Northern Michigan Attractions: The 10 Best Ways to Celebrate Labor Day

Northern Michigan Attractions: Soak up every last bit of your Northern Michigan summer in Traverse City, Charlevoix, and Sleeping Bear Dunes.

Aug 29, 2011 Lucy Perkins

The sun sets earlier and the school bells are distantly ringing, but hold on to summer for just a little longer. This Labor Day weekend, we’ve got 10 great ways to celebrate Northern Michigan’s favorite season Up North style.

1. Make it to Manitou

North and South Manitou are two of Northern Michigan’s most serene hideouts and sit just off the shore of the Leelanau Peninsula. Take the Manitou Island Transit from Leland for a day trip or for a weekend getaway. Once you get there, set up camp, hike, and swim. It’s a great way to drink in those final golden drops of summer. manitoutransit.com

2. Bike the Third Coast

Lake Michigan, fondly called America’s Third Coast, sweetly laps the edges of many gorgeous lakeside towns. Experience Michigan’s burgeoning blue waters up close on the Little Traverse Wheelway, a paved trail linking Charlevoix and Harbor Springs. 26 miles in length, the trail travels along the Lake Michigan shoreline, making for an easy to moderate ride. Grab a picnic at Scovie’s Gourmet Deli in Charlevoix and go! scovies.com

3. Walk over Water

Join thousands for the Annual Labor Day Bridge Walk in Mackinac September 5. The Bridge spans five miles above the sparkling waves of Lake Michigan. What could be a better way to end the summer? mackinacbridge.org

4. Get Decked-Out

After a day in the sun, spend the evening at The Boondocks in Glen Arbor. Burgers, beer and live music, seal one picturesque summer in Northern Michigan. 231.334.6444

5. Dunes in the Dark

Explore Sleeping Bear by moonlight. Smooth sand and starry skies are the perfect night cap to Labor Day in Northern Michigan. To find your dune, park at the Sleeping Bear Point Coast Guard Station Maritime Museum, head to the beach and turn left. Click to find out how to purchase a Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore pass.

6. Relax Over Dinner

Located on the historic State Hospital grounds in Traverse City, Trattoria Stella offers gorgeous classic cuisine with a local flair. A menu that ceaselessly changes with the seasons never disappoints natives or newcomers. stellatc.com

7. Race on an Island

Run Beaver Island’s annual marathon or half-marathon September 3 beginning at 9 AM. The course twists and turns throughout the Emerald Isle, guiding runners through the island’s untouched wilderness. beaverisland.org.

8. Find Solace

Summer always becomes busier and more chaotic than originally planned. This weekend, make time to relax and rejuvenate at Solace Spa at Boyne Mountain. Make it a final summer hurrah with the girls or a quiet retreat with a loved one, relaxation comes in many forms. Solace Spa offers a wide array of services and classes, creating a peaceful experience for all its guests.boyne.com/Spas/Solace/.

9. Sip Cider

Welcome another vibrant autumn season of sweaters and school the fun way at Tandem Ciders of Suttons Bay. Hand-crafted hard ciders like Farmhouse, Pretty Penny and Smackintosh lure you into fall.tandemciders.com.

10. Keep Summer Burning

Wood, matches, chocolate, graham crackers, marshmallows and friends are all the ingredients you’ll for a perfect bonfire. In the glow of the fire share the spookiest ghost stories and your favorite summer moments under a diamond-studded sky.

Traverse a vibrant wine trail

Fall colors surround the Chateau Grand Traverse vineyards, which overlook West Grand Traverse Bay in Northern Michigan. / Photos provided by Traverse City Convention & Visi

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. -- 

We went to Traverse City for the food.

We went back for the wine.

The first time there was no specific plan, just a loose schedule for a road trip that would be easy on the budget. When a friend raved about a restaurant in Traverse City, we put it on the itinerary.

Traverse City turned out to be a foodie paradise (Iron Chef Mario Batali has a home in the area). That wasn't the big surprise, though. It was the wine.

The resort town earned its reputation thanks to its geographically elite position on Lake Michigan. Grand Traverse Bay sits northwest on the state's lower peninsula, surrounded by forest, sand dunes and farmland.

On a map, two peninsulas -- Leelanau and Old Mission -- splay out on the east side of the lake like skinny fingers. In the middle is Traverse City. It's the location that allows the area to host a wine trail that, although small by California standards, can meet even a wine snob's expectations.

During the first trip from our Wisconsin home, we went in with only a half-baked plan and a restaurant name -- Cooks' House. It was early June, about a week before the start of tourist season.

