On our own in Grand Haven

On Saturday, Bryce went down to South Haven to visit friends, so Tom and I were on our own to explore Grand Haven.  We’ve never stayed here before, just visited occasionally, so it was nice to have time to explore the area more thoroughly.

There was a lot going on this weekend . . . a big garage sale at the church on the corner, Farmer’s Market,

sidewalk sales at the shops downtown, an Art Fair along the river near the Marina,

and we visited them all!  After getting our fill of shopping, we went back to the RV Resort for lunch. 

There was a local music event going on in the neighborhood surrounding the RV Resort, with local musicians set up on the various street corners playing their music.  The concept was that people would walk through the neighborhood, stopping to listen to each musician.  From the RV, we could hear 4 or 5 of them . . . unfortunately, all their music kindof blended together, so we couldn’t hear any one of them very well.

We spent the afternoon at the pool, and then returned to downtown in the evening for sunset at the beach.

It was a beautiful evening, and there was quite a crowd gathered on the beach at Grand Haven State Park.

Campers on the beachside sites were sitting out behind their campers to watch the setting sun.

When the sun had finished setting, we continued along the beach to the area of the Musical Fountain.  We had heard of the Grand Haven Musical Fountain, but had never been in town for the show, so we were looking forward to finding out what it’s all about.

We climbed to the top of the bleachers, and waited with everybody else for the show to start.  The music that night was from Beauty and the Beast, and the colorful fountains appears to be swaying and dancing with the music.

It was a really good show, and we definitely enjoyed it!

We finished off our evening with yogurt at the Pump House,

and a sample of edible cookie dough.  It’s the new thing . . . cookie dough by the scoop, like ice cream.  It’s tasty . . . but way too rich . . . I don’t know how anybody eats a whole dish of it!

On Sunday, we had plans to get together with Lynn & Dave in the afternoon, and Bryce wasn’t getting home until about 1pm, so after mass Tom and I packed a lunch and headed back to the beach.

It was a beautiful, warm day and the beach was crowded!

We soaked up some sun, ate our lunch, and took a walk along the water.  Lake Michigan is still pretty cold – there haven’t been a lot of really hot days this summer to warm the water up!

We left around 1:30, and the beach parking lot was full – they had people at the exit, counting the cars that were leaving and radioing workers at the entrance who would then allow an equal number of cars into the parking lot.  Lots of people trying to get in their last few days at the beach before the end of summer!

Bryce was already home when we got back, so Tom and I got changed and we all headed down to Hudsonville to visit with Dave & Lynn at their campground, Chapel in the Pines.

Their site is in the “Outback” area of the campground, in a nice open area overlooking the small lake.  After getting caught up, they treated us to a delicious dinner of steaks, corn, and salad, and afterwards Dave got a roaring fire started.

S’mores for dessert!

We enjoyed our afternoon together, and were glad we could get together one last time before we all leave Michigan.  We don’t know when we’ll see them again – they’re headed to Arizona this winter, while we’re headed back to Florida – but we’re confident that we’ll cross paths again somewhere, sometime!