Michigan Travel · Up North
North of Bay City, two towns is a weekend
North of Bay City, the state opens into more shore than a weekend can use. Two towns is the right number. One is better if the drive is already long.
Pick a harbor or an inland lake, not both before dark. A harbor town on Lake Huron or Lake Michigan is a pier, a channel, and a short main street. An inland lake is a smaller shore and a quieter road. Doing one of each in a single Saturday is how a weekend becomes a tour. You will see both waters from the car and arrive at neither in time to walk.
Leave Bay City in the morning and stop being ambitious by the early afternoon. Early October daylight is already shorter. The second town, if you insist on one, should be close enough that you are on its street while the lights are coming on, not hunting a third lake because the map still has room.
The Leelanau shore, the Straits, and the Upper Peninsula are other editions. They do not fit in the margin of this drive. Choose the water, choose the town, and let the rest of Up North stay on the map where it is.