The tasting room with a fire going. The bookstore that doesn't mind if you stay two hours. The museum nobody on TripAdvisor mentions. Rain on a lake is one of the better problems to have.
Twenty rotating taps in a downtown Petoskey taproom, with vinyl to flip through and board games on the shelf, plus a basement lounge called the Root Cellar for when the main room's full. Closed Monday and Tuesday; open to 9 on weekends. Burgers and a fried pickle plate cover the food side. The pick for a rainy Wednesday when the wineries feel too far to bother with.
The Little Traverse Bay Band of Odawa Indians runs this casino and hotel complex on Lears Road outside Petoskey — table games, slots, four restaurants running from a taproom to a steakhouse, and a concert venue in Ovation Hall. The rainy-day and late-night answer this lake doesn't otherwise have. About fifteen minutes from Walloon Lake Village.
A Petoskey arts nonprofit since 1971 — free galleries, a performing arts series, and a School of Ballet that's trained dancers since 2003. The reliable rainy-day stop when the wineries and the beach both lose their appeal for an afternoon. Check the calendar before driving over; gallery hours and performance nights don't always overlap.
A Petoskey gift shop running since 1946 on East Lake Street, a reliable place to actually find a Petoskey stone if the beach hunt at the state park came up empty. Michigan-made goods, apparel, and home items fill two floors. Open late most nights — 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday — for anyone shopping after dinner downtown.