Harbor Springs, MI

Harbor Springs!

Our 1st stop

What a beautiful place for our first extended stay on this adventure! This town is a complete slice of Americana, friendly faces and boat culture. We stayed in a perfect Airbnb located above a one-chair barber shop, a short walk from downtown.

We had some very tasty meals in the area, Chandler's in Petoskey probably takes the cake for overall dining experience. Our coffee shop of choice was Couchon, they have a great walkup window and make a mean capuccine.

Most of our free time in Harbor was spent exploring the peninsula—mainly its beaches, houses and boats. The weather was almost always a CRISP mid-70s and sunny, with a few sporadic rainy days and a few real scorchers sprinkled in for effect. Keep scrolling for some pictures and words on notable events and experiences.

4th of July

We arrived on the 1st and immediately saw just how serious Harbor Springs is about the America's Holiday. Signage lining main street notified all that any chairs left along the parade route before 7am on the 4th would be confiscated by local PD. We didn't think those signs could possibly be necessary but, sure enough, at 8am on the 4th the streets were lined with chairs in anticipation of the 1pm parade kickoff.

We scrambled to buy foldable chairs and tumblers, and successfully made it down to secure a front row seat to the event. It was as advertised—filled with local veterans groups, car enthusiasts, and youth marching bands.

Later that evening, we grabbed a great spot up on the bluff to watch the fireworks that were shot from a barge in the middle of the harbor.

Dock Dogs and Polo

We drove for about an hour down to Traverse City to experience the annual Cherry Festival and catch a glimpse of some of the best athletes on the peninsula. If you've never seen Dock Dogs in action, you should try to catch a competition—some of these pups FLY! The dogs vary in age and experience, so even when they're not killer jumpers the audience is in for a show.

During one of our peninsula explorations we stumbled upon polo grounds set seemingly in the middle of nowhere complete with a wooden scoreboard, goal posts, wood boards indicating field-boundaries and pristine grass. We stopped in to watch a few chukkers (??).