Great Lakes Vacations

Great Lakes
88 Great Vacations
by
Doris Scharfenberg
1996

This guidebook describes vacation destinations around Lake Michigan, Lake Superior, Lake Huron, Lake Erie, and Lake Ontario and on connecting waters, like Lake St Clair or the Niagara River. The book is illustrated with a few sketches and hand-drawn maps. It would make a good resource for anyone planning a Circle Tour around one of the Great Lakes. The vacations listed in this book stretch from Minnesota to New York. Michigan is well-represented, with destinations on 4 of the 5 lakes. I've selected a few destinations close to Kalamazoo.

Great Lakes Vacations in West Michigan

1. Michigan's Wide-Awake Sunset Towns
"By rare geologic luck, Michigan has a long chain of lakes immediately behind its western coast. Lake Macatawa (Holland), Muskegon Lake (Muskegon), Pere Marquette Lake (Ludington), and Manistee Lake are among the many harbors for commerce and plaeaure. Neither the Wisconsin coast nor any Lake Huron shore has this advantage."

Empire
Point Betsie
Frankfort
Manistee
Ludington State Park
Pentwater
White Lake/Whitehall/Montague
Canoe the White River
West Michigan Tourist Association

2. Lakeside Bonanzas in Muskegon
"The largest city of the east coast of Lake Michigan sprawls loosely over a wide area, ties in with a great state park and would like some things in its past to be forgotten. In 1887, forty-seven Muskegon sawmills were consuming forests like locusts on a binge, leaving years of depression when the trees ran out."

Muskegon County Museum
Hackley Public Library
Michigan Adventure
Festivals
Muskegon State Park
Luge
Hoffmaster State Park
Muskegon Visitors Bureau

3. Town of the Dancing Waters: Grand Haven
"Two shouts below Muskegon, a trio of towns shares a watery access to Michigan's southern heartland: Grand Haven, Ferrysburg, and Spring Lake. Grand Haven is largest and the only one with water on three sides, but the three are close enough to share the same big events."

Coast Guard Festival
Boardwalk
Grand Haven State Park
Grand Haven Area Visitors Bureau

4. New Furnishings For Grand Rapids
"Stand at the door of the Oval Office, then fish for salmon in a business suit one block away-- you can do it in Grand Rapids, Michigan's second largest city. Planted as a seedling village on a curve of the Grand River where water bubbled down over a stretch of rocks, the city's fame and fortune came from lumbering, manufacturing, cleansers (Amway Products), publishing, and in some measure from being the boyhood home of President Gerald Ford. The biggest claim to fame, however, has been as a furniture maker without peer."

Gerald R Ford Museum
Van Andel Public Museum
Fish ladder at Sixth Street dam
John Ball Park Zoo
Meijer Gardens
Heritage Hill
Grand Rapids/Kent County Convention & Visitors Bureau

5. Saucy Holland Days
"Minutes away from Lake Michigan, the sweet city of Holland hugs the east end of Lake Macatawa, quiet, scrubbed, and as lively as a tulip in the breeze. Founded by Netherlands' immigrants, its population today is a diverse mix, yet the Dutch heritage remains in charge."

Windmill Island
Veldheers Tulip Farm
Dutch Village
Tulip Festival
Holland State Park
Holland Convention and Visitors Bureau

6. Artful Saugatuck
"Searchers for the perfect bed and breakfast do consider pausing around Saugatuck, sometimes called the Marth's Vineyard of the Midwest. It is a village that manages to be famous, chic, historic, quaint, and unspoiled all at once. An even smaller hamlet, Douglas, shares the same wide spot on the Kalamazoo River (called Lake Kalamazoo) just inside the coast of Lake Michigan and a few miles south of Holland."

Chain ferry
galleries, gift shops, boutiques
SS Keewatin
Star of Saugatuck

7. Michigan's Sunny Southwest Corner
"The number of brochures declaring this of that vacation spot as an "all-season paradise" could fill the hold of a large freighter. However, the southwest corner of Michigan has a hefty list of year-round getaway goals, from scenic to gastronomic, with U-Pick farms, wineries, wonderful beaches, pretty towns, great fishing, winter sports, fall color, and quick access."

National Blueberry Festival South Haven
Liberty Hyde Museum South Haven
Canoe the Black River [pdf map]South Haven
Kalamazoo Nature Center Kalamazoo
Air Zoo Kalamazoo
Wineries
Magic store Colon
Blossomtime Festival St Joseph
Lake Bluff Park St Joseph
Grand Mere State Park
Warren Dunes State Park
Southwestern Michigan Tourist Council

This book seems to be out of print. Booksellers like Amazon and Barnes & Noble may have used copies. I found a copy at my library.