A Weekend In Holland
The rules of the North-South Divide in Chicago indicate that if you are from "the North", you usually head towards Wisconsin for vacation. If you are from "the South", you head towards Michigan or Indiana. (An important part of that rule is that no one vacations in Illinois. Why bother?)
Me, and my family, have obeyed the rules. Te past few Midwestern vacations we've done have been in Wisconsin: trips to Madison, or to Eau Claire, or even our recent get-away o Wisconsin.
My neighbor had a shirt that said "Saugatuck" and after doing some research, I figured Michigan might be a better place to go than our usual Wisconsin hangouts:
- No construction on the Edens to contend with.
- Wineries and breweries galore!
- Best beaches in the Midwest
We ended up only staying for two days. This was a little bit shorter than intended, but mostly because I got horribly sick over the weekend and hadn't fully recovered by the time we left on Wednesday.
Just for my own sake, here's a list of places we went. Once Shylo gets the Flickr working, I'll update with some pictures too.
1. Skipped The Skyway. I'm not sure it was intentional, since we were debating whether an intro on NPR belonged to Postal Service or Arcade Fire, we missed the exit for the Skyway and took the alternative I hadn't seen in 10+ years, I-94. Amazingly little had changed.
2. As soon as we got to Michigan, we pulled over at the first winery we saw. Amazingly, the time change worked in our favor. Even though we thought it was only 10am (a smidge early for wine tasting), it turned out that we had crossed time zones. Viola! Soup's on!
The first place we tested was St. Julian, which is actually based in the wonderfully named Paw Paw but fortunately had a tasting room just off the highway. We got something there that was OK and then might the giant trek...
across the parking lot to the Round Barn Winery. The wine tasted terrible to me (though Shylo liked it). I didn't try their beer but I did try the vodka. I've tried a few vodkas in my day and know what to look for. This was really, really good. Well worth it, though we didn't buy any because me and vodka aren't speaking after what she did to me last summer.
3. Flying J. We continued up the highway until we stopped at a Flying J, a Shylo tradition. I bought an ugly hat and a soda, and then we kept going. We had fake Dutch things to see.
4. Holland! After much stopping, we finally made it to downtown Holland. It just so happened that we caught the tail end of the Holland Farmer's Market. There wasn't much to offer just yet, just lots of baked goods that we didn't really need.
5. Dutch Village. This place was seriously the worst place ever. Was it the fake, cement Van Gogh painting "Sunflowers" but actually painting a Wal-Mart and Steak and Shake? Was is the really lame attempts to sell pottery, wooden shoes, etc.? The $12 entrance fee (per person)? And on the day we went, there wasn't even any kloppen!?!
Dutch Village, you are lame.
6. Seashore. After picking up dinner and a campsite at the wooded section of Holland State Park, we wandered around the beach and the harbor for a bit.
This is when we realized that Michigan was so so much better than we had realized before. The beach was really nice, the harbor was beautiful, and we just suddenly actually relaxed in a way I don't think we had in awhile.
7. Brew Holland. After setting up the tent we went into town to see how the beer was at the New Holland Brewing Company. We really liked the Zoomer, and took home a growler. I'd go back; I will go back.
A quick walk around downtown Holland showed us that it was really cute. Not twee, but a place you could hang out and enjoy yourself. We particularly liked the Holland Peanut Store.
8. Campfire Potatoes, some beer, no silverware, one cup for beer, just like camping of old.
The worst problem was the fact that it was about 40 degrees. That's also known as "almost freezing". Considering that we had not been able to navigate the zippers for our sleeping bags in the dark, and I was sick, and it was freezing, and we were camping, it was COLD.
Me, and my family, have obeyed the rules. Te past few Midwestern vacations we've done have been in Wisconsin: trips to Madison, or to Eau Claire, or even our recent get-away o Wisconsin.
My neighbor had a shirt that said "Saugatuck" and after doing some research, I figured Michigan might be a better place to go than our usual Wisconsin hangouts:
- No construction on the Edens to contend with.
- Wineries and breweries galore!
- Best beaches in the Midwest
We ended up only staying for two days. This was a little bit shorter than intended, but mostly because I got horribly sick over the weekend and hadn't fully recovered by the time we left on Wednesday.
Just for my own sake, here's a list of places we went. Once Shylo gets the Flickr working, I'll update with some pictures too.
1. Skipped The Skyway. I'm not sure it was intentional, since we were debating whether an intro on NPR belonged to Postal Service or Arcade Fire, we missed the exit for the Skyway and took the alternative I hadn't seen in 10+ years, I-94. Amazingly little had changed.
2. As soon as we got to Michigan, we pulled over at the first winery we saw. Amazingly, the time change worked in our favor. Even though we thought it was only 10am (a smidge early for wine tasting), it turned out that we had crossed time zones. Viola! Soup's on!
The first place we tested was St. Julian, which is actually based in the wonderfully named Paw Paw but fortunately had a tasting room just off the highway. We got something there that was OK and then might the giant trek...
across the parking lot to the Round Barn Winery. The wine tasted terrible to me (though Shylo liked it). I didn't try their beer but I did try the vodka. I've tried a few vodkas in my day and know what to look for. This was really, really good. Well worth it, though we didn't buy any because me and vodka aren't speaking after what she did to me last summer.
3. Flying J. We continued up the highway until we stopped at a Flying J, a Shylo tradition. I bought an ugly hat and a soda, and then we kept going. We had fake Dutch things to see.
4. Holland! After much stopping, we finally made it to downtown Holland. It just so happened that we caught the tail end of the Holland Farmer's Market. There wasn't much to offer just yet, just lots of baked goods that we didn't really need.
5. Dutch Village. This place was seriously the worst place ever. Was it the fake, cement Van Gogh painting "Sunflowers" but actually painting a Wal-Mart and Steak and Shake? Was is the really lame attempts to sell pottery, wooden shoes, etc.? The $12 entrance fee (per person)? And on the day we went, there wasn't even any kloppen!?!
Dutch Village, you are lame.
6. Seashore. After picking up dinner and a campsite at the wooded section of Holland State Park, we wandered around the beach and the harbor for a bit.
This is when we realized that Michigan was so so much better than we had realized before. The beach was really nice, the harbor was beautiful, and we just suddenly actually relaxed in a way I don't think we had in awhile.
7. Brew Holland. After setting up the tent we went into town to see how the beer was at the New Holland Brewing Company. We really liked the Zoomer, and took home a growler. I'd go back; I will go back.
A quick walk around downtown Holland showed us that it was really cute. Not twee, but a place you could hang out and enjoy yourself. We particularly liked the Holland Peanut Store.
8. Campfire Potatoes, some beer, no silverware, one cup for beer, just like camping of old.
The worst problem was the fact that it was about 40 degrees. That's also known as "almost freezing". Considering that we had not been able to navigate the zippers for our sleeping bags in the dark, and I was sick, and it was freezing, and we were camping, it was COLD.
posted by planetshwoop at
9:22 PM
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