Lake Michigan Circle Tour Advice

We are planning a trip to Mackinaw Island late August 2012. Will be driving up from Chicago through Michigan straight to hotel for 3 days. We have done the Michigan side of the lake and when we leave we want to go all the way around the lake and back down through Wisconsin.

Looking for advice on places to see and stay on the way. We will have 4 days left after we leave Mackinaw to make the rest of the trip back. Will be parents only so looking for things that are adult oriented - historical, art, museums, nature, hiking, beaches - doesn't have to be kid friendly this time. Would like nice places and things to see and do, we are pretty flexible and not too hard to please, but not break the bank either. Would like to drive maybe 4-5 hours per day - stop and see some sights etc. spend the night and then move on the next day. I guess first off is 4 additional days enough time - we can do 5 if there is something that is not to be missed. We are going August 27-29 to Mackinaw and then thru Sept. 2 for the rest of the trip, so I know being Labor day weekend I need to get reservations made soon.

We are transplants to the Midwest and want to see some new things. Any advice would be appreciated.

Welcome aboard the RoadTrip America Forums!

You can start by reading through these discussions of previous such trips. You never know which previous suggestions will be just right for you and that may not some to mind when people respond specifically to you. Some things that come to mind that meet your criteria. Colonial Michilimackinac State Historical Park is right in the area you'll be visiting, so maybe you can include it before setting out down the lake. Next up in a historical vent would be Peshtigo WI where there was a fire the same night as the great Chicago fire, but more destructive in terms of both property and lives. In Appleton (not on Lake Michigan, I know) there's Harry Houdini's boyhood home, and a little farther south in Oshkosh there's the museum of the Experimental Aircraft Association, and of course the Chicago History Museum.

AZBuck