Petoskey is a small resort city on the northeastern shoreline of Lake Michigan, in the part of the state that Michiganders call "Up North." The Gaslight District downtown has an attractive row of shops, galleries, and restaurants catering to the summer crowd. The waterfront along Little Traverse Bay is the main draw — the shoreline is known for Petoskey stones, fossilized coral unique to this part of Michigan.
Ernest Hemingway spent his boyhood summers nearby, and the area's lakes, rivers, and forests still draw people who come to fish, hike, and ski. Petoskey State Park a few miles north is the best stone-hunting ground, while Magnus City Park and Mineral Well Park offer waterfront access right in town. The Little Traverse History Museum on the waterfront covers both the indigenous Odawa history and the Hemingway connection. The Hemingway country of Walloon Lake and Horton Bay is a short drive south.