Super Summer Checklist: 12 Weeks to a Younger You By Lynda Wheatley Know what you’ll do this summer? Make it the best one ever, obviously. The way we see it, with Mother Nature’s cooperation, you’ve got about 12 divine weeks of warm weather ahead of you in one of the prettiest places on earth. Don’t squander a single weekend ahead doing anything your 10-year-old self wouldn’t do. (Looking at you, guy glued to the lawn chair in his garage from June to September.) If you’ve lost touch with the fire inside that freckle-faced, scrape-kneed, up-for-anything little runt, relax. We’ve assembled a baker’s dozen of ideas to help you plan a summer Up North that’s as sweet and wild as the best you can remember. (Assuming you actually can remember, of course.)
Sleep in the Trees
If you’ve ever spent a night in your childhood treehouse — or wanted to — this is your summer. The GO•REC Greilick Outdoor Recreation & Education Center, just outside Traverse City, is now booking $50+ overnight stays in two-person tents suspended between trees in its lush and lovely Acadia loop. Spend a leisurely weekend finding your zen as you listen to the leaves or tack on some hiking, biking, kayaking, or rock climbing — dozens of programs and activities are available at this 500-acre wooded lakeside retreat. Exploregorec.org
Zip It
Not just a neighborhood ski hill anymore, Traverse City’s Mt. Holiday is a hub for year-round hiking, biking, and most recently, zip-lining. Any thrill-seeker weighing 60–360 pounds can hook in and zip through the air at 25 to 30mph. Seven stations and eight lines equal about 1.5 hours of high-flying fun for $45, but if you want to extend the excitement, reserve your spot in a zipline tour before dinner or after Sunday brunch at the mountaintop’s T-bar Lounge, where you’ll find a market menu as inspiring as the perched eatery’s views. (Got a family reunion on the summer agenda? Ask about the accelerated $350-per-hour Hike ’n’ Zip Adventure.) (231) 938-2500, mt-holiday.com
Embrace Transparency
Maybe you want to see fish and sunken treasures. Maybe you want them to see you. Whatever your fancy, you can make it happen aboard a seethrough kayak from the new Clear Water Kayaks. Based in Traverse City but offering tours in Grand Traverse Bay, Elk Rapids, and on Torch Lake, too, the young company has excursions designed for all ages and skill levels and those 21+ only (see the $140+ Food, Booze & Cruise), and even a twilight tour where you — OK, your kayak — shines bright with LED lights and UV Lights so you can be “the light of the party.” See what’s possible at clearwaterkayakstc.com.
Get Your Motor Runnin’
Cruise the World’ World’s Prettiest Golf Courses
Longing to witness a place Golf Advisor named one of the “Most Beautiful Courses in the World” … without swinging a golf club a single time? Non-golfers, Bay Harbor Golf Club has the shank-averse tour for you. The new Cliffview Cart Cruise lets you cruise along a sublimely scenic route across The Links and The Quarry courses, with a little time set aside for six stops within one hour. You’ll soak in the views, capture photos, sap up some insider history, and get to drive your own cart (as part of a guided caravan). The cost is $49 per person and includes a beverage of your choice to be enjoyed during the Cruise or post-tour at the on-site The Links Grill, where the patio overlooking Lake Michigan’s Little Traverse Bay lets the big views linger on and on. A limited number of tickets are available for each tour; head to www.bayharborgolf.com to get yours.
10 • june 07, 2021 • Northern Express Weekly
Turns out, Merritt Speedway, which proclaims itself “Michigan’s premier dirt track” is actually a ¼-mile semi-baked clay oval surface track of the finest kind. It also hosts the most fun on four wheels every Saturday night. That’s when the races — late models, modified, pro trucks, and/or street stocks — hit the gas … and crash and crunch, with plenty of hooting and hollering from the crowd, in what seems like the middle of nowhere but is actually just a giant swath of farm field just east of sweet lil’ Lake City. Coolers, kids, and camping are welcome at these intentionally family friendly evenings; alcohol is not. Gates open at 4pm, time trials start at 6pm, the races launch at 7pm. www. merrittspeedwaymi.com
