West Michigan's Morning News

Pure Michigan Summer - Bakita Family Petosky Trip

Bret Bakita's family is heading up to the Petosky area this weekend for his Pure Michigan summer trip. Nick Nerbonne, Media, Digital and Industry Relations Director with Travel Michigan joins WMMN to discuss all that the Petosky area has to offer.

Duration:: 5m
Broadcast on:: 12 Jul 2024
Audio Format:: mp3

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We go there in the winter as well with our snowmobiles, and it's just a hidden gem. There's so many, like, big lakes around. Plus, you've got, you know, Little Traverse Bay there with Lake Michigan, but it probably starts the conversation all year round with Boyne and their beautiful resorts, right? Yeah, that's true. The Boyne Resorts has a big presence up in the Potosky region, starting with Boyne Mountain in the Grand Mountain Lodge. And, of course, during the winter months, Boyne Highlands as well. It's now called the Highlands at Harbor Springs, and they both have wonderful summer activities as well, like Greg Daulfer. These are two of the best destinations in the United States, because then you've got in the middle of that Bay Harbor and the beautiful Inuit Bay Harbor on the shores of Lake Michigan. The wonderful properties to visit during the summer. And I love the fact that many people might not know this. There's a lot of trail systems around there. I know that from snowmobiling, but you can use, obviously, in the summer, too, if you like, to bike and everything. And when I look at, you know, from Harbor Springs all the way around to Potosky and everything, there are a lot of places to just get off and maybe look for Potosky stones or do that kind of thing, too. Well, Potosky State Park is right in the middle between Harbor Springs and Potosky. And it's actually one of the most beautiful beaches in that part of the state. They've got dunes along the beach area there. And it's a significant-- it's almost a mile of Lake Michigan Beach right there at Potosky State Park. And if you have the recreation passport, when you register your Michigan vehicle, you can go into the Potosky State Park for free, park your car, and have a wonderful beach experience right there near Potosky and Harbor Springs. And where else in the world besides Flint, do you have a stone named after you? Wait for that. It's going to come back around. That's true. It's going to come back around. Did you know there's also a Charlevois stone? I had no idea. What's that one look like? Well, so you've got the Potosky stone that kind of looks like a fossil that has kind of a freshwater coral look to it. And the Charlevois stone is similar, but it's a smaller circumference in the pattern. So it's a similar type of fossil from a freshwater organism in the vegetation that lived thousands of years ago and was preserved during the glacial era. And it's the similar to the Potosky stone, but also can be found in the similar areas in the lower peninsula. Nick, that's-- it's a great point. You could spend hours with unscripted things to do, right? For families. Or tons of scripted things that you should probably make a reservation for. Talk to us a little bit more about family experiences. Well, when I talk about Potosky, one of the first things I want to do is say, hey, are there some unique dining experiences that I can look for? And I don't know if you're both familiar with legs in. Oh, yeah. Legs in is such a unique gem up there off of 119 that you can visit if you go through Harbor Springs and go up the tunnel of trees. They've got that backyard area. The summertime, it is, I think, a month visit. You've got the beautiful gardens there. But if you're lucky to get a beautiful sunny day, you can see four light houses in the backyard there. And of course, when you finally sit down, you can enjoy the wonderful home-cooked Polish cuisine right there at that beautiful setting. You can't beat it. Nick, the other thing I love about Potosky in that whole area with Harbor Springs is there are so many different things you can do. Like I said, with Lake Michigan or inland lakes, and we are staying at Crooked River Lodge, one of our favorites in a lancin, just north of Potosky, and talk about the waterway there. Because if you have a boat or we're going to do some kayaking, you've got the Crooked River that runs right behind it, and that can connect you all the way up to Burt Lake and beyond. Yeah, and actually, if you go the other direction, you've got a Crooked Lake, that waterway. They've even got a locked system, which is such a unique thing to have for inland lakes. You don't really hear about that very often. But yeah, if you get up into Burt Lake and Mullet Lake, you can connect all the way out to the Straits of Mackinac. But such a fantastic family activity. If you're traveling with a boat or there are boat rentals available, where you can go through that inland waterway, see different communities in Michigan, northern Michigan, from the water. So a fantastic experience and allows us a different types of experiences along the way. Michigan.org is where you should begin your search if you like the Bakeda family or the Kelly family a little earlier in the summer. We'd like to scout out something fun to do to get out of dodge, as they say. Nick Nurbon is the media, digital, and industry relations director at Travel Michigan. Thanks for your time again today. My pleasure and have a great weekend.