Time Traveling

Don’t bother to pack the dinner jacket for this vacation, but don’t forget your sneakers. While the Little Traverse Bay area of Michigan—the ring finger’s tip on the mitten-shaped segment of the state map—boasts its share of posh resorts and fine-dining venues, the lure of this popular vacation destination is in seeing rather than being seen.

Actually, make that doing—this is not a place for lounge lizards. “We set the stage, then you’re the actor,” says Peter Fitzsimons, executive director of the Petoskey–Harbor Springs–Boyne Country Visitors Bureau.

All the towns along the bay—Charlevoix, Bay Harbor, Horton Bay, Petoskey, and Harbor Springs—provide the props: golf courses galore; salmon, bass, walleye, and the locally revered whitefish to catch; ski resorts boasting hills for every skill level; nature preserves veined with hiking trails; and a beautiful, twenty-six–mile, blessedly flat bike path that winds between the deep, blue bay and autumn’s blinding maples. But each town also offers a little something special along the way, from specialty shops—you’ll be hard-pressed to find a Gap or Starbucks—to Ernest Hemingway hideouts just waiting to be found.

Charlevoix
The first stop on the trek around the bay, Charlevoix is a harbor town of 5,500, sliced in half by the Pine River Channel, which leads from Lake Charlevoix to Lake Michigan. Scores of squat, Hobbitlike stone houses with cedar shake roofs dot the town, each home a little different from its neighbor. Designed by Earl Young, the town’s Frank Gehry, the homes act as conversation pieces for visitors wending their way through town. Continuing the stone-built theme is Castle Farms, a faux French Renaissance castle built by Albert Loeb, the scion behind Sears, Roebuck. Today it welcomes visitors touring its halls and picnicking in its formal gardens. If you prefer food over fanciful architecture, stroll down Main Street—planted with perky petunias from one end to the other. Stop for a lunch of local whitefish chowder at Weathervane, a former mill (a mammoth fireplace with its  nine-ton keystone glacial boulder is the giveaway) that was converted to a restaurant by—who else?—Earl Young.  Finish up across the street at Murdick’s Fudge Shoppe or savor an espresso at nearby Woolly Bugger while you dither over which yacht to rent at the office next door. Castle Farms, 231-237-0884; Weathervane, 231-547-4311; Murdick’s, 231-547-4213; Woolly Bugger, 231-237-0740

Bay Harbor
Swoop into Bay Harbor, just up the road, in time for sunset. The luxe but laidback Inn at Bay Harbor earns top billing for the evening’s entertainment. After a sip of something special in the South American Lounge, designed with the old-school charm of its namesake Great Lakes cruise ship, indulge in a game of lawn chess before ambling down the road to Latitude, a swish, contemporary dockside restaurant where seafood rules, sushi to skate wing. The next morning, awake to the inn’s lemon soufflé pancakes—a must for breakfast. Justify them as fuel, not simply fancy calories, because the inn’s guest privileges—boating at the nearby yacht club, horseback riding at the equestrian center, golfing, scouring the shoreline before a dip in the pool—will leave no muscle untoned. Then it’s time to head inland, over the green hills to the Inn’s sister resorts, the classic Boyne Highlands and newer Boyne Mountain, complete with the Solace Spa and Avalanche Bay Indoor Waterpark. And don’t forget the bike trails and seemingly countless ski lifts. Inn at Bay Harbor, 231-439-4000; Latitude, 231-439-2750 ; Boyne resorts, 800-462-6963, boyne.com, avalanchebay.com

Horton Bay
Keep heading inland, but brake for a Hemingway moment. Horton Bay (pop. 38, so don’t blink) boasts the quintessential Horton Bay General Store, built in 1876 and restored with sweat equity and a fine eye for antiques by owners Chip and Claudia Lorenger. They serve the “basic” needs of this affluent pocket of Michigan by selling fine wines, espresso, and homemade pastries as they bend your ear with Hemingway tales, backing up their yarns with photos of young Ernest, who lived here before World War I, married Hadley Richardson next door, and gave the store a mention in his autobiographical Nick Adams stories. Breakfast and lunch in the lodgelike back room is always crammed with the churchgoing crowd, or choose a seat on the pocket-sized patio for high tea. Horton Bay General Store, 231-582-7827

