Great Lakes! Great Tours!
Back by popular demand the triad of Great Lakes trip offerings in 2012! You can have your fudge and eat it too by choosing any one of three styles of Adventure Cycling Association tours within the Great Lakes region:Great Lakes Self-ContainedGreat Lakes Inn-to-Inn
Great Lakes Relaxed (fully-supported)Having lived in the Upper Peninsula (da U.P.) of Michigan for two years (Mo speaking here), my memories include a wonderful laid-back atmosphere, great sunsets, northern lights, and, yes, pasties (the meat filled pastry dish, that is). The summers in this northern region are cool and breezy; the fall light is baked with color and the roads wind through tunnels of eastern forest or beech, birch, and maple galore.Our Great Lakes tours offer gentle landscapes of understated beauty as well as plenty of lake views, a trip to Mackinac Island (yah der dats pronounced Mackinaaww), and surprising, sandy, resort-style beaches. This is your chance to experience Lake Superior in all is grandeur.
But heck, don't listen to me, I'm just a poser of a Yooper. Here are some testimonials from previous Great Lakes tour participants:"It was exactly what I needed for a vacation."
- 2011 TOUR PARTICIPANT"The itinerary was well thought out and the effort to capture 'local flavor' with lodging and restaurants was excellent."
- 2011 TOUR PARTICIPANT"This trip was fantastic. The tour leaders were great; I really appreciated their leadership and knowledge. I could not have hand picked a better group to ride with, the scenery was beautiful...wonderful history."
- 2008 TOUR PARTICIPANTI asked two of last year's tour leaders to pipe in as well, and offer U.P. some northern Michigan touring notes:
- Chuck Pengilly, self-contained 2011: "Fudge, Fudge, Fudge, why is there so much fudge?" As a side note, Yoopers call tourists Fudgies.
- Tim Meyer has led four Great Lakes tours! He recommends Fish House in Paradise, with fresh whitefish coming right off the boat, also the abandoned Eckerman fish hatchery, including the half-mile two track that Tim has a claim to fame as the only Laker to have traveled back there.

Photos (top and bottom) courtesy of Michael Surgeon, 2011 Tour Participant
Photo (middle) courtesy of Tim Meyer, 2011 Tour Leader--ON THE ROAD is written by the tours team -- Mo, Paul, Madeline, and Arlen -- tours specialists and intrepid bicyclists, covering all things related to Adventure Cycling's Tours Department. We've just announced our 2012 Tours Slate!
Source: http://blog.adventurecycling.org/2011/12/great-lakes-great-tours.html