Lower Western Coast of Michigan

Saturday, May 23, 2015--Grand Rapids to Battle Creek

Today was a warm and sunny day.  As part of Memorial Day Weekend, the tourists were out, especially at most of the places we went which are popular tourism destinations on the western coast of Michigan.

We went to Holland, Michigan, first.  It's a Dutch settlement that has gone whole hog on the connection to The Netherlands.  They have an amusement park named Dutch Village , a tulip garden with a windmill imported from Holland, architecture which sometimes relates to a Dutch style, etc.  (Unfortunately, the tulips were gone, but we saw so many tulips up north that it didn't matter to us.)  The downtown, however, stands on its own as a delightful shopping district which draws people just for that purpose.  There are several blocks of very nice Victorian-age commercial buildings with intricate design features.  The shops serve local people as well as the tourists, because they contain popular clothing stores such as Jos. A. Banks, Talbots, etc., as well as fancy gift shops, restaurants, etc. 

Holland was having its Saturday farmer's market downtown, and it was crowded with people enjoying the spring weather.  Most were buying plants for their lawns or porches.  But everything was being sold--cheeses, breads, vegetables, chocolates, meats, etc.  It was fun to see it all and to watch the crowds there.  A lot of very white legs and shoulders were in danger of becoming pink by the end of the day!

From Holland, we headed south stopping at smaller towns that cater to tourists wanting to be near the water and to enjoy the atmosphere of quaint villages.  We stopped at Saugatuck, Douglas, and South Haven.  Saugatuck seems very exclusive while being casual.  It is built around a lake lined with nice homes with boats out back.  The downtown has lots of boat slips with some of them housing huge yachts.  Douglas is across the lake from Saugatuck and is more laid back.  It's main street is much shorter, it's lake front is more quiet, and the number of tourists is much less.  We ate our picnic lunch there on a bench in front of the Old School House.

South Haven reminded us of a poorer, smaller Holland, but it combined the big downtown with shopping with a beach and a pier which made it a very nice all-around place to visit.  We walked the streets seeing the shops and watching the people, then we walked to the beach and out on the peer continuing to watch everyone.  Jet skiers were in the water performing tricks--corkscrew turns and backward flips.

After visiting those places, it was time to head inland, since we have to be in Detroit tomorrow night.  We drove through Paw Paw, another town with a nice lake lined with homes, and Kalamazoo where we toured the campus of Western Michigan University and drove through the downtown.  We also stopped at Sweetwater's Donuts there and were impressed with the selection and their prices.  A dozen is about a 30% discount from buying single ones, so we sure were tempted to eat a lot of caolories!!  Instead, I had one buttermilk donut and Wes had one chocolate donut with a peanut butter frosting.

We are staying in Battle Creek tonight which is a part of the Kalamazoo metropolitan area.  Our hotel is just two blocks from another Sweetwater's Donut location, so we are fighting temptation.  It's open 24 hours per day!!  We will head out to eat dinner and to explore Battle Creek some in a few minutes while trying to avoid stopping at Sweetwater's.