A Month in Michigan (Part 1): Up Lake Michigan’s shore
July 2022
We had really looked forward to our month in Michigan, because until now, we had spent very little time in that state, and there was so much we wanted to see. We began our visit by working our way up the west side of the “mitten” along Lake Michigan, starting with a stay in Holland. Although we missed tulip time, we still saw a variety of beautiful flowers in many people’s yards, and in a couple of public gardens. We camped at Holland State Park, where most of the sites were crammed close together. Our site was a little bigger than most, thankfully. At least there were trees in our campground. The beach campground was just a paved parking lot with no view. One of the first things we did was go to the beach to see the lighthouse.
On another day when it was sunny and calm, we saw quite a few sailboats in Lake Macatawa near the campground. A channel leads from that lake to Lake Michigan.
One morning, we climbed the Mt. Pisgah dune stairway to get a view of the beach and lighthouse from above.
One fact above is wrong: the first Europeans saw Lake Michigan in the 17th C.
Since we were in Holland, we decided to learn a bit about the town’s Dutch heritage, so we visited Windmill Island Gardens, the site of the only authentic, working Dutch windmill in the U.S. We were allowed to climb nearly to the top.
The view from partway up the windmill
There’s an interesting history behind the acquisition of the windmill:
There was also an authentic Dutch street organ that played music. It was loud!
There really weren’t that many flowers, although in spring the gardens are apparently full of tulips.
We took a daytrip to Grand Haven and Grand Rapids. The beach at Grand Haven was very crowded because it was Saturday, and there were several special events, including a beach volleyball tournament and a speed boat race (we just missed the race). We walked the lighthouse pier, and then left!
We visited the Frederik Meijer Sculpture Garden in Grand Rapids. The Japanese Garden was nice, but in our opinion, it didn’t hold a candle to the Japanese garden at Missouri Botanical Garden. It might have colorful trees in the fall, but in July when we went, there were practically no flowers blooming, so it was just shades of green and a bit boring.
However, the sculpture gardens were quite large and interesting. We didn’t see the whole thing because our feet hurt from all the walking on hard surfaces, so we had to cut our visit short.
The sculpture gardens were quite large and interesting. We didn’t see the whole thing because our feet hurt from all the walking on hard surfaces.
We also took a short drive down to South Haven. The cute little downtown was close to the beach, which was smaller than the one at Grand Haven.
South Haven lighthouse
Then we travelled up the lakeshore to camp near the little town of Manistee. It wasn’t the most convenient location to the sights we wanted to see, but the RV park was nice. Orchard Beach State Park was very close to town. The beach was closed due to high lake water levels. We just walked the short bluff trail to see the view of Lake Michigan, which was a beautiful blue.
This historical marker was at the bluff trail.
Just north of here was a nature preserve with a couple sequoia trees that had been planted there over 70 years ago. They aren’t nearly as big as the ones we saw in California. This one was 95 feet tall.
One day we drove south to Ludington State Park. We walked the 2-mile trail to Big Sable Lighthouse. We learned that the name is pronounced “SAH-ble” not “Say-ble”, because the area was named by Frenchmen and it means sand. An appropriate name, because there are lots of sand dunes along the trail, and a very long beach just south of the park.
On another day, we drove an hour north of Manistee to Sleeping Bear Dunes Natl. Lakeshore. This was one of highlights of our stay in Michigan. The scenery is fantastic, and there was plenty to see and do. Our first stop was the Empire Bluff Trail, where we had a great view of Lake Michigan and some of the dunes.
The water color looked like the Caribbean Sea. Gorgeous!
Then we drove to the Dune Climb. We weren’t planning to climb it—we tried climbing sand dunes out west last year and it’s tough! We just wanted a good close-up view of a dune to watch other people climb it and then run down it.
After a mediocre lunch in Glen Arbor (just picked the wrong restaurant), we headed to Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive. There were several great viewpoints along this one-way road.
We stopped at the popular Sleeping Bear overlook to see where the dune drops steeply down right into the lake. Lots of people were climbing several hundred feet up at a 35-degree angle.
See the tiny people climbing up? Some of them were crawling on their hands and knees.
Craig held the phone way above our heads to get the dune and lake in the photo! Tiny people are behind us climbing up. The ranger said so far this year, no one has had to be rescued from the bottom of this dune, but there have been a couple rescues in other spots in the park, where people couldn’t climb back up.
One day was not long enough to see everything.
On the drive back to Manistee, we came upon this roadside viewpoint:
Oh, that water color!
Our last stop in this part of Michigan was Traverse City and Old Mission Peninsula. We visited a lavender farm, and then took the scenic drive to the tip of the little peninsula to Mission Point Lighthouse.
Rows and rows of lavender!
On the way back, we stopped in downtown Traverse City to shop at the Cherry Republic store, because this area is known for its cherries. We bought some chocolate-covered cherries, which were expensive but yummy! We also made a detour to Common Good Bakery for awesome sandwiches and cookies. Their breads looked scrumptious!
The first two weeks of our month in Michigan were over. From here, we headed to the northern tip of the “mitten” and then the “U.P.”—the Upper Peninsula. That will be the subject of my next post.