Trip to Holland MI

We got a bit of a late start on Friday; camping shouldn’t be lived on a schedule anyway.

 

The drive to Holland MI was a smooth and easy 1 hour trip. We had planned to tour the lighthouse at Holland State Park but ended up on the wrong side of the harbor entrance to Lake Macatwa. Rather than backtrack all the way around to the north side of the lake we took some pictures of the lighthouse and beach and then decided to visit DeKlomp Wooden Shoe & Delft Factory. Ronna was interested in picking up a small item of Delft china and I was interested to see how they make wooden shoes.

 

The advertisement suggested allowing 2 hours to tour the place but I don’t see how that possible unless you really, really like to look at tulips and Delft. But Ronna did manage to find a nice statue of a Northern Cardinal (but in blue instead of red of course) and we got to watch a pair of wooden shoes being made.

 

Both the shoe and Delft factory are in the same building along the back wall with glass panels for viewing. The rest of the large building is filled with Delft china pieces and mucho “tourist crap”. But we did spy some Dutch chocolate and, not having had any lunch, snapped some up.

 

The wooden shoe “factory” is actually a one room workshop and the shoes are made on special laths; takes less than 15 minutes to knock out a pair; of course than doesn’t include the final sanding and drying process. The guy giving the demo stated that a pair would last a Dutch farmer about a year if worn every day.

 

The Delft “factory” was actually 3 rooms with forms and kilns, but nothing was being fired that day and the rooms were vacant.

 

A second building is actually a store that sells every variety of Tulip bulbs one could imagine. It’s also the entrance to the Tulip garden. A sign at the register read “Admittance to the garden. $5 each or 2 for $10” What is that all about???? Anyway we stepped into the garden to get some pictures of the flowers and left.

 

Since the Tulip Fest didn’t get underway until Saturday, we decided to find a local place downtown for lunch. We found a place called Froggy’s in one of the tourist guides that served cheeseburgers and fresh cut fries; right up our ally!

 

Now I always thought the Tulip Fest was all about Tulips, but the place is a carnival. I mean the streets are lined with every kind of corn dog, cotton candy and elephant ear carnie wagon possible. I thought how much nicer it would be if the local food vendors set up shops instead.  And maybe they do but we sure didn’t see any. And later at Froggy’s I noticed a sign giving 10 good reasons for visitors to dine at local establishments.

 

We parked behind Froggys in a city lot (all public parking lots are free). As we walked around front many people we dining outside on the sidewalks at various eateries. We were eating our lunch inside the restaurant when a downpour started and I imagine a lot of tables and chairs were knocked over in the rush to stay dry. The burgers were good and the fries great! Filling our stomachs we started the hour drive back to the campground.

 

That about catches up the first few days of our trip. Ronna said goodbye on Sunday afternoon and I’ve been spending my time taking pictures and doing the small chores that still need to be done.
Updates will come less often now but I’ll let you know when the next post is up.