| A | B | C | |
|---|---|---|---|
1 | Destination | Distance/Duration | Reason |
2 | New Buffalo, MI | 1hr | shops and restaurants - It's also a lakefront town, and big boating town. Also, if you don't want to drive, Amtrak will take you from Union Station and drop you off right on the main strip, walkable to the beach. Plenty to do, and lots of breweries and wineries/distilleries nearby. About a 20 minute drive up to 4 winds casino and Lighthouse Outlet mall too. Do I sound like a New Buffalo tourism spokesperson yet? |
3 | Warren Dunes State Park, MI | 1-2hr | It's pretty nice you can camp there and the beach is good, even a doggy beach off to the side . There is a nice tap house in town for Greenbush Brewery but it gets busy on weekends. And there is a winery nearby too. Plus fresh Michigan apples |
4 | St Joseph, MI | 1.5hr | Shops and restaurants |
5 | Benton Harbor, MI | 2hr | Fantastic in the summer. Great drive along the lake for almost half of the way. Great beach there. |
6 | Milwaukee, WI | 2hr | - Milwaukee is indeed a pretty cool place for a weekend trip, but when we were there I'd forgotten that in most smaller cities a lot of places are closed on Sundays. I feel like we missed out on a ton of cool stuff just because we didn't plan ahead and forgot that detail. - Combine the train trip with one of the Summer Fest extravaganzas on the lake front. The most heavily attended is the Irish Fest, but others, including German Fest deliver interest as well. - I was really impressed with the city -- to me it feels more urban than many of the sprawing, but much bigger ones like Atlanta or Dallas. Lots of neat neighborhoods, incredible Art Museum architecture, tons of good food and beer. Definitely could have kept ourselves busy for 2-3 days. - Great Beer AND sausage. Walking around along the river is a good way to eat and drink way too much. They also have the Miller Brewery which is kind of fun. Mostly I found Milwaukee to just be super relaxing. |
7 | Holland, MI | 2.5hr | Great scenery, quaint downtown, the Holland brewery is downtown, good food, nice cafes, tulips everywhere, near hiking and national forest area. |
8 | Madison, WI | 2.5hr | Surrounded by lakes. Local beer and food scene has really taken off. Relaxing on the University's Union terrace is always great in the warm weather. Scenic drives north and west. Access to New Glarus. |
9 | Saugatuck, MI | 2.5hr | - Small, walkable downtown with a couple decent places to eat and no chain restaurants. Very popular with the gays. Great bicycling in that area too. - They have a great local brewery (Saugatuck Brewing Co. most widely known for their Neopolitan Milk Stout), and the best untouched and undeveloped beaches along Lake Michigan? Fennville, Mi is also coming into its own. They have a really wonderful winery (Fenn Valley) and Virtue Cider. In the Fall, Crane's Orchard is a great place to go to fill that apple picking need. They have also started making their own hard cider. New Buffalo, St. Joseph and Benton Harbor have awesome beaches and world class wineries. |
10 | Glen Arbor, MI | 3hr | The cutest small town you've ever seen. It's absolutely gorgeous too, rated most beautiful place in America. I would definitely recommend a trip there. It's 8 hours though, so that might be a bit much. They got great breweries too. |
11 | Indianapolis, IN | 3hr | A modern not-too-big city, friendly folks with a laid-back attitude (mostly), and feels more on the rise than most. I went the first time in '81 for the Indy 500 (and every year except 5 since), but have gone back many times for other stuff and had a blast. An exciting urban scene around the center of downtown to suite lots of tastes, and if you like a younger crowd, check out Broad Ripple, nw of downtown. |
12 | Manitowoc, WI | 3hr | Just don't sweat and you'll be fine. |
13 | Mineral Point, WI | 3hr | Awesome historic district and nearby is Taliesin (taliesinpreserversation.org) which is one of the estates of Frank Lloyd Wright |
14 | Baraboo, WI | 3 - 3.5hr | Devil's Lake & Mirror Lake State Parks, Pewit's Nest, Parfrey's Glen, Dr. Evermor's Forevertron- really great outdoor things to do (lots of hiking). Pinehaven is a wonderful place to stay. Dave & Pam are ridiculously kind people. |
15 | Wisconsin Dells, WI | 3 - 3.5hr | - Wilderness resort is amazing, and the best deals are in winter. If you can pool together some friends, try getting a suite with a kitchen and staying a 3 day weekend. You can do it sub $800, and the suites are big enough for 8 people or so. My parents have done it with extended family for a mini-vacation and it was pretty great. I'm not sure where they found the deals they have, but we've gone a few times to the wyndham section for pretty cheap. - Just last weekend. If I did it again I would def go during the week, hotels are cheaper. But it was still a great time for me and the gf. (I'm 29 and she's 27). |
16 | Devil's Lake, WI | 3-3.5hr | Huge park with lots of hiking, a big lake (duh) with rentable boats/paddle boards/etc. |
17 | Grand Rapids, MI | 3-3.5hr | Growing metro area. Fast growing beer economy and the home of Founders Brewery, among others. Also, have to mention ArtPrize. |
18 | Door County, WI | 3.5hr | Great for couples and families! |
19 | Green Bay, WI | 3-4hr | Maybe this city has a lot more to offer than I saw, but unless you're a huge Packers Fan it's not that amazing. |
20 | Iowa City, IA | 3.5-4hr | Great little town with a bustling life too. |
21 | Detroit, MI | 4hr | Tons of murals and street art Greektown is really fun on weekends at night Belle Isle is fun during the day in the summer Henry Ford Museum!!! And the Village on the same campus is amazing New breweries opening up left and right - No you wont get shot or robbed - Tigers games are fun - Hotels in downtown are expensive, Hotels within city limits are shitty and bedbugs, drive 11 minutes from the city limits and go to a quality chain hotel that has continental breakfest. - Some parts are really cool, some are just super depressing. It's amazing how much the people still there love the city. Their art museum is astoundingly good, I don't have a great knowledge of art but I was surprised at how many pieces I recognized. Slow's BBQ is some of the best food I've ever had. |
