Grand Rapids, MI

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08/30/2010 - 09/06/2010: Grand Rapids, MI: Week 2 of our "vacation", another Country Inn & Suites and we are missing the motorhome with our own bed and comfy recliners. Our summer weather suddenly turned and we had a cooling off that felt very much like Fall. We packed only summer clothes so had to shop for sweatshirts!

Our first tourist stop in Grand Rapids was at the Gerald R. Ford Museum. Very interesting. We then went on to Heritage Hill, one of the largest urban historic districts in the US. It consists of 1300 hundred private homes, representing over 60 architectural styles, and dating from 1849. We took the self-guided walking tour which covered many blocks and highlighted 37 homes. Beautiful homes, huge trees, brick streets. We had a great afternoon walking around. The final tourist stop in Grand Rapids was the John Ball Zoo, 160 acres with about 1200 animals. The zoo opened in 1891 but during the depression it fell on hard times. Most of the animal collection was given away and the buffalo and deer were slaughtered to feed the homeless. The zoo was re-born in 1949 and is now owned and opereated by the county.

We also drove to nearby towns during our week in Grand Rapids. The town of Coopersville was established in 1871 and now consists of about 2 blocks of "downtown" with quaint, old storefronts, a railroad museum, and a farm museum. Coopersville is also home of Del Shannon - a favorite of those of us that grew up in the 1960's! Grand Haven, on the shores of Lake Michigan, was established in 1833 as a fur trading post. It went on to flourish, first as a lumber town and then as a manufacturing center. Today it is very "touristy", with lots of restaurants and shops downtown and a 2.5 mile long boardwalk that ends on the south pier. The pier was built in 1893 and houses a lighthouse, a fog horn house, and a catwalk that connects the two so that keepers could maintain them during all types of weather. There is a beautiful sandy beach with a nice rv park. We may have to come back here some day. And the final town that we visited was Holland, so named because of it's large Dutch population. There we visited Nelis' Dutch Village which replicates a village in the Netherlands of 100 years ago. We just wandered around, watched the klompen dancers in their wooden shoes, and enjoyed a sunny day.

Our two week "vacation" was over but, unfortunately, our motorhome was not ready. Bummer. So we headed to Fort Wayne, Indiana to kill a few more days (nothing much of interest there) and FINALLY get to Nappanee to move back "home" on Friday, September 10th. YEAH!!!!

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