The Beach Haus, a vintage hotel with a private beach on the north end of town, had rates so cheap I asked why the room could be had for under $80 a night when most other beachside hotels started at $100 or more. The clerk gave two reasons: It was a preseason rate, and the hotel's decor was old. But it was clean, and the staff was friendly.

We brought the family -- three grown daughters, a significant other and a dog -- for our second visit over Memorial Day weekend. It cost $1,500 a week to rent a four-bedroom house on one of the area's smaller lakes that we found on www.vacationrentals.com.

We timed the wine tours for the drizzly cold weather, which left the nicer days and nights open for cooking paella on an open flame, kayaking, taking in a minor-league baseball game, shopping and more eating.

Cooks' House had moved to quarters bigger than the tiny storefront that we dined in on our first trip. The restaurant manager set the hospitality bar high by giving us suggestions for wineries to visit and other restaurants we might like, including one set on the grounds of the former state hospital.

We couldn't afford to take the entire family to Napa or Sonoma, but we knew they could make a weekend of the Grand Traverse area wineries. They were skeptical at first, as were we. We've gotten excited about being in wine country before, only to be disappointed when we got home. In Napa and Sonoma, it was clear we didn't bring back enough bottles of the wines that we liked. In Canada, it was clear we brought back at least one too many. This time, we wanted to try the wine on our own before getting caught up in tastings.

We stopped at the Blue Goat, a small liquor store carrying hundreds of local wines. The clerk recommended the 2008 Grand Traverse Chardonnay. Our mistake was not buying enough. Not only can you not get Michigan wines in Wisconsin, but the winery, Chateau Grand Traverse, sold out of the vintage before the end of summer.

That's how our personal wine tour began. We then ended up cruising up and down country roads, visiting a variety of wineries. Chateau Grand Traverse is the most commercial-looking building of them all, while Bowers Harbor Vineyards looks like a fruit stand on steroids.

The area is known for its Rieslings, sweet white wines that pair well with food, but 2 Lads, a contemporary-looking winery with a vista view of the lake, boasts a couple of strong red wines, including a Cabernet Franc.

Lee Lutes, winemaker for Black Star Farms, said vineyards were planted 40 years ago, but the wine industry has been a solid part of tourism in the area for 30 years. Lutes, who is from Traverse City, returned to the area in the 1990s after a stint as an assistant winemaker in Italy.

Black Star has two wineries a short drive from Traverse City: One is a tasting room with a vineyard view just outside the city limits; the other is on Suttons Bay and includes tours of the winery, an inn and a horse farm on property surrounded by vineyards.

Thanks to prevailing winds and a maritime climate, foliage stays green in Grand Traverse through December, and although on a map the peninsulas appear to be directly across from Door County, the winds and plenty of snow keep the grapes from freezing in winter.

The wine trail is still in some transition. This year, wineries were allowed to charge for tastings. Black Star Farms had been charging $5 for a keepsake glass to use at tastings. Patrons who brought their glass with them on future visits or to the other Black Star tasting rooms received free samples. Lutes said they found they were "giving away in excess of $50,000 a year" in free wine.

A typical fee for the area wineries is $5 for four to six samples.

The recession has actually helped draw tourists to Michigan's wine country, primarily because it's less expensive than going to the West Coast for people in many parts of the country. Cars from Alabama to New Hampshire can be spotted in the parking lots.

But you don't find the state's wine country by traveling through. You find it because you want to, Lutes said.

Sleeping Bear Dunes gets US $s for bike-hike trail

GLEN ARBOR, MICH.

Northern Michigan's Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore has received about $2 million in two federal grants for a second phase of a 27-mile hike-and-bike trail through the preserve, an official said Wednesday.

The federal parkland headquartered at Empire in the northwestern Lower Peninsula contains some of Lake Michigan's most striking coastline.

The grants come from the U.S. Transportation Department and cover a 3.7 mile section of the Sleeping Bear Heritage Trail from Glen Arbor to the historic Port Oneida site, said Deputy Superintendent Tom Ulrich.

Planning for the trail started about a decade ago, and design work took place in 2009, Ulrich said. He said construction starts next spring for the first four-mile stretch from the park's Dune Climb to Glen Arbor.

The trail is designed for walkers and people with non-motorized wheeled vehicles such as bikes, trikes and strollers.

The trail aims to meet both recreational and transportation needs, Ulrich said. The trail is expected to cut down on the amount of driving people need to do to get around the lakeshore, as well as add to the opportunities for outdoor activities, he said.

"It will provide a safe, non-motorized, multi-use transportation alternative connecting the Lakeshore's main visitor destinations with Glen Arbor and Empire," the lakeshore says on its website.

