Harbor Springs Travel Diary
We don’t typically take two vacations in the summer, but I felt like 2021 needed to be the exception, in part to make up for the lack of travel in 2020 and in part because it was Andrew’s last before heading to college. We first visited Harbor Springs, MI last summer and loved it. You can read all about that trip and my recommendations here. But, we were still in the thick of the pandemic last summer and we weren’t eating inside yet, many businesses weren’t operating at full capacity, so we wanted a chance to experience it under more “normal” circumstances. Thankfully we were there before the Delta variant was running rampant and making us all feel like we took a big step backwards in conquering Covid.
We booked a little late and were unable to find a home to rent in Harbor Springs, so we decided to stay at the Colonial Inn. It’s located next to the Wequetonsing Association which is one of my favorite parts of Harbor Springs. It truly feels like you are stepping back in time, sprawling Victorian summer homes with expansive lawns, American flags and white hydrangeas galore, with parents drinking evening cocktails on their front porches while kids run around barefoot in sweatshirts and swimsuits, their hair still wet from spending the day in the water. It’s really special. The Colonial Inn feels a bit like it’s stuck in the same time warp. Like Don and Betty Draper would show up at any moment. I don’t want to call it a motel, because that doesn’t fit with the blue and white gingham chairs in the dining room or the scalloped lampshades in the lobby, yet it has that 1950’s motel feel too. We were in a two bedroom suite which was great for the 4 nights we were there. The boys had the better room, with a gas fireplace and balcony overlooking the lawn and main house.
We repeated many of our favorites from last year - jet skiing on Walloon Lake, Gunrey’s sandwiches (daily!), biking along Beach Drive., dinner in Petoskey, HS farmer’s market, American Spoon, Tom’s Mom’s Cookies, pontoon boating, and sunset swims. A couple new finds that we also enjoyed were The Pointer Cruise in Harbor Springs and American Spoon Gelato shop in Petoskey (it was closed last year). I also found a wonderful bookstore in Petoskey called McLean and Eakins. We were lucky enough to have our trip overlap with our friends who are Harbor Springs experts, one grew up going every summer and his parents still spend their summers at their vacation home there. We spent a whole day on the water with them which was Charlie and Andrew’s favorite part of the trip. It was chilly and threatened to rain the whole day but we still had the best time and enjoyed having the lake to ourselves.
I don’t know if we will make it back next summer, I’m really hoping for Covid to be a non issue by then so we can start traveling more easily overseas again. Fingers crossed. In the meantime, we are so thankful to have such a beautiful place within an easy drive from Cincinnati.
