Getaways on the Back Roads of Michigan

Michigan Day Trips - Michigan Getaways - Michigan Road Trips

Featured in December

Featured Book
trails and treasures book
Chapter List and Buy Online
Featured Podcast
Gay Bar
The Gay Bar
Featured Road Trips
Ontonagon Lights
www.travelinmichigan.com

Use the Regional Map to look for destinations in the part of Michigan you are interested in.  Use the All Destinations page to find trips listed in alphabetical order.

Michigan Back Roads is a collection of often overlooked Michigan day trips, road trips, three-day getaways and vacations. These are lesser known attractions, you will find few very famous destinations.
Here are walking trails, historic destinations, oddities, nature areas, and unique small towns. Each page on this site and on www.upnorthmichigan.com  describes a Michigan attraction, destination or best kept secret.

www.michiganbackroads.com  & www.upnorthmichigan.com , are all about fun Michigan getaways along the back roads. The focus is on small historic towns, historic destinations, little known attractions, cool walking trails and some real oddities. You won't find many famous places, but you will find dozens of destinations that you may have overlooked.

Books – Road trip books featuring out of the way destinations, history, oddities, and fun getaways. 6 books currently in print with a 7th book due in October of 2023 and 1 children’s book, Bob the Turtle Adventures. Road trip titles include – Best Kept Secrets – Oddities & Rarities – Quick & Easy Getaways – Road Trips – Three Day Getaways – Trails & Treasures – Misadventures with Helga.

Podcasts – are found at www.mibackroads.com. Podcasts are short presentations of fun destinations. Most run 3 – 8 minutes. A new category has more detailed stories running 25 minutes or more. New destinations are added regularly. The podcasts are perfect for when you have just a few minutes to sit and relax.

Newsletter - www.travelinmichigan.com . The newsletter is online and is delivered via email on the first day of the month. Each newsletter offers 3 road trips, one in the upper peninsula, one in northern Michigan and one in southern Michigan. There are featured events, festivals and a featured podcast as well. It’s free, subscribe online.

Live Presentations – I give live slide show presentations all over the state about Road Trips to out of the way places in Michigan. These presentations are done in libraries, historical societies, and clubs. If you are looking for entertaining programs without preaching, profanity, or politics, contact me.

Up North Michigan - Defining "up north" is a challenge.  If you live in Coldwater, you may regard anything north of Clare as "up north".  If you live in Good Hart, you may regard the upper peninsula as "up north".  If you live on the Lake Michigan coast of the upper peninsula, you refer to the Lake Superior coast as "up north".  If you live in Ohio you probably regard anything north of U.S.12 as "up north".  Up North is as much a state of mind as a destination.  To those of us who grew up in Michigan, "up north" began north of Clare and in some cases north of Indian River. 100 years ago "up north" meant the Frontier, any place north of the Great Sauk Trail.