Great Michigan Road Trips - Leelanau Peninsula

One of the most enjoyable vacations I've ever taken, was to my surprise, within my home state of Michigan. When deciding on a destination to enjoy a peaceful, scenic couples vacation most people think of the typical tourist destination along the Atlantic, Pacific and Gulf coasts usually destinations in Florida, Hawaii, California or even the North East and North West coasts of the United States. Being a little strapped for cash an expensive trip was out of the question. After saving about 500 bucks and packing up our Neon, my wife and myself decided to head to the north west tip of Michigan's Lower Peninsula. What we discovered was one of the most enjoyable destinations we have ever visited.

The Leelanau Peninsula a thin, jutting pennisula in the at the tip of pinky-finger of the mitten that is the great state of Michigan was a world all its own. Starting up along its East Coast of the peninsula from Travse City it was not too different from most of the northern portions of the state. The road ran along Grand Traverse Bay its water bustling with boats as we headed north toward the wine contry. We had scheduled a boat ride on the Tall Ship Manitou for later that day and decided to head into the peninsula to site see. We had a little travel brochure with map and markers for all the winerys scattered throughout the area and wanted to check out Fish Town, a fishing village on lake Michigan that looked really cool from internet pictures we had seen while investigating the trip before setting out.

We ended up visiting many vinyards on our site seeing tour that ended at a quant fishing village called "Fish Town" on the western coast of the Peninsula at Leland Michigan. Pictured is the Ciccone Vinyard, Madonna's family vinyard; this was our first stop and a very cool time tasting a handful of different types of grape and cherry wines. I felt really "tendy" for a shmuck from the Detroit area. There are rougly 17 vineyards on the peninsula we made it to five before heading across 204 to Fish Town.

• Shady Lane Cellars
• Ciccone Vineyards
• Black Star Farms (also, has a lot of cheese)
• Chateau De Leenlanau
• Willow Vineyards

Situated in valley where the grapes are sheltered from the weather, the scenary and air feels different, a feeling like your somewhere else. A little like California with the smell of fresh water lakes in the air. It is no wonder why so many well to do people make the north western coast of Michigan their summer home.

Our last stop before heading back down to Traverse City was in "Fish Town", Leeland, Michigan. A historic fishing village located on Lake Michigan. A village right out of Melvilles Moby Dick (The Whale) without the whales. A must see!

Finally, we drove back to Traverse City for our tall ship ride around the bay on the Tall Ship Manitou. The trip turned out to be phenomenal. We spent a couple nights in Petoskey and had dinner in Charlevoix Michigan both where also more than memorable locations.