22 | St. Louis, MO | 4.5hr | - I lived in St. Louis for a year for work and I can say without a doubt this is the weirdest city that I had so much fun in. Soulard, Central West End, Delmar Loop, Wash Ave, the Hill, downtown St. Charles. These neighborhoods you can spend a weekend in, not break the bank and have a ton of fun. - I just went here with my boyfriend this summer and it's an amazing place for ALL ages. While we were down there we also visited St. Charles, MO which is like Galena for us. Many little antique shops, cobblestone roads, gelato. We ate dinner at an amazing restaurant called The Block, a butcher shop/restaurant. - Recently went to St. Louis specifically to visit the City Museum. It was great! We spent about about five or six hours climbing, crawling, and sliding...with a break in the middle to have a couple beers. Stayed at The Seven Gables Inn, which was a pretty great little spot. - Great beer, City museum and a fantastic zoo. There's a odd classic car museum out in the burbs that's cool if you like vintage Mercedes. Budweiser has a brewery here that offers tours. |
23 | Louisville, KY | 4.5 - 5hr | - lots of great restaurants, beer bars, places to drink too much bourbon. basically a good place to go if you like booze. - Last time we were there, we went to Holy Grale for a few beers and it was awesome. They had quite a few beers on tap that you very rarely see. Highly recommended. - Can confirm. Just moved to Chi from Louisville. Also, you can visit some spots on the Bourbon Trail just outside of Louisville if you have time. - Edit: spots* Also edit: hit up Hammerheads for dinner. Pretty hipster but food is good. - Charming old city that lives a lot bigger than it really is. Obviously if you're into bourbon, then it is a mecca. I've visited half a dozen distilleries and I still try and get back every year or so and notch some more off the list. The tours are pretty cool, there's something for everyone. As much crap as KY takes, Western Kentucky is mostly very beautiful scenery, nice small towns, and Louisville itself has a real good dining and nightlife scene but is still slower paced than Chicago. - SO MUCH BOURBON. Plan your route in advance and take a DD. Talk to everyone as a lot of the really cool places aren't necessarily in the tour brochures. Looking at you Copper And Kings. |
24 | Traverse City, MI | 5hr | Ski resorts in winter and wine/lake/outdoor activities all over in summer. Plus its gorgeous |
25 | Windsor, Canada | 5hr | Once there, we checked in at Ceasars Palace, gambled a bit and did the river walk looking at the US from Canada. The next day we went to Tim hortons, grabbed some poutine and then I drove her around the countryside on a wine tour. Lots of Wineries in Windsor. She likes wine, I think it tastes like ass, so it worked out well. The next day we took the Canadian Club whisky tour which was super fucking interesting, stumbled on a car show and had a great dinner alone together which is rare as we have kids. Next day we got up early, hit up the duty free shop and took the rest of the day meandering back to Chicago. We even stopped at American jewelry and loan, the home of Hardcore Pawn. It's small dumpy and shitty. Then we arrived back in chicago in the evening, reclaimed our kids and made home made pizza for dinner and watched Inside Out on then100 inch TV. |
26 | Columbus, OH | 5.5hr | A bit far to enjoy for a weekend, is also rather enjoyable. Has a fun food scene, and affordable Hockey games for when the Hawks are playing there. Try to attend Gallery Hop, if it's happening during your visit. |
27 | Red River Gorge, KY | 6hr | Beautiful country, lots of hiking, tons of rock climbing if your into it. |
28 | Upper Penisula, MI | 6hr | (insert something here) - This is the closest I've found to wilderness camping in the Midwest. You still might hear a train in the distance or the occasional car, but this satisfied my need to be outdoors that I'd been missing since leaving WA. |
29 | Marquette, MI | 6.5hr | place to go during the summer for a long weekend. Great scenery, good food, good outdoors activities. Mountain biking, hiking, foodie tours, Marquette has it all. |
30 | Nashville, TN | 7hr | It's a little bit longer of a drive, but worth it. Do like the idea of getting hammered and paying a band $20 to cover Smash mouth songs in a country bar? Then Nashville is the town for you. During football season Titans games are crazy cheap. I got front row tickets two seats away from the visitor tunnel to the Jet-Titans game for $38. |
31 | Duluth, MN | 8hr | looked awesome and would be cool to visit and adventure around. |
32 | Niagra Falls | 8hr | Waterfalls and scene |
33 | Sioux Falls, SD | 8.5hr | - I love it! Sioux falls should not be on the list. |
34 | Mississippi River | ????? | Up and down the Iowa/Illinois border. Very scenic, completely different way of life. Super cheap, very friendly people. Check out Maquoketa Caves, Palisades State Park in Savanah, Galena, Dubuque, Bellevue State Park. Just to name a few. |
35 | Circle Tour, Lake Michigan | ????? | We camped in several different spots along the way. It was beautiful and a nice get-away. Unfortunately, we had found advice that said it was doable in 2 days, so we figured that we'd "extend" the trip and take time for stopping by adding a day. It was not enough! We'd suggest breaking this into a 4 or 5 day trip if you really want time to stop in different towns and explore more. So not quite a weekend, but close enough. |
36 | Grand Marais, MN | 10 hours | Devil's Kettle! |
37 |