Petoskey, Michigan
Our family recently had the chance to spend a beautiful day in Petoskey with some friends. Check out the Northern Michigan Coastline section under the destination tab for lots more area info! With a year round population of about 6,000 and a summer population that can swell up to 50,000 we appreciated the number of larger stores and amenities in the area, while still enjoying the quieter feel of downtown. There is a small fee for parking, which was a little annoying since we haven’t experienced that at many of the Michigan beach towns that we’ve visited. We parked near Grandpa Shorter’s Gift store downtown, and spent about an hour wandering through the cute little shops and stocking up on some souvenirs.
We enjoyed our visit to Petoskey State Park! The dunes were beautiful, despite the hazy sky from the Canadian wildfire smoke.
We then made our way through the pedestrian tunnel to Bayfront Park. We walked out on the pier to get a closer look at the beacon, saw where the Harbor Princess ferry was docked, and the big clocktower. As we were leaving the area we stopped in to see The Little Traverse History Museum. We enjoyed learning more about the area, and our boys even got the chance to play on Ernest Hemingway’s mother’s piano that made an appearance in a movie with Jimmy Stewart playing it! They were having some special events for kids that morning so the boys also enjoyed an ice cream treat on the way out.
Petoskey doesn’t have a lighthouse to see, but we enjoyed walking out to see the beacon with a view of Harbor Springs in the distance.
We spent the afternoon at Petoskey State Park relaxing on the beach. Despite the cold water temperatures the boys all went swimming (why am I always surprised? Boys are tough!). The dunes and sandy beach were the perfect backdrop for beach walks, sand toys, and soaking up the sun. We found several Charlevoix stones, but unfortunately no Petoskey stones.
The water was cold! I had trouble even walking on the water’s edge looking for stones, but the boys jumped right in!
For dinner we enjoyed some specialty pizza at Duffy’s Garage and Grille. They had some great tables that easily sat our party of 10. The view from the outside patio looked beautiful, and we were a little disappointed we didn’t wait to be seated out there. The downtown area in Petoskey is up on a bit of a hill, which gives it a great view of the water! For dessert we headed to Kilwin’s for ice cream at their larger location out of town. We got to take advantage of a fun promotion - chocolate (on the inside!) dipped cones for no extra charge. Yum!
Kilwin’s started in downtown Petoskey! We went to their larger store just north of town to enjoy the larger selection of ice cream and chocolate on the inside dipped cones.
We decided to head out of town before the sun set, but even so we fully enjoyed our day! If we ever go back I’d like to head to one of the rockier beaches for better Petoskey stone hunting, and we’d love to check out The Little Traverse Wheelway - the bike trail that connects Charlevoix to Harbor Springs and runs right through Petoskey. Petoskey is yet another charming Lake Michigan beach town, and definitely worth a stop!
