driving suggestions from Toronto to Minnesota (Minneapolis, Madison: college, shops, beach)

[altair2007]

I'm planning road trip from Toronto to Minnesota this august and was looking into taking the ferry back.Plan to overnight in Chicago on the way up then take the ferry back, as suggestions?

[BryaninMSP]

I've made that trip (mostly the part from Chicago to Minneapolis) many times, and have also done Toronto-Minneapolis via Niagara Falls (in one very long day), as well as Minneapolis-Toronto via both Detroit AND via the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and then the ferry from Manitoulin Island to Tobermory.

For scenery, I greatly preferred the route across the UP. It's gorgeous around Lake Huron, and the drive down from Tobermory is a lot more scenic than Windsor-Toronto. It's longer, but worth it.

If you're going across Michigan, the wine country in the southwest corner of the state is worth a stop if you're into that sort of thing. There are a couple worth visiting near Coloma. If you're doing the ferry across Lake Michigan, both Ludington and Muskegon are worth exploring (depending on which one you're doing).

The worst part of the drive is Wisconsin. It takes you twice as long to get across that state as it feels like it should. There are cheese shops. Not much else.

[wherespankakehouse?]

If you're going through Chicago, Saugatuck and South Haven are a couple of beach towns that might be worth pulling off for. South Haven has a picturesque lighthouse if that's your kind of thing. Both are probably pretty busy in August.

Madison is a great college town, not sure that there would be a whole lot of activity in early August. Wisconsin Dells if you have kids. The interstate drive from Chicago to Minneapolis isn't bad and offers some scenery, but cutting over to Lacrosse and taking the river road (scenic bluffs, slower drive) might be worthwhile if you have the time. I try to avoid backtracking over the same stretch of interstate whenever there's reasonable alternatives.

Is that the Milwaukee or Manitowoc ferry?