Dunes, cherry mania on Grand Traverse Bay

Ok. This is one of our top two family vacations. Seriously. We have gone "up North" to The Homestead on Grand Traverse nearly every summer for the last two decades.


Our kids love the beach club and great swaths of sugar sand beach and tourmaline water. mmm. We discovered it on our honeymoon.


If there's a more inspiring spot from which to explore Michigan's classic "up north" beach towns than the Leelanau Peninsula, this native Michigander has yet to find it.

The best base for exploring the Leelanau is the Homestead, a family resort of 122 rooms and 700 cottages and condominiums set in the National Lakeshore Park, created when Congress bought 25 miles of pristine Lake Michigan coastline in 1970. Three decades later, it still has that traditional "up north" vibe - red pine forests and miles of big, sandy Great Lakes beaches.

Cradled between the dunes and the emerald cusp of Glen Lake, the Michigan coastal resort of Glen Arbor is blessed with breezily fresh summer days. Cherry orchards and vineyards quilt the hillsides and small fishing villages are strewn along M-22, the old shore road.

The dune-sculpted coast is legendary for its beauty and steeped in myth. Rising 400 feet above an aqua shoreline, the sandy monoliths rise rounded over the Manitou Straits.

According to Chippewa tribal legend, the dunes formed when Mishe Mokwa and her cubs swam Lake Michigan, fleeing a wildfire. Mama bear climbed a bluff to wait for the cubs and still lies waiting for them beneath the sands.

HOMESTEAD RESORT

The Homestead Resort is within an hour or two from Michigan's most popular Great Lakes summer resorts - Mackinac Island, Traverse City and Petoskey.

The resort's 435-acres are heavily forested, pungent pines and cedars scent the air and waterscapes dot the village center at newly redecorated Fiddler's Pond. Cottage-chic suites boast river rock fireplaces and decks overlooking a brook. There's Camp Tam-A-Rack for kids, plus a black-bottom pool with a water slide and hot tub. The action is definitely down at the beach club in summer.

There, the pool deck overlooks a milelong Lake Michigan beach, five tennis courts, the Betsie River (great for tubing and canoeing), and an outdoor heated pool and hot tub. There's also a nine-hole, par-3 golf course.

If You Go

Glen Arbor and the Homestead: Guest rooms from $174, $92 after Labor Day. Wood Ridge Road, Glen Arbor, Mich. 231-334-5000; www.thehomesteadresort.com.

Sleeping Bear Dune National Lakeshore: Visitor Center open 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily Memorial Day to Labor Day. Sleeping Bear Dunegrass and Blues Festival Aug. 3-5. www.sleepingbeardunes.com.

Local tourism info: www.glenarbor.com.

Camping: Tubing from $10 an hour, canoes from $28 an hour, campsites from $15 at www.betsierivercanoesandcampground.com; 231-879-3850.