Road Trip: Michigan’s Sunrise Side

March 29, 2015

Across the state from northwest Lower Michigan and its legendary sunsets lies the other side of the mitten. Often called The Sunrise Side or The Sunrise Coast, this region from Rogers City to Au Gres offers outdoor recreation opportunities that make for a whole new Up North perspective. By Kristi Kates

DRIVE

Depending on where you depart, the trip is between 75 and 130 miles and you’ll be taking several highways, including US-131, I-75, US- 68 and US-23, if you opt for the scenic route down the coastline.

KNOWN FOR

We’ll start with those sunrises – a great excuse for an early morning nature walk, photography trek or fishing excursion – but the Sunrise Side offers even more, with some pronounced differences from destinations farther west: mainly, the lower prices than those you typically find in northwest Michigan, likely the result of the east side having less tourism. These are towns that really make you feel like you’ve stepped back in vacation time. The beaches may be rockier, but they are equally pretty; drive the shoreline on Heritage Route 23 and you’ll find long stretches of water vistas, little shops, friendly family restaurants and roadside stands. A wine and hops trail option bring you to a wide range of towns, wineries and brewpubs, plus plenty of hearty Midwestern food options.

STAY

Budget: Classic roadside motels with cute names like Forty Winks Motel or The Dew Drop Inn (both in Alpena) can snag you a night’s sleep for around $40 or $50. Clusters of quaint cottages are a great option for bigger groups, like at Whitestone Pointe (Au Gres), where an entire stand-alone cottage, plus such Americana pursuits as bonfires and tetherball, are part of the deal for as low as $70/night.

Upscale: Major hotels and resorts aren’t nearly as prevalent, nor as trendy, on the Sunrise Side as they are in the Petoskey/Traverse areas, but that just adds to the vintage feel of your trip. Lakewood Shores Resort in Oscoda brings together golf, a private beach, canoeing on the AuSable River and dining in all-inclusive packages, while Alpena’s Presque Isle Lodge offers a "Honeymoose Suite" and rustic, wood-paneled theme rooms for $75-$100/night.

Unique: If you really want to escape, try staying on an island, namely the 300-acre Middle Island near Alpena, where Keepers’ Lodge is located. For around $300/night, you’ll travel two miles offshore to your lodging, and your stay will include a tour of the island’s lighthouse. Your room does include all the basic necessities, but don’t forget to bring your own food because you won’t find any restaurants here.

PLAY

Scuba diving and snorkeling are popular Sunrise Side activities, as is exploring maritime history, an activity anchored by the standout Great Lakes Maritime Heritage Center in Alpena. Featuring a full-sized replica wooden Great Lakes schooner and shipwreck, an exhibit where visitors can "feel" a lake storm, a 93-seat theater, scientific research and dive facilities, and 9,000 feet of immersive exhibits, this is a must-stop. The Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary and Underwater Preserve offers glass-bottom boat tours leaving from Alpena, where you can view some of the 116 historically significant shipwrecks in the water.

Between Alpena and Oscoda is an attraction of epic proportions – dinosaur-sized, to be exact. It’s Dinosaur Gardens in Ossineke, a "prehistoric zoo" built in a swamp in the 1930s. Trek through to view a Pteradon nest, an Aptosaurus with a staircase and dino dioramas. Stay for ice cream afterward, as is necessary in any Jurassic-era park.

Lighthouses, lighthouses, lighthouses – there are plenty of those to see on this side of the state, from the 40 Mile Point Lighthouse in Rogers City, where you can stay overnight as a "guest lighthouse keeper," to the Tawas Point Lighthouse, with its decorated rooms for each decade of the lighthouse’s history. (Visit lighthousefriends.com to locate all the lighthouses in Michigan.)

For something really different, try the massive Laser Team Challenge in Alpena. Running around in the old National Guard armory – a 90-year-old building with 45,000 square feet of space – you’ll feel like you’re in a videogame, with plenty of obstacles and opponents for you to defeat with your laser gun every Saturday.

WHO KNEW?

Lake Huron has 30,000 islands and the largest amount of shoreline of all five Great Lakes – 3,827 miles – which means all the more beach and coastline for the Sunrise Side traveler to explore. Lake Huron was the first to be discovered by French explorers, who initially called it La Mer Douce, the sweet water sea.