A couple of weeks back, my iPhone memories showed me some pictures of beautiful nature, long and endless roads, orange pumpkins and a fairytale-like wedding in Texas. And it reminded me that our road trip through the US in 2018 had already been a year ago. Even longer than that! On 21 September 2018, we left Düsseldorf airport for London and final destination Chicago. To go on a 3-week adventure, to see new places, with lots of wonderful people to visit along the way, climaxing in the wedding of my best friend from high school. When I was looking at those pictures, it was hard to believe that those memories were made such a long time ago. A year has passed, many things have happened, changes came about, new cities became new homes. And still, it seems like we were driving down that road just yesterday. 

SLEEPING BEAR DUNES TO MILWAUKEE

After spending two wonderful days in Chicago, we picked up our rental car and started hitting the road for what would be a 2-week road trip from Lake Michigan down to West Texas. Our first route was supposed to lead us from Chicago, Illinois, to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where we wanted to visit my (host-)brother Erik. When planning our trip, we heard about the beautiful Sleeping Bear Dunes Lakeshore in the north of Michigan and so we decided to take the slightly longer route all the way around Lake Michigan to make a stop at the Dunes. To try and keep our travel times around 5 hours, we spent a night at Crystal Lake before making our way to the Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive at the Lakeshore that was recommended to us by our Airbnb host Denise. We paid $20 fee at the entrance of the drive and enjoyed the peaceful ride over winding roads while the tall trees lining the road were quietly watching us. A couple of scenic overlooks and picture opportunities later, we parked our car in a little parking lot and started walking over the dunes on the Cotton Wood Trail. Bumping into another hiker only once on the 1-hour trail – which we saw as a rare opportunity to get a picture of the two of us – made for an impressive experience of nature, just looking around, taking it all in and thinking about the legend of the Sleeping Bear.

After continuing our trip and driving through heavy rain late that night, we decided that our US road trip wouldn’t be complete without the stay at a shady motel by the highway, with only one car in the parking lot, a run-down reception and a flickering motel sign. And so the Dreamland Motel became our shelter for the night. I got to admit that the whole scene reminded us much less of a horror movie the next morning than it did the night before. And after indulging in the best chocolate chip and blueberry pancakes at a truly authentic American diner a couple of miles down the road, all struggles of the previous night were forgotten. Off to Milwaukee! 

Where we were greeted with a packed 3-day plan by Erik, who made sure that we would see and do everything there was to see and do in Milwaukee on our short visit. From delicious breakfast at Cafe Benelux, some grilled cheese at the Public Market, drinks at Miss Katie’s, karaoke at Murph’s, password protected dinner at the SafeHouse, long walks through Veteran’s Park, to an occasional college student house party, there wasn’t much we could’ve missed out on. We even had some German beer and Hammerschlagen at the Old German Beer Hall and made our first contact with Milwaukee’s famous cheese curds at Merriment Social. On our last day in Milwaukee, we accompanied Erik to the family picnic at the university and jumped in as his family, while other students were showing around their moms and dads and little siblings. And that was just one more moment on a long list of moments during those days that once again made me so incredibly grateful for having a second family on the other side of the world. People who make you feel at home as soon as you’re with them, who care for you and who would move heaven and earth to make you spend the most exciting, most fun and most wonderful three days with them. Erik couldn’t have made us feel more welcome and writing about this right now really just makes me want to go back. Good thing memories last forever. 

TRAVEL TIMES AND STOPS ALONG THE WAY  

Chicago, Illinois (3 nights) – Sleeping Bear Dunes 5h 

Sleeping Bear Dunes, Michigan (1 night) – Manistique 4-5h 

Manistique, Michigan (1 night) – Milwaukee, Wisconsin 5h 

MY TIPS & RECOMMENDATIONS

• We booked our car together with our flights at CANUSA travel agency and paid around €2.264 for 2 persons (incl. flights from Düsseldorf to Chicago, from Austin to Düsseldorf, car rental for 12 days & a one-way fee for the car of $300). The car was provided by Alamo car rentals but I think prices would go up if you book your car separately.
• We paid around €150 for gas for the entire 12 days.
• When using the GPS system of the car, set the route options to “avoid toll roads”, this might save you a couple of bucks.
• Our Airbnb at Crystal Lake, close to Sleeping Bear Dunes cost €63,60 for one night & was worth every cent. Denise was a lovely host & made a wonderful breakfast for us. We enjoyed waking up right next to the lake, walking around Crystal Lake at night as well as morning runs along the shore.
  • Dinner at Dinghy’s Restaurant & Bar won’t disappoint you
  • The Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive is a beautiful route to explore the Sleeping Bear Dunes. We stopped and got out of the car to do the Cotton Wood Trail, which was a short but stunning 1-hour hike through the dunes.
  • If you ever get stranded around the north west of Lake Michigan, you should definitely make a stop at the typical American diner -as you imagine it from the movies- Delona Restaurant for the best chocolate chip & blueberry pancakes of your life! 
• Try the burgers at Oscar’s in Milwaukee and never look back at the times before you’ve had one.