Holland, MI

We enjoyed our day trip to Frankenmuth so much a few weeks ago that Aaron decided to take our family a little further away to do some more exploring.  The kids missed school on Friday the 3rd and we drove west to Holland, MI.  Our first stop was the Chamber of Commerce where we picked up a map and a booklet of what Holland has to offer.

 

We hit the local museum and wandered around looking at the different displays of things that showed what Holland's industry has been over the years, as well as the heavy Dutch influence the town has had since it was founded.

 

 

 

In the lobby they had this neat glass and brass display of various churches from around the world. 

 

I thought it was so neat that inside were little brass people and furniture.

The second floor of the little museum was where they had paintings on display, which of course you're not allowed to photograph.  I was pretty impressed when our guide said they even had a Rembrandt.  Then I turned around and saw that it was a tiny 2" x 3" sketch.  Disappointing.  Still a "Rembrandt" I guess!  Some of the art was pretty incredible and I would have loved to spend more time there, but since very little of it was protected in any way, I mostly wanted to get out of there before one of my kids decided to lick one or something.

We asked the museum guide about a little Delft and wooden shoe factory I'd read about and he said it wasn't worth going to.  We decided to check it out anyway and were so glad we did!  It was adorable!  It turned out to be a big wide open building with a row of glass-front rooms on one side that you walk by and can watch how the Delftware and shoes are made.  No one happened to be working in the ceramics rooms that day except for two old ladies sitting and painting some pieces. 

So we wandered around for a bit and tried on the wooden shoes.

 

The shoemaker offered to give us a demonstration of how the "klompen" are made, even though we were the only ones there.

 

Here he is hollowing out the insides of two shoes.  The one in the middle is the pattern shoe which guides the other two carving arms on the machine.

 

This machine takes two big wooden blocks and carves them down to shoe shapes.  Again, it uses a pattern shoe to guide the blades, making two more identical shoes.  When they're done they end up looking like the ones sitting on top of the machine with a knob on the front and back where they were attached to the machine.  Those knobs get sanded off by hand after the insides get hollowed out.

 

 They use "green" wood when the shoes get carved so it carves smoothly and doesn't crack or break like dry wood does.  After that they sit on the racks you can see towards the right side of the room where they dry slowly for quite a long time before they're ready to be finished.

Obviously, I found all of it very interesting!  I would have loved to see some Delftware get made as well!  But since we were there during the off season they weren't doing much.

Here's a picture of the Holiday Inn Express we stayed in.  Isn't it just the CUTEST!  It sounds stupid, but I was pretty excited to get to spend the night at such a cute hotel.  :)

After we got checked in we decided to drive over to Lake Michigan and see the beach.  Rowan was hungry so I had to sit in the car with him while Aaron and the other kids wandered around the sand.  When they finally came back I wanted a picture of them, but Finnley was DONE.  He wouldn't even stand there long enough for me to take a photo!  It was SUPER windy by the water and much colder there, too.

After they all loaded back into the car I went over to the pier by myself to get a picture of the little lighthouse that sits on the other side of the channel.

 

This was our first glimpse of one of the Great Lakes.  It's definitely easy to forget that it's a lake and not the ocean!

I can't wait for summer when we can come back and actually play in the sand and water.  It will have all the benefits of the ocean but without the salt water, seaweed, sharks and jellyfish!

On our way home on Saturday we decided to try and find a place to eat lunch that was on the Food Network show Diners, Drive-ins and Dives.  I looked up the locations, and even though most of the places that have been on the show are near Detroit, I found two near Lansing, which was on our way home.  One was a brewhouse and pub, and the other was called Joe's Gizzard City. 
Yeah. 
We decided to give that one a try anyway since it was on the way.

To call it a Dive would be pretty generous.  The entire menu was full of fried foods, and even though our better judgement was against it, we decided to try their specialty- battered, fried chicken gizzards. 

Not. A. Fan.

Moving on.

We stopped in Lansing to visit the children's museum there and it was pretty great.  We were in no hurry so we let the kids go from one thing to the next as they wanted.

 

Can you spot Pyper inside the giant eyeball?

I'm not sure they could have made this giant head any more unattractive if they tried- but at least it has nice teeth.

We had such a fun time on our little exploration of Holland.  I'd really love to go back in the Spring when they have their Tulip Festival.  These mini-vacations are great and I love that we're getting to see more of the state than just the tiny spot where we live!