Navigation:
Although just enjoying not having to do anything and relaxing around your vacation home is nice, you can find an abundance of fun things to see and do in just a small area around the cottages. A pleasant walk, definitely worthwhile, is the Nature Trail that begins alongside Bluffton Elementary School, right across the street. Our grandkids enjoy reading the flora-identifying plaques to us. The bench at the end provides a good place to watch gorgeous sunsets over “The Big Lake” with a little privacy. Another, slightly longer walk, through the neighborhood along Edgewater Street to the Old Sand Docks in the early morning affords some beautiful sunrise views over Muskegon Lake. You can’t beat a sun-up bike ride along the Shoreline Trail, which runs along the Muskegon Lake shore for much of its length.
Our “crown jewel” is Lake Michigan’s Pere Marquette Beach, almost three miles of public access to Lake Michigan offering a wide range of fun things to do. The facilities are well-maintained, and the beach is cleaned daily. Boat lovers can while away a few minutes or a few hours just sitting on a park bench along the boat channel between Lake Michigan and Muskegon Lake, watching the boat traffic passing by. (You might see a tanker or commercial passenger carrier too – this is a major Great Lakes shipping channel as well as a popular pleasure boat destination.) While there, a visit to the World War II submarine U.S.S. Silversides offers a peek into our nation’s naval history – the new, adjoining museum should be completed by this summer.
You can walk to sailboat regattas and Wednesday evening races at the Muskegon Yacht Club, or weekly volleyball league play and tournaments at the beach. We also have two restaurants that are very close and on the water. Have lunch or dinner at Captain Jack’s restaurant/bar and enjoy a top-notch view of the beach and Muskegon’s harbor entrance, or maybe a volleyball game – several courts are right next to the outside deck. Just as close is the more upscale Docker’s Fish House & Lounge, overlooking Harbour Towne yacht basin.
Frequent bus and trolley service is accessible about 50 yards from the cottages, on Lakeshore Drive.The Lakeside business district, about a mile east of Pere Marquette Beach (our Bluffton neighborhood is considered part of the Lakeside community as well as the City of Muskegon) while relaxed and uncrowded, can satisfy many of your “re-supply” shopping needs. Also in Lakeside are the century-old Milwaukee Clipper, retired now but open for tours daily, and the high speed cross-lake car ferry to Milwaukee.
Ranging further, Muskegon offers plenty of activities and entertainments appealing to varied interests, including a nearly continuous series of special events during the summer months. Most facilities and events are only a short drive – in light traffic. And of course the Muskegon area provides a full range of businesses and commercial services.
Click Here For Muskegon Events Information
