Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Nature's Show


Hallie's new favorite ad is posted above. The ad is what inspired the three of us to escape to the western side of the state this past weekend. Didn't tell many, like Hallie has about going to California (we think she is a tad bit excited about that trip). It was so nice the families from the branch that called to see how we were.

We needed a break and got a deal on a hotel room and so we decided to go to Holland, MI and its surrounding lakeside towns.

Western Michigan is only a short three hour trip from our humble abode, and Landon did rather well traveling in the car.

By the time we got to Holland we were in time for an AMAZING Farmer's Market where a vendor told us 90% of the product that is sold by each vendor has to be grown by the vendor. Love It! Landon ate the grape tomatoes like they were candy. Better than all of the sweet popcorn he ate.

After going to the Farmer's Market, we stopped by the tourist bureau and met Lucy the pug. Afterwards we let Landon play at an outdoor water fountain.

We stopped by Veldheer, a Dutch-themed store which had a factory that makes wooden shoes and delft porcelain and sells tulip bulbs. Landon was so tuckered out he fell asleep in the car.

We didn't make it to Neli's Dutch Village, so we can't give a report on that. Seemed cute. Maybe when Landon gets older.

We love Gandolfo's New York Deli and the only one in the state is in Holland. So we had to go for late lunch/early dinner, and it sure was yummy.

We rented a room at the Country Inn and Suites, and after resting for a bit, we headed back out to Tunnel Park, where Landon jumped and splashed to his heart's content in the waters of Lake Michigan. Such a peaceful setting, and the weather was perfect! We saw some Hope College students having an activity where they ran up the side of the huge sand dune that separates the park from the beach. the dune is so big that there is a tunnel through one part of it that you can walk through.

The next morning we headed south before heading back east. Good thing, too, because we foundSaugatuck and St. Joseph. Hallie has found her new second home.
Here are some fun painted statues by local artists. There were 29 in all we found just a few.



2 comments:

Candi said...

Way to go guys! Sounds like an awesome weekend. That's inspiring. We need to do something like that.

beth said...

What a great weekend! I was wondering where you were Sunday - but now I know. Looks like it was fun!