Petoskey and Bay View
The Hemingway legend flames in Petoskey too. Three miles from Bay Harbor, the town of 6,000 stirs up more recollections of the area’s favorite son. Little Traverse History Museum, housed in the former railroad depot, is home to Hemingway’s typewriter, photographs, and signed first editions. (The museum also displays artifacts of the Odawas who formerly roamed the area.) Follow Papa’s footprints to City Park Grill, where the budding author claimed the second stool at the bar to guide his pen with sippin’ liquor. To escape his family, young Ernest took a room at Eva Potter’s rooming house, which still stands nearby. And when Hemingway’s books were first issued, Petoskey’s town librarian kept them under lock and key as too scandalous for casual circulation. These days, there’s a section dedicated to Hemingway at McLean & Eakin, Booksellers in the town’s vintage Gaslight District. Petoskey Museum, 231-347-2620; City Park Grill, 231-347-0101 ; McLean & Eakin, 800-968-1910

Mclean & Eakin is only one of nearly 100 alluring specialty shops these vintage blocks support—chain outlets are decidedly unwelcome. For forward kids’ wear, peek into Bearcub Outfitters or Circus. A dozen art galleries stand ready to accept your credit card; the best of the best is Ward & Eis, which offers works that were lovingly selected from local tribes. And then there’s American Spoon. A mecca for foodies nationwide, the store is devoted to its all-natural fruit preserves and marmalades, and the Petoskey location also has a gelateria. Find more gourmet food products at Symons General Store. After selecting your single-press olive oil and elite coffee beans, tiptoe downstairs to discover a distinguished wine cellar specializing in the best Bordeaux. The same owner operates the adjoining Chandler’s Restaurant, an intimate haunt for fine dining. Bearcub Outfitters, 231-439-9500; Circus, 231-347-3433; Ward & Eis, 231-347-2750; American Spoon, 231-935-4480; Symons, 231-347-2438; Chandler’s, 231-347-2981

After a long day of shopping, head to the genteel Perry Hotel—as glistening as on its debut in 1899—which encourages lingering in its rose garden and gazebo. Or venture into Petoskey’s Bay View neighborhood, a Chautauqualike summer community that is home to 440 summer cottages from the 1800s. While visitors can admire the Victorian homes, the only places they are allowed to enter are the neighborhood’s two hotels—the Bay View Inn, a sprawling, old-style resort from the 1880s, complete with Victorian furnishings, and the quaint Terrace Inn, built in 1911. Perry Hotel, 231-347-4000 ; Bay View Inn, 231-347-2771; Terrace Inn, 800-530-9898

Harbor Springs
Anchoring the end of our twenty-six–mile lakeside traipse is Harbor Springs (pop. 1,500), a collage of more Victorian cottages. The community makes life easy for visitors—instead of parking meters, stoplights, and chain establishments, there are art galleries, antiques shops, unique boutiques, and coffeehouses. Grab gourmet chocolate from Kilwin’s or head to the century-old Juilleret’s family restaurant for a meal of planked whitefish followed by the “Thundercloud,” a marshmallow-topped sundae. Or venture to The Pier, anchoring the marina, for a drop-dead view when dining deckside, or spring for a more elite menu in the Pointer Room. Kilwin’s, 231-526-9871; Juilleret’s, 231-526-2821; The Pier, 231-526-6201

It’s the end of the line, but far from the end of leisure opportunities. Little Traverse Bay has kept at bay the braying billboards, tacky mugs, and T-shirt shops known to many tourist traps. Instead, it offers inviting natural vistas of land and lake to explore as the moment moves you, punctuated by villages of almost Norman Rockwell purity—a chance to return to a slower pace and rediscovered pleasures. Count the clouds, count the seagulls, and count your blessings here.