A Weekend Exploring Grand Marais, Upper Peninsula, Michigan

Although staying in Michigan due to COVID-19 has been hard for me at times, it’s also reminded me to appreciate the beauty of my home state. Friends of ours reached out to us a few months ago and asked us if we wanted to join them on a weekend getaway to Grand Marais in the Upper Peninsula. We had an awesome summer staying in and enjoying Traverse City, but if you can believe it, even that gets old!

Like everyone else, this year has brought a lot of ups and downs and we were ready to escape life for a bit and head North! Our trip was September 10th-13th, 2020 and with the UP getting chilly a bit earlier than the Lower Peninsula we lucked out and it was probably the last semi-warm weekend up there. We had high 60’s sunny weather every day except for one day of rain and we had such a blast!

HOW TO GET TO GRAND MARAIS

If you are flying in from out of state I recommend either flying into Grand Rapids (6 hours to Grand Marais by car) or Traverse City (4 hours to Grand Marais by car) the drive is beautiful. (take 131, the GPS will try to take you on 75 but it’s just a few minutes slower to take 131 and the drive is waaaaay prettier!) You’ll have to cross over the Mackinac Bridge to get to the UP. It’s so beautiful and it’s fun to see Mackinac Island when you’re crossing over. The toll is $4.50 for cars, the bridge is 5 miles long, and there is typically some traffic so prepare for that.

*Fun fact: The “Mighty Mac” as Michiganders call it is 3 times longer than the Golden Gate Bridge!*

Pro Tip: Once you cross over the bridge take the second exit for Clyde’s Diner and order one of their famous burgers and malts!

WHERE TO STAY IN GRAND MARAIS

Our friends booked the cutest beach cabin on Airbnb. It sleeps 6 people comfortably, has all the amenities you need for cooking, and is just a few minutes from town in one direction and in the other, the shores of Lake Superior! Click the link to learn more about our rental, The Great Escape.

On top of being simply adorable, the cabin was well stocked with pretty much everything we needed! There are two full beds downstairs in each bedroom and two single beds upstairs in the loft.

For the rainy day we had so many puzzles and games to choose from that we didn’t even care we were stuck inside for the afternoon.

One of my favorite parts about this cabin was the views of the beach from the living room, it seriously looks like a painting!

WALK 5 MINUTES TO LAKE SUPERIOR

The best part of the cabin was the short and beautiful walk to Lake Superior.

WHERE TO EAT IN GRAND MARAIS

If you’re just going for a night you could definitely get away with just eating out in town the whole time, but if you come for the whole weekend I recommend bringing food with you. Also, the two grocery stores have very little to choose from so don’t bank on buying anything you need from there. The produce was pretty gross so we were happy we brought our own! If you are wanting to check out some places for meals here are the best ones in the area.

COFFEE AT THE DREAM BEAN MACHINE

The Dream Bean Machine is a cute ass coffee shop run out of VW Bus named Stella. Here you’ll find Higher Grounds Coffee which is fresh, organic, and fair-trade. They have drip coffee, lattes, and mochas, plus teas and smoothies. When we were here they were open from 7 am-6 pm (closed Wednesdays) and were parked in town on Braziel Street and Campbell Street.

There is even a little gift shop in the back of the van!

WEST BAY DINER

Just a few streets away from downtown Grand Marais you’ll find the cutest little diner called West Bay Diner. I learned that this diner was transported over the Mackinac Bridge to it’s home in Grand Marais! How cute is that!? It makes me smile picturing it being carted across the bridge. Currently, the diner is only open for takeout but it’s still worth it. Choose from fluffy omelettes, famous cinnamon rolls, many unique sodas, yummy sandwiches, giant subs, pizza, all the delicious desserts you can dream up and more!

LAKE SUPERIOR BREWING CO.

My favorite food we had in Grand Marais was at Lake Superior Brewing Co. There was a line every time we walked or drove by so make sure you prepare for a bit of a wait. If you aren’t wanting to dine in you can also order takeout from them.

Their pizza, onion rings and white fish were to die for, but what really did it for me was the homemade tartar sauce.

SHERPA SHACK

If you’re looking for ice cream head into town and check out the Sherpa Shack. I had their fried cherry pie ice cream and as you can imagine, it was delicious!

GRAND MARAIS FARMERS MARKET

As you can see from the picture below, the Farmers Market doesn’t look like much. We assumed that in the summer it’s a bit busier than this, but when we went there were only three vendors. Although we chuckled a bit when we pulled up, we did end up making some great purchases!

We bought some homemade spicy mustard that our whole group fell in love with, homemade masks, blueberry muffins, and some cinnamon rolls that the lady claimed “were the best buns in town” and she wasn’t wrong!

WHERE TO EXPLORE IN AND NEAR GRAND MARAIS

ROCK HUNTING ON THE BEACH

Because we were staying right on the beach we just walked down to the water and searched for rocks for hours, but if you aren’t staying on the beach you can check out Agate Beach for rocks. If you’re lucky you’ll find on agate or two but honestly all of the rocks are beautiful.

The water at this time of year is definitely chilly. (around 50 degrees) If you do want to swim know that Lake Superior rarely gets warm even in the summer. We still went in and it was cold but sooooo refreshing.

The green stones were my personal favorites to find.

SABLE FALLS

If you are coming from Grand Marais, Sable Falls is just a 5-minute drive West. There is a large parking lot and even has spots for RVs if you need them. We visited on a Friday and it wasn’t too busy. We have heard on Saturdays this place gets crazy busy so get there early if possible! When we were here the leaves were just starting to change.

To get down to Sable Falls you must take 168 steps and then you guessed it, climb them on the way back up to the parking lot.

As you can see it’s so worth it and it only took us 5 minutes to get down to this view of the falls.

Once you see the falls you can walk another 5 minutes and arrive at Lake Superior. Once you arrive you are officially on Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.

If you’re here in the summer it’s the perfect place to swim and hang out in Lake Superior. As you can tell from this blog post so far, I love rock hunting. Luckily so does my friend Shelly I traveled with, so that’s what we did when got down to the beach.

To see the falls you barely walk a 1/2 mile roundtrip. If you’re interested in doing more hiking/walking you can continue on the trail to the Sable Fall Dunes and walk almost 3 miles.

LOG SLIDE OVERLOOK

If you are driving from Grand Marais to the Log Slide Overlook it’s just 15 minutes and a really pretty and curvy drive along H-58. All of these landmarks are easily found if you are using Google maps. Once you park, it’s just 5 minutes from the parking lot to this gorgeous view of Lake Superior.

Make sure you walk around the cliffs of the dunes because you can walk a few yards and have a completely different view! If you’re up for a major challenge you can walk down to the water, just remember it’s going to be a real bitch to get back up!

We were lucky and as we were leaving a bald eagle soared right in front of us! To see the video check out my Michigan highlights on my Instagram.

SUNSET AT AGATE BEACH

Once again, we just walked from our cabin to the shore to watch the sunset or even just watched it from our back porch, but if you want a place to sit on the beach and watch beautiful sunsets head back to Agate Beach, they are the best from there.

This was my first time to the town of Grand Marais and we loved it so much we’ve already booked another trip to go back in February. It definitely helps to have a great group of friends to go with!

If you haven’t been to the UP before, I recommend visiting both Munising and Grand Marais. Although they are only an hour away from each other they are completely different. Munising has more of the rocky Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore as Grand Marais has the dunes. Click the link to learn more about Munising and Kayaking Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. Click this link to read more about my other Michigan travels.