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Online:

Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore: http://www.nps.gov/slbe/index.htm

Art gallery sprouts branch in Petoskey

Mark Hoffman (left) and his wife, Mary Hramiec Hoffman, are the owners of Hramiec Hoffman Fine Art & Craft, which recently added a gallery location in Petoskey¿s Gaslight District. (Jennifer Richardson/News-Review)

Jennifer Richardson - jrichardson@petoskeynews.com

9:35 a.m. EDT, August 25, 2011

Hramiec Hoffman Gallery, which has a newly opened location in Petoskey’s Gaslight District, features whimsical depictions of favorite Northern Michigan locales created by Harbor Springs artist Mary Hramiec Hoffman

Hoffman grew up in the Harbor Springs-Petoskey area, and began studying art through children’s programs at the Crooked Tree Arts Center and North Central Michigan College before pursuing advanced studies at Kendall College of Art and Design and Aquinas College.

Hoffman’s oil paintings of seasonal Northern Michigan scenes depict locations such as Walloon Lake, the Old Mission Peninsula, Bay View and Little Traverse Bay. Other works feature whimsical depictions of animals and favorite local activities, such as ice boating, sailboats trading tacks and dogs playing on the beach.

“Having grown up here — I believe my artwork is a product of my environment. We lived in the woods near the Petoskey State Park, running around in the dunes and in the water watching the boats,” Hoffman said. “It’s an expression of my sincere love of Northern Michigan.”

Her original works are available for purchase at the gallery, as are giclée prints, ranging in size from 8 inches by 10 inches to 36 inches by 48 inches.

Hoffman’s husband, Mark, offers custom framing in styles ranging from ornate gold frames to modern gallery-wrap finishes. The couple is especially proud of his fanciful polka-dot frame design, which originated 17 years ago to complement Mary’s polka-dot sky paintings. Mark constructs them by hand, and they are found exclusively at the Hramiec Hoffman galleries.

“Our clients recognize his polka dot frames and we receive orders from them from all over the country. That makes me really proud of him,” Mary Hramiec Hoffman said.

The gallery’s website allows customers to preview what each style of frame will look like paired with the piece of art they are purchasing.

Hoffman has sold her paintings and prints at art shows for more than 25 years, as well as from a Harbor Springs gallery which continues to operate. But she and her husband say they are excited to bring her work to a more accessible location that will be more convenient to patrons.

The couple is also excited about continuing to support the community, which in the past has included supporting the Women’s Resource Center, Manna Food Project, the Christ Child Society, the Humane Society’s Howl at the Moon fundraiser and the Bodzick golf outing fundraiser in Harbor Springs. Mary Hramiec Hoffman is also looking forward to offering children’s art lessons.

The new Hramiec Hoffman Gallery is located diagonally from Symon’s General Store at 306 Howard St., Petoskey, in the same location as B. Jeweled. For more information, go to www.hramiechoffman.com, or call (231) 526-1011.

The gallery also has a Facebook page, which includes updates on special events and videos of Mary painting. It can be viewed at www.facebook.com/HramiecHoffman.


Copyright © 2011, Petoskey News

One of my favorite pastimes is looking at online real estate sites - particularly checking out some of Northern Michigan's beautiful waterfront homes.  Here is one of my favorites:

I am in no way affiliated with the advertising broker, nor do I have any financial interest in this house - just think it's a fantastic example of Lake Leelanau property.  If you'd like to view the site I swiped this shot from, visit here: http://www.cbgreatlakes.com/Property/MI/49653/Lake_Leelanau/781_DALTON_SHORES_RD

Good Morning America Comes to Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore

Meet my new friend Sabrina Parise, a producer for Good Morning America. Sabrina was in the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore to film footage for a series called the 10 Most Beautiful Places in America. We had a wonderful day together—a born and bred New Yorker she was discovering a place she'd never even heard of before. And I was enjoying the best excuse I've had in years to play on the dunes. This is Sabrina at the top of the Pierce Stocking Drive in the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore saying: "Wow, it looks like we're on top of the globe."

Which caused me to repeat for the umpteenth time that overcast day—just wait until the sun comes out. Which it did the next day, and the day after that, and the one after that. Sabrina's footage is going to rock the world!

Catch the segment on MyNorth.com by the end of the week of August 8.

Love Sleeping Bear? You need to see our Journey into Sleeping Bear DVD.

Read Traverse marketing director Rachel North's account of the day.

Kicking Off!

Nothing fancy here - just thinking out loud about Northern Michigan.  My family and I only get to visit occasionally, right now, but one day we'll call it home.  

Until then, I'll be documenting all the great stuff I love about our eventual home, so it's difficult to tell what might show up here.  Stay tuned, and feel free to offer your own thoughts and reveries!

Chris B (and crew)