Where to start?

Being in michigan you can use it every weekend all summer long and barely see all the state parks and forests. We are in northern Indiana and camp every other weekend from April till November mostly in Michigan state and county parks. It just depends on the commitment you make to it. Our kids 13 and 7 especially like kayaking the Muskegon river area from the Ed henning county park campground in Newago.

Tammy,

Memgrove is right. Work the web to find camping places in MI. There are a bunch. It doesn't matter where you are in the state, you can probably walk to one. I am half way between Detroit and Ann Arbor and I could walk to three. And that is not counting the private ones.

Start with Campground maps, pick Michigan (if you want to) and keep zooming toward where you want to be.

I don't know what level of "camper" you are considering, but there are lots of them out there. Many are not expensive used, but if you buy used please get it inspected by someone that really knows what can be wrong. Any of them can be water damaged and that may be VERY expensive to repair.

If you are doing the "Out Friday evening and home late Sunday" routine, be ready to be stuck in traffic that is about 50% RV (the other half left the RV at the campsite).

Good Luck

Matt

It doesn't cost anything to LOOK at RV's but I would suggest renting again next summer to be sure you have the bug; much cheaper than doling out $50K for a used rig that you might not use.

We're in MI as well. Our kids are younger at 11, 9, and 5 and all have grown up camping either in a tent or in the TT purchased 3 years ago.

Hartwick Pines in Grayling was an excellent state campground. Very clean and some sites were large. We all really enjoyed going into the forest and the logging museum. We went on a ranger led tour as well. It had a nice and short hiking trail to a small fishing lake. There is no pool or swimming lake/river, so it's best in the spring or fall. Bring bug spray for the forest in the spring.

Tawas Point State Park is another one of our favorites. You can get a site right on the bay side of the lake and walk through a tree line from your site to the water. They also have a dog beach, lighthouse tours, and you can walk to the large beach with the open water and bigger waves. They also had a free ranger led program for fishing a nature walks.

Ludington State Park was just an amazing place to visit, but the sites are absolutely awful and it's practically impossible to get into. Maybe stay in the local area and go into the state park to visit. That's what we'll do next time we want to go there.

Last summer we went to the Yogi Bear in Fremont Indiana, it's just over the state line. It is a BUSY place and on the freeway.....you don't go there for peace and quiet but my kids loved this place and want to go back. It has 4 pools and 3 water slides and they rent out golf carts.

The only place that I really wouldn't recommend is Traverse City State Park. Horrible beach, the area is super crowded and in the middle of the city. You can drive to the Sleeping Bear Dunes, which is a nice visit but I'd stay someplace else to visit the dunes.

For longer trips we've gone to the UP for Tahquamenon Falls, Pictured Rocks, etc. We've also been to Mammoth Caves in Kentucky. I'd recommend both of these as well.

Have fun. Glad to hear that the teenager is looking forward to it. FYI, book your sites early, especially for those that are on a lake or holiday weekend.

We are in Ontario and all the radio stations advertise "Come to Michigan" all summer long, but they probably don't advertise right at home. I signed up at Michigan.org several years ago and I get weekly email ads for all kinds of events all year long. Signing up for Michigan DNR also gets you on an email"hit list" with events at State parks.Don't know if that happened when I booked a campsite or if I had to sign up separately.
Good luck on camping with the family, our kids still enjoy camping, and we took the "baby" (25 years old) with us for Canadian Thanksgiving weekend.