Great Lakes

From Saint Ignace at the northern end of the bridge, you can take a boat to the small car-free paradise of Mackinac Island; on its roads – completely untypical for the United States – you will only find bikes and horse carriages. Main attraction on the island is the white Grand Hotel, according to its own statement the biggest summer hotel in the world.

We follow the eastern shore of Lake Michigan, and after a stopover in Petoskey with its dotted Petoskey Stones we reach Traverse City. “The Village of Grand Traverse Commons”, a former mental hospital, is quite interesting and houses small shops and restaurants. Nevertheless, this “underground hospital” is somehow spooky.

Next destination is the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore with its breath-taking dunes. While driving 8 miles on the Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive you can explore all highlights of the park. We continue our journey south for a few hours; Ludington halfway down is perfect 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 detour leads us to Grand Rapids, more precisely to the Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park – another highlight of our trip and absolutely worth visiting for those who like sculptures. Plan at least half a day for a tour to the more than 170 works of Borofsky, Calder or Oldenburg, to name but a few.

After a last coffee break in Michigan City (which is – quite misleadingly – in Indiana), we circle the southern shore of Lake Michigan and reach the final 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 can 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 the amusement park Navy Pier are further destinations – plan three days for this great city.