By the time you reach the Straits of Mackinac-the place where the Great Lakes’ Huron and Michigan meet, you finally believe just how huge the state of Michigan is and realize you have yet to arrive to the UP-the Upper Peninsula. Crossing the bridge north of Mackinaw City, with famed Mackinaw Island and the Grand Hotel off to the East, you enter the Upper Peninsula and a whole new world. That world is mostly noted for what’s not there: loads of fast food restaurants, billboards, tacky tourist stops, or for that matter, tourists. The UP attracts more sportsman and hikers than places further south, its relative desolation and lack of gift shops, keeping many tourists away. Making up just 3% of the population, but 29% of the land area, the UP’s brief summers and long, cold winters has led to its preservation as a beautiful and unique place.
Within a few…
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Travel the World Over 