traverse city

Try to get a campsite at Sleeping Bear Dunes Nat'l Lakeshore, Platte River campground and you'll certainly enjoy it... but reserve as soon as you can...it's very popular. The beaches are awesome and there's so many neat little towns to explore, including busy Traverse City.

Check with the C of C but July, during the Cherry Festival, is the best time to be there. Make your reservations well in advance.

Spent the whole day there a couple of years ago and didn't even get to visit the downtown area which is full of unique shops etc. Make sure you go the old mental institution complex. We don't remember what it's called now but it's full of shops, coffee house, wineries, bakery etc, you can spend 1/2-3/4 of a day there alone. One of the great wineries in the complex was Black Star Farms, their main winery is a short drive north of town too.

Traverse Bay RV Resort is nice. State Park can get pretty wild. Great scenery throughout the area as has been pointed out.

there is the state park in TC. cherry festival is very busy time. also they do a film fest.

go to sleeping bear sand dunes, there is a campground there, about one hour from TC.

go to north port nice drive.

if in summer make reservations!

We enjoy Traverse City.
We feel there is a lot for us to do. But we don't normally travel with kids. We are cycles and the bike trails are great.
The down town area is fun. Lots of interesting shops. The Denous ( spelling ?) is not far from the state park campground. Plenty of wineries and brew pups in the area.
Not sure what you enjoy or are looking for, but this is a Very popular destination.

We went to Traverse City August 2013.
Traverse is well liked by many but I found it to be lacking. The beach is less than impressive and the city is basically a line up of hotels and fast food places. We stayed at the state park, which is fine if you keep in mind that it is right in the middle of the city. There is a paved bike path that connects to the back of the state park and we found that to be a nice family ride.