Great Lakes (1)

From Saint Ignace at the northern end of the bridge, tourists can take a boat to the small car-free paradise of Mackinac Island; in fact, only bicycles and horse-drawn carriages travel on the roads – completely untypical for the United States. The island’s main attraction is the gleaming white Grand Hotel, which claims to be the largest summer hotel in the world.

We follow the eastern shore of Lake Michigan and reach Traverse City after a stop in Petoskey, home to the speckled Petoskey Stones. “The Village of Grand Traverse Commons”, a former mental hospital, is quite interesting and now houses small shops and restaurants. Nevertheless, there’s something creepy about this “underground hospital”.

Next destination is the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore with its breath-taking dunes. You can explore all of the park’s highlights on the 8-mile-long Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive. Once again, we head south for a few hours; Ludington halfway is great for a coffee break. In the evening we reach the small city of Holland, where – as the name suggests – everything is about tulips, windmills and wooden shoes.

Another side trip takes us to Grand Rapids, more precisely to Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park – another highlight of our trip and a must for anyone who likes sculptures and public art. For the tour of the more than 170 works by Borofsky, Calder or Oldenburg, to name just a few, you should plan at least half a day.

After a final coffee break in Michigan City (which is – quite confusing – in Indiana), we circle the southern shore of Lake Michigan and reach the destination of our tour, America’s third largest city Chicago in the state of Illinois. A guided boat tour on the Chicago River is an excellent experience, since you get to see dozens of skyscrapers from 150 years of architectural history. Grand Park and Millennium Park, the Art Institute of Chicago, the artworks of Picasso, Chagall and Miro in downtown or Navy Pier amusement park are further destinations – plan at least three days for this great city.