Indian Trails Blog

Summer trips in the Great Lakes region can be incredible, but the fun doesn’t stop at Labor Day. If your group is looking for fun on and after the holiday, why not begin at the 61^st Annual Mackinac Bridge Walk? After that there’s plenty more to do and see in the area!

The history of scheduled service bus travel probably goes back centuries, depending upon one’s interpretation of the word “bus.” Essentially any vehicle that could transport groups over the land might be considered a bus, but the first “modern” interpretation would probably be the “charabanc.”

Imagine what it was like in the upper peninsula in 1668, the year Sault Ste. Marie was founded by French Jesuit missionary Jacques Marquette on the south bank of the St. Marys River. The river was turbulent with rapids and was originally named Baawitigong or “place of the rapids” by the indigenous Ojibwa. The only connection between Lake Superior and Lake Huron, the river dropped 21 feet in a tumultuous waterfall that made uninterrupted travel by water impossible. It was wilderness then and served as a meeting place for the Ojibwa tribe who came together during whitefish season. In 1668, it became the first “city” in the entire Great Lakes region and “the place where Michigan was born.”

Mid-Michigan is a great place to spend a few days touring, with great areas to visit, excellent restaurants and shops, and beautiful parks and places to relax and enjoy with friends. If your group wants to try something new, consider these six points of interest on a tour of mid-Michigan’s many great places to go.

West Michigan has an incredible wealth of fantastic places to visit. You can enjoy awesome food and beverages, take in shows and concerts, view some of the state’s most beautiful vistas, or plan any of hundreds of other great ways to spend a day during your group tour. Here are four great venues to visit on a tour of west Michigan that will have a little — or a lot — of something for everyone.

Michigan’s Upper Peninsula is a true treasure, with so many places to go, events to attend and entertainment options to enjoy, it’s almost impossible to give it all the accolades deserved. Instead, here’s a look at group trip ideas to enjoy the great outdoors in one of our country’s most pristine and beautiful areas.

Lake Superior, as its name states, is in a class by itself in the Americas. With a surface area of 31,700 square miles and a volume of three quadrillion gallons (that’s 3,000,000,000,000,000) or 10 percent of the world’s fresh surface water, it’s topped only by Lake Baikal in Siberia, which holds 20 percent of the world’s freshwater.

Michigan is pretty much synonymous with water, freshwater that is, and it’s no wonder. The mitten state has 11,000 inland lakes and borders four of the five Great Lakes with more than 3,100 miles of freshwater shoreline — more than any other state (and second only to Alaska for total shoreline). That said, it stands to reason that Michigan also has a ton of great beaches and most Michiganders have their sworn favorites. But here’s a challenge for your next group trip — try a new beach nowhere near your favorite and get to know what other areas have to offer. You might be happily surprised to find you have two favorites!

Teaching summer school can be difficult when students would rather be outdoors. But one perfect solution to the problem is to take your students out of the indoor classroom and into the outdoor classroom Mother Nature creates every summer in Michigan. Whether you need a day of hiking and bug finding to blow off steam or a well-rounded program addressing specific aspects of ecology, here are six great programs to consider.

If you’re looking for group bus trip ideas this summer, we’ve got you covered.