Golf, lakes, trails, and fall colors — your guide to the best of northern Michigan, from the heart of Granny's country.
Thirty minutes south of Mancelona, buried in the state forest, is one of the most interesting places in Northern Michigan — a ghost town on the Manistee River that almost nobody knows about.
Read More →Labor Day weekend is the unofficial curtain call of northern Michigan summer — and it's one of the best weekends of the year to be up here. Here's how to spend it right near Mancelona.
Read More →Michigan has one of the largest free-roaming elk herds east of the Mississippi — and it lives about 30 minutes from Granny's Hideaway. August is one of the best times to see them.
Read More →Every Michigander has one somewhere — on a windowsill, in a coat pocket, passed down from a grandparent. Hunting for Petoskey stones is a northern Michigan summer tradition, and you're about 45 minutes from the best beaches.
Read More →Step outside Granny's Hideaway after dark and look up — northern Michigan's skies still have real darkness in them, and summer nights are the best time to use it.
Read More →Mid-July through August is blueberry season in Northern Michigan — and if you've never picked them fresh in Antrim County, you're missing one of summer's genuine pleasures.
Read More →Seven lakes, all connected. You can boat or paddle from Jordan Lake all the way to Torch Lake without ever leaving the water. Here's your guide to one of Northern Michigan's best-kept secrets.
Read More →There's nowhere quite like Northern Michigan on the Fourth of July — small-town parades, fireworks over the lake, and the kind of summer weekend that sticks with you. Here's how to spend it right.
Read More →Northern Michigan has some of the clearest, most gorgeous lakes in the country — and most of them are within a short drive of Mancelona. Here's where to swim, splash, and cool off this summer.
Read More →Northern Michigan has some of the most rewarding hiking in the Midwest — and you don't have to drive hours to find it. Here are the trails worth putting on your list when you're staying near Mancelona.
Read More →Antrim County has some of the clearest, most beautiful water in the Midwest — and you don't have to fight for a parking spot to find it. Here's where to swim near Granny's Hideaway.
Read More →Antrim County is sitting on some of the best freshwater fishing in Michigan — and most people drive right past it. Here's where to wet a line when you're staying near Mancelona.
Read More →Right down the road from Granny's Hideaway sits one of northern Michigan's best-kept secrets — a community resort with championship golf, wooded trails, and that classic Up North feeling most travelers never find.
Read More →Just 25 miles from Granny's Hideaway, the Jordan River Valley is one of the most stunning and overlooked natural areas in the Lower Peninsula — a place of deep forest, cold trout water, wild elk, and views that stop you in your tracks.
Read More →About 20 minutes from Granny's Hideaway sits one of northern Michigan's most unusual destinations — a ghost town swallowed by the forest, a prime fly fishing river, and 4,700 acres of wild public land most visitors never find.
Read More →Memorial Day weekend is the unofficial start of northern Michigan's summer season — and if you haven't been up here for it yet, you're missing something special. Here's how to spend it right.
Read More →Before Granny's Hideaway was a rental, it was just Grandma Viola's place — a little chalet she built in the woods of Mancelona in the early 1970s, where summers smelled like pine and percolated coffee. Here's the story.
Read More →The ice is off the lakes, the trout streams are running cold and clear, and northern Michigan is waking up. Spring is one of the best-kept secrets for fishing in Antrim County — here's where to go and what to expect.
Read More →Gaylord, Michigan isn't just a small town in the north — it's the self-proclaimed Golf Mecca of the Midwest, and it absolutely earns that title. With over 20 championship courses within a short drive, it's one of the most golf-dense destinations in the entire country.
Read More →There's a lake in northern Michigan that regularly gets compared to the Caribbean. Not because anyone's exaggerating — it's because the water actually turns that impossible shade of turquoise blue that you'd expect to find in the Bahamas, not the Midwest. That lake is Torch Lake, and it's one of Michigan's most spectacular natural treasures.
Read More →One of the best things about staying near the Lakes of the North community in northern Michigan is that you don't have to drive far to find incredible trail systems. For ORV riders and snowmobilers, this area is as good as it gets in the Lower Peninsula — with hundreds of miles of maintained trails practically right out the door.
Read More →Yes, Gaylord is the Golf Mecca of the Midwest. But if golf isn't your thing — or you're bringing along people who'd rather explore than putt — northern Michigan has an incredible range of activities for every season and every type of traveler.
Read More →Michigan's Upper Peninsula gets most of the fall color attention, but the northern Lower Peninsula puts on a show that rivals anything in New England. The combination of hardwood forests, dramatic lake shorelines, and winding river valleys creates a foliage experience unlike anywhere else in the Midwest.
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