I don’t know what celebrity chef Mario Batali’s plans are for the upcoming Fourth of July weekend (we’re not that close), but if he’s not at his place on Michigan’s Leelanau Peninsula, he clearly needs a slap with a mitten.

It’s astounding that the world hasn’t discovered Michigan’s vacation real estate yet. Aside from Madonna in Bay Harbor and a few other celebrity enclaves in Northwest Michigan, the rest of Michigan’s 3,200 miles of Great Lakes shoreline are open for business!

Not that we (and Mario, for that matter) want everybody to come, but some more would be good, especially in places other than the already-congested Traverse City area.

We have neighbors at our cottage near Cheboygan who live in Traverse but vacation on Lake Huron. It’s a fabulous strand of beach that includes stretches of sand and wonderfully colored stones. My plans are to arrive there before dark Friday night, pour a glass of Sauvignon Blanc and immediately head down to the beach.

Sunday’s Detroit Free Press classified ads featured a fabulous Lake Huron home for $442,500, but there are also Lake Huron access lots for $10,000 or less. Somewhere in the middle, you can get a two-bedroom cottage with a fireplace and 66 feet of sandy Lake Huron beach for $168,000.

Batali told the New York Times that it takes him less time to get from New York City to Leelanau than to get to Amagansett in East Hampton, N.Y., which is just 105 miles away.

You’ve got to think that a lot more people will be doing that calculus.