Travels with Twinkles: Holland State Park, Michigan

September 7 - 9, 2017:

It seems that every day it is periods of sun, clouds and rain around the Great Lakes and today is another one. We get on the road about 9:30 before it starts, but shorty afterwards it starts and continues on and off most of the day. I shouldn’t complain as many people are having “real” weather issues. Instead I will complain about the rapidly increasing price of gas, this is a fake shortage.

We travel virtually the entire 146 miles today on route 31 south going through a couple of really nice affuent looking towns such as Muskegon and Grand Haven. The rain stops about the time we arrive at Holland State Park on Lake Macatawa off Lake Michigan. There are two separate campgrounds here, the Beach Campground which is a parking lot adjacent to the beach and the Lake Macatawa Campground which is a more traditional campground with trees, grass, tables and fire pits. We are in the Macatawa Campground with electric hookup. Our annual Michigan State Park pass has payed for itself many times over now, but still these State Parks end up costing about the same as a private campground.

Within walking distance of the campground is the large sandy Ottawa Beach. There is a breakwater extending into the lake to protect the harbor inlet that you can walk out onto, quite far. Across from the inlet on the opposite shore is the iconic Lighthouse known as “Big Red”, one of the most photographed lighthouses on the Lake Michigan coastline. There also a trail that climbs 230 steps uphill onto the top of the Mt. Pisgah sand dune.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holland_Harbor_Light

The Holland Harbor Lighthouse, known as "Red Red" was built in 1907

The Ottawa Beach has attracted bathers for centuries

The breakwater is an interesting walk especially if the lake is rough

The harbor marker lights at its end

Bird feathers on the beach covered with dew caught my attention

In 1885 a group of prominent Grand Rapids investors and executives of the Chicago & West Michigan Railroad formed the West Michigan Park Association. They bought 75 acres of land to create a resort of vacation cottages and a grand hotel. The Ottawa Beach Hotel opened in 1886 and was one of the finest resort hotels of its day, attracting patrons from all over Lake Michigan and beyond. It was expanded over the years, but like most grand resorts did not last long, burning in 1923 and was never rebuilt. Nothing is left of the hotel today except old photos and memories, but the land was saved from development with the creation of Holland State Park in 1928.

http://www.historicottawabeachsociety.org/otawa-beach-history/hotel-ottawa/

The history of the place was special

They attracted the rich and famous

By train

And by boat

The city of Holland was founded by a small band of people led by the reverend Albertus C. Raalte who left the Netherlands for the US in search of religious freedom and better economic conditions. They arrived in Michigan in 1847 in the wild, swampy and densely forested landscape, not exactly what they envisioned, but they made the best of it and developed a successful colony. By the 1860’s and 1870’s, Holland was accessible to commercial shipping, had an institution of higher learning that would become Hope College and had two railroad spurs. In the 20th century, Holland became a thriving industrial center. In the 1920’s the Tulip Festival started which today is a major tourist attraction. There is a very vibrant downtown area today filled with nice shops, restaurants, several brew pubs, a museum, a theater, the Hope College campus and many attractions.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holland,_Michigan

Holland's streets are lined with beautiful flowers

Windmills are big here too

The Tower Clock building built in 1892

The Holland Museum built in 1915

The Park Theater

Bell Telephone building built in 1929

Cherry Republic, a personal favorite store of mine

Very interesting brick work

The Fifth Third Bank built in 1928, a most
beautiful bank inside and out

The upper section of the bank

The streets are lined with banners that compliment
the stores, this was was in front of a peanut shop

Beautiful thoughts at a store entrance

There are several interesting bars and brew pubs in downtown Holland which mostly attract the college crowd. It’s a pretty conservative crowd, haven’t seen any dreadlocks and all the college girls look wholesome, so don’t expect anything very wild. A few places occasionally have live music, but only if it pays, as is the “business model” these days. I go to a nearby bar / restaurant that calls itself the “Itty Bitty Bar” and the “5 star rated dive bar”, (both names are pathetically lame and inaccurate) although by size of the dining crowd there they must be doing something right ? They had a blues band playing with a harmonica playing front man with a strong booming voice but not enough guitar for my liking.

Holland has a great Saturday Farmers market, the best we've been to this year for vegetables, fruit and especially berries, pears, apples and quite possibly the best blueberry donuts. I kept seeing people eating these donuts and finally we came to the stand, people were lined up, I had to have one and I have to say, it was the best.

Had to get some fresh sweet corn

Those peppers were luscious looking

Even the potatoes were exciting

Everyone wanted the blueberry donuts

Another Holland attraction is the famous 36 acre Windmill Island Gardens with the historic De Zwaan Windmill built near Amsterdam in 1761. As the tulip’s aren’t in bloom and there was a hefty admission charge we did't visit. We did go the the Neis Dutch Village, but it’s mostly for children and it also has a hefty admission charge so we just visited one of the outside shops and bought some Dutch cookies. After a brief stop at the great public library in Holland, we go “New Holland Brewing” for lunch. We have been seeing New Holland beer all over for the past month and didn't realize it was in Holland, Michigan until we stumbled upon it here.

The New Holland Brewery, Pub on 8th

Twinkles had done the trail up Mt. Pisgah so I had to do it also, can't let her get ahead, so off we go on Saturday afternoon. The view from the peak was as good as she said it was.

On top on Mt Pisgah with quite a view

Looking down on Ottawa Beach and Big Red

There is a recycling center, or a salvage yard or what we used to call a junk yard in a former industrial area very close to downtown which has done a nice job of hiking and beautifying their property. They were done by the Louis Padnos Iron & Metal Company and I thought they should be recognized.