Month: May 2022

I seriously need to get back to blogging about our Columbus trip last August. However, I think I need to share photos from our trip this weekend.

In 2016, we traveled to Holland, Michigan after we dropped my son off at camp. Even though I was there for less than 24 hours, I fell in love with the area. The downtown area is 1/3 parking, 1/3 green space, & 1/3 buildings. Every May, they have Tulip Time during the second week. Lots of people flock to the area to see the tulips blooming.

I made the decision we were going back when my birthday and Mother’s Day collided for Tulip Time. This year was our chance. Even though I’m exhausted, it was so worth it.

We drove up Friday night through the rain and then a beautiful sunset.

On Saturday, we visited Saugatuck Dune State Park which reminded me of the movie ET at points. I felt as though Elliot was going to zoom past me on his bike. Then the forest opens up to the beach and Lake Michigan. I wish we spent more than an hour there but we had things to do. Then it was time to go visit downtown Saugatuck, a charming town with artisan shops and fisherman delights. Then it was onto Holland to see the tulips. We lucked out with our parking, so we hoofed it throughout the town.

While we were in Holland, we visited the library, walked down the Yellow Brick Road, saw many tulips, went back in time to 1812, visited the first mayor’s house and a house that survived the 1871 fire, and drank some lemonade from a girl who was selling lemonade outside her house.

Then we went back to Saugatuck for dinner and to find a perfect beach for sunset. On our way back to the Air BnB, we found a restaurant that served food from a huge root beer barrel. I needed to get the souvenir mug with a root beer float from that restaurant.

We had some downtime at the Air Bnb because it was not time for the sunset just yet. Closer to the sunset, we drove back to the beach in order for me to watch the sunset over Lake Michigan. So magical.

Sunday was my birthday. I started the day with a relaxing bubble bath. Then it was time to start the day. The first stop of the day was the tulip immersion garden. Imagine 50,000 tulips right where you can easily get photos. You also learned about the history of the tulip in this garden.

Then we tried to find parking. There was traffic everywhere because of Tulip Time, Mother’s Day, AND Hope College’s graduation. We lucked out because we found the last parking spot in the parking lot. They closed the lot after we drove up the ramp.

We took a walking tour around the city to learn about its history. Our tour guide even wore a traditional Dutch outfit along with wooden shoes.

Finally, it was time to meet up with a high school classmate: 200 plus miles from where we graduated from school 29 years ago. Can it be that long ago?

We ate pickle pizza and just talked for over an hour. Realizing the time, we walked them back to the car before going to get our last drink from a local coffee shop. I needed to go to the restroom, ok.

Next, we started the drive home. Stopping at rest stops along the way. We discovered a cool rest stop with a little museum just outside of Angola, Indiana. Finally, at 9:57 pm on a school night, we pulled into our driveway. All we could do was get ready for bed and crash because work beckoned us.

Stay tuned for photos from our trip.

Have a blessed day,
Traci