Reporting from Grand Haven, MI
LAT 43 deg 2 min
LON 86 deg 13 min
After a decent night at what was otherwise an empty motel, we started early, going through more of the Indiana Dunes. Kemil Beach was quite pretty, but it’s clearly not the busy season. There’s also signs to delineate the state and national parks (still not sure why they are different). We also drove by a set of homes built for the “Century of Progress” World’s Fair in 1933. The homes are right on the beach, and are under long term leases to individuals who agree to maintain them AND allow the public to tour them once a year. We might try to get into one of those tours.
Off to Mount Baldy, the largest of the dunes. People used to go down and (if possible) up the steep dune, but too many needed to be rescued, so they restricted access. We ran into a couple on the trail who came there when they were young and we chatted for a bit.
After an aborted attempt to find a train museum (one of the last “interurbans” still runs from South Bend and Chicago, assuming you’ve got 6 hours to kill), we stopped for brunch at a cool cafe--we went for “healthy”.
There’s a “Skellville” (a skeleton-centric display) in Benton Harbor. It’s a place that sells concrete lawn ornaments, and is quite a collection.
This was followed by a giant barrel that used to be an ice cream shop.
Frank L. Baum vacationed near Holland, MI, and may have written his most famous work there. So the library has a series of Oz statues.
We also stopped by the Windmill Gardens, which was quite pricey--so we just took a pic from the parking lot.
Onto Grand Haven, right on the Grand River. Before we stopped for the night, we visited a sundial display that included a miniature layout of the local rivers (although it reminded me of blacktop patching).
Tomorrow--more statues and displays, plus a winery and lodge (if we get that far).
#michigami