Portage, IN to Grand Rapids, MI

 The noisy generator issue continues ...

As I mentioned in my previous post Bill turned off the neighbor's very loud offending generator at 10:15 PM.  We had some welcome peace and quiet for a couple of hours and went to bed.

We think it was a little past midnight when the guy returned home.  He was either very drunk or a very obnoxious individual or maybe both! He was yelling, cussing, threatening and even getting physical with his wife who was trying to calm him down.  We're sure he woke up everyone within hearing distance as he restarted the generator and ran it all night long.  

When we got ready to leave Bill left a note on the generator telling the man what a lovely individual he is and how kind and considerate he is to his neighbors. NOT!!! The note was actually quite colorful and left nothing to the imagination. 

When we left the campground, we started a very busy, action packed day for our first ever venture into Michigan.  Our first stop of the day was at Warren Dunes State Park where we got our first glimpse of Lake Michigan on this trip. We had actually seen a bit of Lake Michigan when we were in Chicago a couple of years ago. We walked out onto the beach and the main thing we both noticed is that the sand seems much finer in texture than what we have in California. Warren Dunes is surrounded by 260' sand dunes and has 3 miles of Lake Michigan shoreline.

We only stayed a short time at Warren Dunes before continuing north to Saugatuck Dunes State Park which is located in Holland, Michigan. The park has several hiking trails and we took the "Yellow Beach Trail" that is 3/4 mile one way through gorgeous forest covered dunes before opening up onto the beach.  There were a lot of people and most of them had their dogs with them.  This was a little surprising since dogs are never allowed on our beaches in California.  It was a beautiful hike and I kept saying how much Emma and Annabelle would like this hike because of all the trees.  They both share my dislike for the desert and the typical desert scenery. 

After our hike to the beach we drove to the little town of Holland.  From what I could see it is a cute little town but there wasn't anywhere to park in town and we never found the RV lot they supposedly have so we couldn't stop.

I wanted to see a place called Windmill Island Gardens and we had driven a loop around the downtown area a couple of times and were ready to give up and just move on.  However, since we hadn't eaten all day we pulled into a restaurant called Russ's and had lunch.  When we went to checkout I asked the manager how to the island.  He walked us over to the window and showed us exactly how to get there.  

The park had a couple of canals, several shops, and a large windmill that was purchased in the Netherlands where it was taken apart and transported by ship to Michigan.  It is the last windmill that has been allowed to be taken out of the country.

The park was pretty and the buildings interesting but we felt the $13 per person entry fee was excessive for what it is.

After we left the Holland area we drove for about
35 miles to Grand Rapids.  We put in a Harvest Host request for Robinette's Apple Haus and Winery and our stay was approved.  We arrived at their location, I checked in with the staff, and we parked where we had been directed. 

During the process of setting up we discovered that one of our tires was low, so we made a couple of calls and left to get the tire filled.   While we were out we also stopped at an ATM to get some cash before returning to Robinette's.  We went inside for some wine tasting and ended up buying three bottles of wine.  It is a good Harvest Host location for a quick overnight stop.