My sister and I are planning a Great Lakes Road Trip for late May/ Early June. We leave Indiana, head north through Ste. St Marie to Pancake Bay, ON, travel along the Trans-Canada Highway east to Niagara Falls, and then travel along the south side of Lake Erie, back home to Indiana. We're planning 7 or 8 days for this trip.
The big question is for our first day of travel - we can either drive along the west coast or the east coast of Lake Michigan. Both have places of interest - the west side takes us through Wisconsin, where we would most likely stop and check out Milwaukee, Sheboygan and Green Bay before hitting Michigan's UP, where we would likely stop at Pictured Rocks and/or Tahquamenon Falls. We would likely stay overnight somewhere in Wisconsin.
If we take the east coast, which is the shorter route by about 100 miles, we would probably stop at Holland, maybe Sleeping Bear Dunes and Mackinaw, where we would likely stay overnight.
Has anyone traveled on both sides? Are there other great stops that I am missing, but would make one path better than the other? We are interested in a wide variety of things: most important is probably scenery, parks and natural areas, followed by historical sites and museums, and then off-beat points of interest / roadside attractions. We're not at all into sports or nightlife, so those are of no consequence.
Any suggestions would be appreciated!