You Can't Keep a Road Tripper from Planning Early

It's been a few since I've posted to my blog.  However, that doesn't mean I haven't done some traveling.  I have put some miles on my car with two trips to Massachusetts and one trip to Vermont over a 5 week period.  The weather was great up there and it was so nice getting back behind the wheel of the car after a month and a half of staying put.  

The one thing I did learn last year is that if I ever wanted to take a trip to Upper and Lower Michigan, I needed to plan it real early.  The places I wanted to visit there (Traverse City, Mackinac Island, and Isle Royale) book up really early and can be very expensive.  I say this because I really wanted to go to this area during the Summer of 2021.  However, when I started planning my trip in January and February 2021, lodging was almost non existent or outrageously expensive.  So I've begun planning my Summer 2022 road trip now, a good 10 months in advance.  And it's working!!!

Here's what the 20 day road trip looks like at a high level.  

A lot of details have yet to be worked out, but I do have some of the key lodging locked down in the areas that book up early.  We will be staying at the Bayshore Resort in Traverse City (so excited to walk out the door of the hotel to the beach), Lake View Hotel on Mackinac Island (one of the only hotels on the island with a pool) and then Rock Harbor Lodge on Isle Royale (there are only 60 rooms on the whole island so I'm super excited to have a reservation here).  Now I can start planning some of the other key elements of the trip.   

Some of the highlights on this trip are:  

Cleveland Area (2 nights / 3 days)

• Rock N Roll Hall of Fame
• Cleveland Indians baseball game
• Cedar Point Amusement Park

Detroit Area (2 nights / 3 days)

• Detroit Tigers baseball game
• Henry Ford Museum

Traverse City Area (3 nights / 4 days)

• Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore
• Swimming on the beaches at Traverse City

Mackinac Island (2 nights / 3 days)

• Exploring Mackinac Island

Marquette / Munising Area (3 nights / 4 days)

• Hiking to waterfalls of the Upper Peninsula 
• Pictured Rock National Lakeshore

Isle Royale (2 nights / 3 days)

• Isle Royale National Park
• Wildlife watching

Milwaukee Area (3 nights / 4 days)

• Motley Crue / Def Leppard concert

Have any of you been to Michigan?  Do you have any suggestions on where to go and what to see beyond this list?  We are open to all suggestions and have plenty of time to plan visiting other locations into our itinerary.