Upper Midwest Family Trip

[JMichaelsJeep]

So I'm in the process of starting to plan this year's family vacation. I finally got the clear to plan a vacation of the camping and exploring variety. I have a two year old and two dogs. Here is a vague description as of right now where I'm starting.

1) The wife is not overly excited about a purely off-road migraine inducing travel itinerary.
2) The wife is anxious about our first real extended vacation with a newly potty trained little one.
3). I'm trying to keep this as low cost as possible.
4). We're looking at September for our trip, possibly planned around a LOSTJEEPS event at Nicolet National Forest for some light wheeling. Duration would be roughly 8-9 days if you have a 5 day week and the weekends on each end.

So that was the general description, now here is more of what I'm looking at:

5) Camp as much as possible using the tent we own (and all the other camping gear that we own is plentiful as well) staying at either State Parks or tent friendly campgrounds.
6). Spend some time exploring the beauty of Northern Wisconsin, Upper Michigan, and Possibly my favorite place, the North shore of Lake Superior between Duluth and the border.
7) I saw on here somewhere about a couple off highway trails that run quite a distance in the UP, I'd like to research that more.
8) I'll be traveling "solo" vehicle wise, thus I can't get stuck in the middle of nowhere with a wife, small child, and two dogs.
9) the Porcupine Mountains are high on my list of places to visit.
10) Geocaching as a family while we travel
11) Taking time to hike, bike, possibly canoe/ kayak.
12) Visit recommended historical sites, or other "points of interest" worth stopping at.
13) Flexibility to take a break at a nearby Hotel/ motel if we encounter bad stormy weather.

Then here are some things I'm looking for:
14) Recommendations on toddler friendly places to go, things to do, and recommended "vehicle duration" for a kid who frequently doesn't seem to mind the 4 hour drives to Grandma and Grandpa's, but we're not sure how this would go for mutliple days in a row.
15) Advise on gear to take other than what I would consider my crucial items. Food, Water, jack, tools, camping gear, etc. I know there is a list on here, but I'm looking for the "kid" answers. For example, I wouldn't go anywhere without my kid's football and expecting x number of hours per day of travel with a 2 year old, etc.
16) I'm traveling in a mildly modified Jeep Liberty KJ with the 2.5 inch frankenlift and Al's UCA's, I've got a t-case skid to install this spring, and was planning on getting other skids to complete the "armor" by the t ime of the trip. We have a portable DVD player, fire extinguisher, safari rack, hitch (I'm looking at a golf cart trailer that I may want to "modify" to be able to haul our stuff in and on (canoe, bikes, larger camping supplies), to ease space inside and on top of the JEEP).


I know this is a lot of somewhat general and somewhat specific information, but I'm in charge of this vacation and I want to do my best to ensure a good time for my son (my dogs), and especially making sure my wife wants to do it again. I've done "road trip" traveling with my family growing up, but my wife didn't vacation a lot like this growing up and it was always "a lot of work" for her.

Oh, I'm expecting to have a cooler to pack food in that we "restock" periodically at local stores rather than stocking for the whole trip at once.



Okay, enough of my thoughts, I've read a lot of your thoughts since I've been a member on this board, could you please help me out!

Greatly appreciated!
Thanks!

 

[Michigander]

My family always has fun at Pictured Rocks over in Munising, MI. There is a lot to see and depends on when you go some great places to tent camp. It may be over the 4hr from your location in Wisconsin. The Porkies are fun also, you guys may be able to rent a cabin from the state if you reserve it soon enough, for something different than the tent.

Have fun,
Neil.

 

[sanseven]

my familly have plan a family expedition trip for a long time, expecting:bike_rider:

 

[JMichaelsJeep]

Michigander,
Thanks, Pictured rocks is on my list of places to see, I had forgotten to add it to this list, thanks for the reminder. It doesn't have to be in 4 hours from our house, I'm just thinking I want to limit our travel time to smaller chunks each day if possible. There may be some days that are more travel or less travel depending on distance between sites or activities. Once I get my list of must see places, I'll start mapping out routes to minimize travel time between them.

sanseven

 

[upcruiser]

For ideas in the UP, I would also recommend the Keweenaw Peninsula. Lots of great spots to check out, old historic towns and remote places to camp that aren't too difficult to get to. The mountain biking in Copper Harbor is amazing as it is in Marquette as well, world class stuff. Marquette has a bunch of great areas to explore, hiking trails and great dispersed camping locales as well. Click the link in my sig and you can find our website which has a ton of info and gps routes on the forum that you might find helpful with planning. We have linked together q number of overland routes now in the UP. No need to reinvent the wheel.

 

[UnfrozenCaveman]

... and Possibly my favorite place, the North shore of Lake Superior between Duluth and the border.

Ssshhhh, you're not supposed to tell folks about that!

Stop at Betty's Pies between Duluth and Two Harbors.

Eat Pie. Have coffee.

It's been a long time since we've been that way, but there were a number of state campgrounds that had really nice hike in sites and nice showers-Mom approved!

