Breezes are warm, beaches and trails inviting, and June love is in the air. Here are 10 ways to rekindle the romance with (or in) Michigan’s north this month. Find these ideas and more in the June 2015 issue of Traverse, Northern Michigan’s Magazine. 


Picnic serenades are free when you pack your wicker basket and let a live band set the mood.  In Charlevoix, hear bands from blues to roots at the Thursday Summer Concert Series in East Park, adjacent to the marina. June 4, Kellerville; June 18, Jon Archambault Band; June 25, The Medicine Bell. 7 pm. charlevoix.org.

Mission Point on Mackinac Island spins romance especially when you revisit scenes filmed there for the cult classic movie Somewhere in Time. At day’s end, toast one another (and some classy new renovations at the resort) with signature lilac cocktails—created in honor of the island’s famous lilacs. 906.847.3000, missionpoint.com.

Pedaling Togetherness is sublime on the newly expanded Sleeping Bear Heritage Trail that runs from Empire, through Glen Arbor, to the Port Oneida Rural Historic District for a total of nearly 13 miles. Rent bikes in Empire at: Heritage Trail Bike, 231.357.5070, heritagetrailbikes.com; Empire Outdoors, 231.326.5433, empiremioutdoors.com. In Glen Arbor: Crystal River Outfitters, 231.334.4420, crystalriveroutfitters.com.

Book a cozy cabin-for-two on big, beautiful Houghton Lake. $130 a night, porch rockers included. vrbo.com/467548.

Soak in the Great Lakes view from your hot tub at romantic Huron House, on a stretch of sandy Lake Huron shoreline between Oscoda and Tawas. Ask for breakfast delivered to your door and order up an in-room massage. 989.739.9255, huronhouse.com.

Hide yourselves away in a vineyard for just $150 a night when you book the solo cabin-in-the-vines at Silver Leaf Vineyard and Winery near Suttons Bay. 231.271.3111, silverleafvineyard.com.

Boat tours customized to your favorite beverage (bloody Mary, microbrew, wine) or by theme like the Friday night fireworks over St. Ignace, depending on which of the some 60 new cruises you pick on the Arnold Line ferry company’s comfy new cruiser, the Isle Royale Queen III; arnoldline.com.

Your soaring will mimic how you feel when you book a hot air balloon ride (grandtraverseballoons.com), a twin zipline trip (boyne.com/boynemountain), or a helicopter tour (tcflyingadventures.com). You’ll catch the sunrise on the balloon tour, a colorful day’s end on the 60-mile luxury helicopter sunset tour.

A good day can go on forever at Michigan’s tip, the Keweenaw Peninsula, where twilight stretches until nearly dawn around the summer solstice. The winding road up to Brockway Mountain Drive, is arguably the most romantic east of the Mississippi, and the stay’s special too, when you book at the Keweenaw Mountain Lodge; atthelodge.com.

If the couple that plays together really is set forever, book a round of FootGolf, a new craze played with a soccer ball, kicked toward an oversized cup on an alternate green. There’s no embarrassing yourself, since no one else knows how to play either, and every FootGolf round scores a voucher for a free clinic at Treetops Resort in Gaylord; treetops.com. 

 

More Northern Michigan Vacation Ideas

FootGolf in Northern Michigan

Sleeping Bear Heritage Trail to Port Oneida Opens

Free Fishing Weekend June 13-14Â