The Long Way to Madison

We've traveled from Madison to Michigan and back plenty of times and have always gone the same way: through Chicago and across Michigan on I-94. Even before we left our jobs we talked about going the long way around but it always took too much time away from family. But now that we had the opportunity, we finally went through the upper peninsula of Michigan and back down Wisconsin to get to Madison.

Day 1 - Across the Bridge!

We set out from Maureen's parents' house with everything we would need for our upcoming road trip and headed north. Along the way we stopped in Frankenmuth, MI to visit Bronner's Christmas Wonderland. Bronner's is a massive, all-year Christmas store and it was easy to forget it was almost 90 degrees outside when you're inside. We explored every section and bought an ornament that reminded us of our Europe trip: a Dutch windmill. After Bronner's we checked out the Frankenmuth Brewery and the rest of the town. Frankenmuth is called "Michigan's Little Bavaria" and it definitely looks and feels the part.

We reached the Mackinac Bridge after a few more hours of driving and crossed into the UP! Our campsite wasn't too far away so we stopped and admired the bridge from a park nearby.

Mackinac Bridge 

We reached our campsite and set up the tent in time to enjoy the sunset over Lake Michigan. Neither one of us had been camping for a few years but we need to get back in the swing of it with our road trip coming up.

Just over the hill from our campsite

Lake Michigan

Day 2 - Pictured Rocks

The next morning we had breakfast, packed up the campsite, and continued on through the UP. Along the way we headed north to Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. We enjoyed Lake Superior, a rock formation called Miner's Castle, and got a great view of the cliffs that gave Pictured Rocks its name. We also made time for a quick hike to Miner's Falls before continuing on the way towards Wisconsin. There is so much to see at Pictured Rocks we could have easily spent a week there camping, kayaking, and hiking.

Miner's Castle and Lake Superior

Miner's Falls

We kept on driving from Pictured Rocks and made a stop at Upper Hand Brewery in Escanaba. Upper Hand is a division of Bell's Brewery but they are only available in the UP and Northern Wisconsin. We made our way from Escanaba down into Wisconsin and finally made it to Green Bay where we checked into our Airbnb for the evening. We hit up Titletown Brewing and enjoyed some ramen on the roof for dinner.

Day 3 - Back to Madison

The next morning we went to Kavarna for breakfast and explored Green Bay a bit before traveling the rest of the way to Madison. After the long, three day journey we made it back to one of our favorite cities and went out to some of our favorite restaurants and bars. It was definitely worth the drive to travel the long way through the UP. Now we are planning our road trip out west which starts in a week! Be sure to check out the new map below to see where we'll be!