As you may know, I recently got back from a vacation where we drove around the state of Michigan. Our starting point for this wonderful trip was Holland, Michigan. I was lucky enough to live in Holland 20 years ago. Two of my kids were born there and we lived there for a few years. I have always had a soft spot for that area, and love to go back to visit when I can.
We arrived in late afternoon, and our first stop was the Veldeer Tulip Farm. The best time to see the farm is in the spring when they have millions of tulips in bloom. It was a favorite place to take pictures with my kids when they were young. Even when it is not tulip time, it is still a fun place to visit. They have a garden center where you can buy many kinds of bulbs, and other fun things for your garden.
Right next to the garden center is the De Klomp Wooden Shoe and Delft Factory. There you can see wooden shoes being made and the beautiful Dutch pottery (Delftware) being painted. It is the only production location for Delftware in North America (hours have been adjusted for Covid, so they were not making anything at the time of this visit)
After the farm we decided to walk around downtown before meeting friends for dinner. We stopped in a quaint little clock shop that was full of cuckoo clocks.
The clocks were all kinds of shapes and sizes, and from many parts of Germany.
I wish I took more pictures of downtown. It is such a pretty downtown, with many stores and restaurants to visit. In many ways it has changed since I lived there, but it also still felt familiar.
We ate dinner at Hops on 84 East. It was recommended by a good friend, and was not there when I used to live there. She told me about their dill pickle pizza and it did not disappoint. It was really delicious!
Because we did not plan on where we were going to stay for the night ahead of time, we did have some trouble finding a hotel room. (it was a Saturday night, during the busy season) Its okay though, we traveled just a few miles down the road and found an nice, less expensive hotel in Grandville. Grandville also had very nice Dollar Tree where I found some of the items I will be sharing in another post.
The next morning we went back to visit Holland State Park. It has a beautiful beach right on Lake Michigan. I have many fond memories spending time here with my kids playing in the sand and the water. It was a red flag day (very windy), but that was okay because we did not plan on swimming. We wanted to see the lighthouse and boats.
Holland Harbor Lighthouse, AKA as Big Red is one of the most well known lighthouses in all of Michigan. It is also one of the most photographed. One of my favorite things to do with my kids in the summer when we lived there was to pick up some food, and have a picnic at the lake watching the boats in the canal. It was a beautiful warm day on this day so we sat for awhile and enjoyed the parade of boats.
Our last stop on this trip was a visit to Captain Sundae. It has been my favorite ice cream place since we lived there. I always get a buried treasure sundae. The treasure is finding all the cherries, buried in chocolate.
They have a pirate ship at both locations were you can sit and eat your ice cream.
Bye captain, we will be back to see you soon! We have a lot more of Michigan to see. Next stop Grand Haven!
That sounds so fun! My grandmother visited Holland a time or two during the tulip festivals and always brought home cute little wooden shoes or other little trinkets along with lots and lots of photos.
ReplyDelete