Lillian (my new car, if you recall) and I have had our first Road Trip! One month after I bought her, I drove her to Holland, Michigan for the Tulip Time Festival.
Yesterday, after school, I loaded her up and drove north and west to Douglas, MI, where our hotel, the AmericInn was awaiting me. By “our” I mean mine and judiang and elsaf‘s hotel. I got there around 10pm and they hadn’t been there long either. In fact, they were just about to head out for a late (late!) supper. Since I had the new car, they let me drive and we attempted the road house “next door” but they stopped serving food at 10pm. The waitress there described where to find a Burger King, which we figured would still be open.
They were, the girls got some food in ’em (I’d stopped at a McDonald’s on my way up) and we returned to the hotel for bed. Whereupon none of us could sleep. Ah well!
This morning, we ate at the hotel and eventually got on the road to Holland. By following the signs to the Windmill Island, we eventually reached the place (using the concept of Limits to guide us to our destination. Let’s hear it for calculus!) It was still fairly early and the temperature was a bit chilly. The tulip flowers didn’t get the memo re: Tulip Time and most were no-shows. However, the highlight of the island was the windmill.
In 1964, the city of Holland bought a windmill from the Netherlands and installed it on what became called Windmill Island. It is a working flour mill and the miller is one of the few females in the biz. (Elsa and I walked past her while on our tour of the joint.) Though they didn’t have the mill attached while we were there, they did have the sails turning, which was nifty.
I picked up a sack of flour, a postcard of the windmill WITH tulips in shot, and 3 tiny bars of chocolate from the Netherlands. It wasn’t till after we’d left the island that I even saw any bloomed tulips. But downtown Holland fared better – they had some early risers in places. I suspect in another week or two, the place will be gorgeous.
We decided to try the Alpen Rose restaurant for lunch, and we chose well. Judi and I got the buffet and Elsa had a soup, sandwich, and potato salad. The food was all yummy (brat with kraut & mashed taters – very yummy kraut indeed) and the desserts were heavenly. Cream puffs & fruit tart for the win! We headed on to Centennial Park where the arts & crafts part of the festival was housed and wandered there for a bit. Now we’re back at the hotel resting and recuperating.
Oh, while at the arts & crafts area, I so wanted to purchase a t-shirt that someone had made. It had a cute applique cat on it, was only $13, and had the caption “My outfits not complete unless covered in cat fur” or something. But I couldn’t spend money on a t-shirt that didn’t have proper grammar. “Outfit’s” as in “my outfit is” not as plural to “outfit.” I sadly walked away regretting their lack of proof-reader. (This paragraph probably has an ironically appropriate grammatical error in it, just ’cause.)
I’d add some photos to this post, but the wifi is slow here & my images & videos from today are taking their time getting onto my laptop. Guess I’ll have to make a SECOND post for the images. Wow!
