Why Michigan Shines In Autumn

"You ever see how long it takes mom to post things up on her blog? Like, years and years!" Yeah, I'm guilty of what the girls accuse me of. I've been almost absent here the past few months with starting my business, dealing with the holidays, and the sore subject of working on this house still. But, I'm ready to come back to our regularly scheduled posts and try not to be a disappointment to my family about documenting our travels here. 

I was pretty lucky to do a west coast road trip last January. There were only whispers of the Coronavirus circulating at that time, so nothing was shut down yet. But, by the end of August I was going stir crazy and starting to feel a sense of ‘Fernweh’. We've always done one big family trip every July/August, so when the virus put all travel plans to a halt, I was pretty disappointed knowing there would be no new adventures for the rest of the year. At the end of September, when it's still quite warm out but you can sense the changing seasons in the air, I was sitting on my deck thinking about how we've lived right on the Michigan/Indiana line for years, but we have never done the Michigan fall tour. So, I did a little research and found that the best time to take a scenic tour through upper Michigan is at the end of the first week in October. That's when the leaves are at their color changing peak before they start to die off. So, we made some spur of the moment plans for a little weekend road trip through Northern Michigan.

Of course, the pandemic was (is) still in full swing, but we figured since we were going to be in the car for most of the time (other than to sleep in the hotel for a night), it was going to be a fairly safe trip. We decided to drive up the Lake Michigan coast for a 6 hour car trip that landed us in Petoskey. Now, I think Michigan is a truly beautiful state year round, but having finally seen it in all of it's autumn splendor, I'd say Michigan truly shines in the fall. 

 

We woke up before the sun rose so we could be on the road as the morning light was just peaking on the horizon. The early morning sunshine lent such a beautiful glow to the crisp oranges, yellows and reds throughout the landscape. 

 

While we set off on our little journey without any specific destinations planned, I did know that I wanted to make it through the Tunnel of Trees if we could. Some of the  pictures I came across on Pinterest of the area made it look super magical, so that was the only stop we plugged into our navigation.

 

I wish I had some cool shots to share with you from our drive through the Tunnel of Trees, but sadly it wasn't all that spectacular for us. The leaves had just barely started to shift in color and most of them were still quite green. Not that it was a bad drive through the area, it just didn't hold the wow factor I thought it would have. Had we arrived a week later, I am sure it would have been way cooler. But, I will tell you, some of our best views came from driving down service roads. 

 

These unpaved dirt roads are not maintained by the city, but there's something to be said for the road less traveled. If you want a real tunnel of trees experience, take a trip down the service roads of Michigan. We didn't run into any other cars on these roads, but did pass a few 4 wheelers out enjoying the unpopulated areas.

We did stop by the water to stretch our legs, and Jason thought it was mighty handy that he always keeps a lounging chair in his trunk. He found himself a nice little unoccupied area of the beach to sit and relax for a bit.

 I couldn't resist backtracking when we passed by the World's Largest Cherry Pie! The crust was 14 feet across and 2 feet deep, weighing 7 tons, and the filling weighed 1,730 pounds! Talk about a huge pie!

While it didn't require a passport or lots of planning, I'm glad we were able to steal a little time away from the pandemic to take a short trip through Michigan in the fall. Again, if you're planning on an autumn visit, the best time to see the colors of the season are at the end of the first week through the end of the second week in October. 

 

Have you made any (safe) road trips this year?