This week on BEEN THERE, 11-year-old Jade from Michigan gives us the scoop on one of her favorite places.

Every year my family (cousins) go Up North-Michigan. We've stayed in Traverse City, Trout Creek, and Crystal Mountain. There are 10 of us 6 are kids so we need to find things to do that everyone will enjoy.

One place we go every year is Mackinac Island (pronounced: mac-ka-naw i-land). It is so much fun. No cars are allowed so you can go on horse carriages or on bike. You have to go on a ferry ride to get there (don't take a huge breath when you get off because, a lot of horses means a lot of...you get the point).

In Mackinac there is the best fudge and ice-cream and also a lot of great restaurants. If you choose to ride a bike you can rent them all over the island its fun to go all the way around the island. I went around the whole island with my class on our class trip two weeks days before the trip with my family.

Mackinac Island is so much fun one of my favorite places to eat is the Pink Pony. Another fun thing you can do in Mackinac is to take an old time picture, be ready those places are always busy. You can dress up as a Victorian family, Indians, and a lot more. In Mackinac they have a lot of fun stores like Monkey Business.

If you don't feel like going to Mackinac Island you can go into town. The have a lot of restaurants such as Latitude (fancy) or Knot, just a bar (casual). If you go into town around 5:00 pm you can watch the sun set on some of the piers. Also in the summer they have a lot of art fairs.

I love going Up North-Michigan with my family. I even enjoy the car ride home!

– Jade, 11, MI (aka jade_nicole)