those of us who wear the Sleeping Bear t-shirt whilst hiking at Sleeping Bear, it's really special to hear about a trail you've never done.
We have that trail for you! Inside you'll find the trail details, extensive photographs, video of the trail experience and even learn the history.

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The oldest family-owned grocery store in the U.S.

Image provided by Doud family

Patrick Doud stands next to a horse-drawn wagon on Mackinac Island in the late 1800s. Patrick and his brother James opened Doud’s Bros grocery store in 1884. The original store was located on what is now the Starline dock.

If you have ever ventured to Mackinac Island, you may have visited America’s oldest family-owned grocery store and not even known it.
The island’s only store, Doud’s Market is celebrating 140 years of providing a vast variety of products that you may need or happened to forget on your journey.

The business’ story began all the way back in 1884 with brothers James and Patrick Doud, who opened Doud Bros. Back then the market was located on the waterfront, where the Mackinac Island Ferry Company dock now sits.

Bonus elk

Courtesy of Halina Newland

The setting sun peeks through the trees in Aspen Park at the edge of Gaylord.

The transition happens so fast, it might take you by surprise. One minute, you’re driving on a commercial stretch of road just south of downtown Gaylord, and the next minute you’re following your trusty map app into a shaded parking lot.
Pass through a gate and step onto a paved trail - and enjoy the 100 acres that quickly envelope you with their wooded hush.
But what sets Aspen Park apart is what it bumps up against. The park shares a boundary line with the city’s Elk View Park, which is home to not only big elk but sika and fallow deer.

Other top stories

A note from Tanda:

We love to hear from our travel friends. Have a story tip for us? A suggestion for a new destination to check out? Feel free to send us the details. You can email me at tgmiter@mlive.com

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