Good luck with the little guy...:sombrero:

 

[fishEH]

Get one of these:[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Kalencom-POTETTE-Go-Potty-Red/dp/B00069BV8A/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=baby-products&qid=1300824918&sr=8-3"]Amazon.com: Kalencom POTETTE - On the Go Potty Red: Baby[/ame]
And a DVD player

:sombrero:

 

[JMichaelsJeep]

upcruiser - Thanks, I just found upoverland after I posted the trip in here! I'm going to be spending a lot of time on there in preparation so I don't recreate the wheel. It looks like you have been very busy getting all those trails organized. I'm sure I'll be PM'ing you along the way as I prepare. Also, thanks about the Keeweenaw idea as well.

Monkeyboy - I love Betty's Pies! I've been there once before, I travel that way once a year on my way to the Boundary Waters. I just can't get enough of that area, maybe it is because I'm from MN, but I'll try to keep it a better secret from here on out

fisheh - we already have the portable DVD player and I have a multi plug hook-up and an inverter in the JEEP... We might need to get a couple new DVD's before then though. That portable potty is great! I was actually contemplating the hitch mount ones, but I realized if I haul a trailer it will not work very well, thus this would be GREAT!

 

[JMichaelsJeep]

So since this IS an Overlanding/ Expedition forum, and what would this be without the Rig, right I'll do vehicle preparations in this thread as well. I'll cover my planning AND preparation. If it gets to be too much, well, then I'll have to split them, but for now that's my plan.

Here is what I started with:

Then I did a number of things to it:
Safari Rack:

mesh grill inserts & bedlined grill:

Install a hitch:

New Optima Yellow Top:

Head Unit:

And the biggest Item to date The Frankenlift, Al's UCA's, and Wrangler Duratrac's:

A little Church parking lot posing:

I've also installed my multi outlet so I can have a couple things plugged into the cigarette lighter at one time, a holder for my portable GPS unit, and a CB, but I only hook up the antenna/ cable when I need to use it.

Other things I have installed are:
Flashlight holder using quick grips near the front seat
Fire extinguisher (quick grips)

Things I have and need to install:
T-case skid
more quick grips for other things like shovel.

Things I'm wanting to get and get installed sooner than later:
Hi-lift
all skids
Sliders
a laptop mount for PC based navigation

Things on my larger wish list:
a permanent roof rack like "boilers" on LOSTKJS
ARB front bumper with winch
bedline the rocker/ flares
More lights for night trail riding or just setting up camp
still debating water/ fuel can holders, look cool, but not much need for them in the Upper Midwest, you're not usually very far from fuel.

 

[JMichaelsJeep]

finished installing one of my two new sets of lights, of course for the trip

switches:

I used this lighting diagram:

Here are the other set, but their not hooked up yet...

So I've been looking heavily at Porcupine Mts., Copper Mt., Keeweenaw Pennisula, and Pictured rocks as destinations, I'm just starting to look into the UP's many off-roads. I'll be assessing for how "safe" it will be to do essentially by myself (my family), as we are not anticipating any other vehicle along (unless someone want to meet up with us for a couple days off-road.

I'll continue to update as I get more plans solidified.

 

[JTY]

Nice looking rig. While I can't offer much off-roading advice, as I am a rookie, some of these links may be useful for your planning.

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From the Keweenaw Nat'l Park, here is a list of heritage sites. The downloadable PDF map is nice.

Keweenaw Heritage Sites

A few years back, we picked up a Keweenaw Heritage Sites multi-folded "stamp album" at the Porcupine Mtns visitor center. (This is not the Nat'l Park Service passport book, but a paper album just for the KHS.) If you are into this sort of thing, you may want to ask about the stamp album. Then if you hit a few of the KH sites, you can get stamped and have a neat memento of your visits.

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If you go to this website, you can order a travel guide, may be helpful if you want to eat at local "mom&pop" restaurants, find neat tourist stops, etc. I keep one in my vehicle, nice to pull out and look at when we roll thru different areas. You can also use the website to plan your travels.

Hunts U.P. Guide

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Nice website of U.P. waterfalls, with links to other websites. There are almost 200 waterfalls in the U.P., although some are remote, on private property, etc. The ones listed here are the most popular ones.

Michigan WaterFalls

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As Kristian mentioned in an earlier post, definitely use the U.P. Overland site as a planning reference, loads of great info & helpful members there. I've lived in the U.P. for over 35 yrs now, but have experienced only a fraction of this beautiful peninsula. After stumbling upon the UPO site about a yr ago, I am eager to start exploring. Now if that money-tree in our front yard would take root, maybe I would have some funds to play with...

Enjoy the trip!

 

[Quill]

You could be hitting some fall color by then. Copper Falls state park is good. I could send you out into the forest to get stuck with the bears.:sombrero: When you head towards Duluth that St Hwy 13 from Ashland to Bayfeild on through Cornucopia and Port Wing to Superior. Your wife will like some of the stops. The Morgan Falls St. Peter's Dome Trail is a good one also. Since I live up here I have been to most places available.