Up and out of the Timberland Motel in Saugatuck Michigan at about 9 am and decided we must go to Oval Beach before leaving Saugatuck.
During the thick forest drive we spotted 3 deer. It is a beautiful drive in the early morning, we passed through a small part of Douglas Michigan on our way.
We drove to Holland Michigan, found the way to downtown and unfortunately they were knee deep in "Sidewalk Sales". So many people.
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8-9-2013 9:30 am Sidewalk sales in downtown Holland Michigan
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| 8-9-2013 Holland Michigan |
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| 8-9-2013 Must have been some good deals, lots of shopping. Holland Michigan |
We looked and shopped in the stores and had a very nice time in one of the jewelry stores. The gentleman there was very knowledgeable in gems and estate jewelry. He showed us some very cool items and we learned some interesting things. We saw an antique tailor's wrist magnet for needles and pins, an antique hearing amplifier, and some very beautiful old mine cut diamond jewelry.
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| On 8th Street Downtown Holland, Michigan,, a group of children gather around to raise and pledge allegiance to the American flag. |
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| 8-9-2013 Artist Glenda Goodacre. |
Carol and I decided it was time for something to eat, so we stopped at a coffee house and had a latte, frappe, and bagels.
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8-9-2013 Having our morning break.
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Just a little side note here, for all those people that saw me laying in the parking lot looking under Carol's car.....see it was time for me to take one of my prescription medications. A tiny tiny pill that, yep, I dropped under her car. Well, I dropped two, but I did find one, and it wasn't too gritty. Just one of those really fun things that happen on holiday.
Then we proceeded to Windmill Island, Holland Michigan.
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| 8-9-2013 Just arriving at Windmill Island Holland Michigan. |
It was very beautiful and quaint. We spent some time there just taking in the views of the flowers, horses, shops, trees and of course the windmill.
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8-9-2013 Windmill Island Holland Michigan. Oh, boy, getting my camera ready.
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8-9-2013 The carousel of Windmill Island Holland Michigan.
The carousel is 8.5 meters wide, and 5.5 meters tall. The animal figures are all hand made. The barrel organ music is produced from paper music albums and can be played for two hours without repetition. It was well known for generations and loved by young and old in East Groningen.
The painting on the wooden panels was restored in 2003 by local artist Lisa Freeman. |
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| 8-9-2013 This is a Dawn Redwood Melasequoia tree. |
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| 8-9-2013 Gift Shop with Dutch Foods and Wooden Shoes. |
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| 8-9-2013 Tropical Green House |
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| 8-9-2013 Post House, Windmill Island, Holland Michigan. |
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| 8-9-2013 The Windmill, Windmill Island, Holland Michigan. |
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| 8-9-2013 This is the building that houses the 1928 Amsterdam Street Organ. |
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| 8-9-2013 Weeping Atlas Cedar or |
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| 8-9-2013 Called the Serpentine Weeping Cedar. |
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De Zwaan is an authentic
Dutch windmill in the city of
Holland, Michigan,
USA. The windmill's name is Dutch for
The Swan or
Graceful Bird. It is the only authentic, working Dutch windmill in the United States. De Zwaan is located in
Windmill Island municipal park.
De Zwaan was first was erected in
Krommenie, near
Amsterdam,
Noord Holland in 1761. In 1889, it was moved to Vinkel in the province of
Noord Brabant and reconstructed there.
When Holland, Michigan residents Willard Wichers and Carter Brown were looking for a way to pay homage to the city's Dutch heritage, they began a project to bring a Dutch windmill to the United States. However, many of these monumental structures had suffered serious damage in
World War II. As a result, the Dutch government had placed a ban on the sale of windmills outside the
Netherlands. Wichers and his group were able to gain an exemption by selecting a heavily damaged mill known as De Zwaan. De Zwaan was at the center of a controversy, with three local agencies unable to determine the future of the damaged windmill. The Dutch government decided to sell it to Wichers for $2800, making De Zwaan the last windmill to leave the Netherlands.
In October, 1964, De Zwaan arrived aboard the
Prins Willem van Oranje. It was unloaded at the
Muskegon harbor and transported by truck to
Windmill Island in Holland. It took approximately 6 months to reconstruct the mill.
In April 1965, the 125-foot (38 m) windmill was formally dedicated on Windmill Island, a 36-acre (150,000 m
2) site reclaimed from a
swamp on the eastern end of
Lake Macatawa. It is open from late April through early October.
When winds are favorable (15 to 20 miles per hour from the west), De Zwaan's 80-foot (24 m) diameter blades are usually in motion.
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| 8-9-2013 Okay, so I spotted a professional photographer taking photos of the windmill and I asked him to take this picture. Just like my Mama always said, if you don't ask.......you'll never get a yes. |
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| 8-9-2013 Carol and Rosemary AKA: Thelma and Louise. |
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| 8-9-2013 Inside the windmill. |
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| 8-9-2013 View from the Windmill. |
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| 8-9-2013 View from the Windmill. |
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| 8-9-2013 Our tour guide. |
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We then took off for Ludington Michigan by way of Lakeshore Drive. Again we found it is not easy to get peeks at Lake Michigan from Lakeshore Drive (I guess that's why they call it Lakeshore not Lakeview Drive).
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| 8-9-2013 Somewhere between Holland and Ludington Michigan. |
Got to our room at Baymount Inn, had an interesting dinner at the bar in the hotel. Let's just say it wasn't one to remember well. Everyone has a bad night and this was one of theirs.
Then we got back in Carol's car and went to find the USS Badger, the car ferry that would take us to Wisconsin the next morning at 9am. We found the site and also that we needed to be there at 8 am for boarding.
Stopped at Meijers for a reload of water and then back to the hotel for a wake up at 6 am so we won't miss the boat/ferry, the USS Badger.
