Not since between the ages of three and five, when I made it my short-term mission in life to convince my parents to buy me a Fisher Price Power Wheels truck, did I covet a lazy-moving, four-wheeled vehicle as badly as I did a golf cart following my visit last summer to Northport, Michigan. Located in Leelanau Township, near the tip of the mitt’s little finger, the low-key, resortlike village sits about 45 minutes north of Traverse City (and nearly six hours from Chicago) and is scattered with the no-longer-working man’s preferred mode of electric transportation. And I have a few hunches as to why.
That charm is evident most conspicuously in the post-Memorial Day summer events. Like any good arts-based village, Northport holds a fireworks extravaganza every Fourth of July in which its 600 full-time residents, its bed-and-breakfast guests, and interlopers from neighboring towns—like Omena, a ten-minute drive south—gather in the park, lawn chairs in tow, and gaze at streamers bursting over Lake Michigan.
Finally, if you are ever blessed with the chance to rent (or hijack) a boat and sail out on Lake Michigan, head east from the Northport marina toward Gull Island, or at least until the stench of seagulls becomes unbearable. The property of a Harvard professor in the early 20th century, the island was quickly taken over by swarms of herring gulls who eventually pushed the professor out of the home he’d constructed there and started their own colony. Now owned by the Leelanau Conservancy, the island is uninhabitable by humans, with the remaining pieces of rubble from the professor’s house acting as the seagulls’ constant reminder: no golf carts allowed.
WHERE TO EAT: North End Eatery. Go for the above-average pizza, or just for pie names like the “NASCAR” and the “Southern Cross.”
WHERE TO SLEEP: Days Gone By Bed & Breakfast. A precious Victorian-style country home with an unnerving amount of creepy dolls perched on sills. $149-$169 per night. daysgonebybnb.com.
WHAT TO DO: Northport Dog Parade and Wine Festival. Dress your dog in a fancy suit, march him through downtown, and then perhaps hobnob and drink wine with Mario Batali. 8/11, dog parade is free, $15 wine festival admission includes three wine tickets. northport-omenachamber.org.
THREE OTHER ROAD TRIPS
Two cycling day trips to three brewpubs
Mount Carroll‘s subtle and spooky kind of charm
Saint Louis, not just a smaller, inferior version of Chicago