Getaways on the Back Roads of Michigan
Michigan Day Trips - Michigan Getaways - Michigan Road Trips
Featured Podcast - Anderson & Girls Farm
Looking for up to the minute color in Michigan try this link MDOT Cam Link. There are cameras on many roads that are good for color tours.
Monthly Newsletter Features Michigan Road Trips - Septembert 2023.
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.
The destinations on this site are divided into four basic sections. Day Trips are usually there and back again in a day including some trails and scenic drives. Getaways are generally trips that involve overnight travel; this section includes destinations from the book "3 Day Getaways". The Towns section is dedicated to exploring unique towns that are often overlooked. The "Up North" Michigan section is a sister site where most nature areas, walking trails and waterfalls are found.
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.
Each Michigan Back Roads book has unique content and subject
matter. Each covers the entire state with 1/3 of the chapters
in southern Michigan, 1/3 in northern Michigan and 1/3 in the upper
peninsula. Your online order processed by Shopify is protected by a
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Road Trips is destinations to out of the way places
where visitors will find something different and special in
Michigan.
Trails & Treasures is a collection of easy walking
trails. No special equipment or skills are needed. These
trails are accessible to most everyone. The "treasures" are
nearby attractions. It may be a museum, cool shop or a place
to relax after the hike.
Oddities & Rarities has a collection of day trips
where you will find something rare, one-of-a-kind, or unexplained.
Best Kept Secrets is just what the title says,
unique and unusual destinations that even the locals sometimes don't
know about.
3 Day Getaways is a collection of trips based in
B&B's and Inns. Visitors spend three days exploring one area.
Day 1 may be nature area, Day 2 historic destinations, Day 3 may be
shops, or vineyards or whatever else is special to that region.
Quick & Easy Getaways was written for very busy
people who only have one day off. From any point in Michigan
there will be day trips within 1 hour and 20 minutes. The
chapter describes everything to do in that locationa and then you
only have an hour or so drive back home.
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.
