Grand Haven, Michigan
Grand Haven, Michigan is a favorite place for both Trish and I to spend time in the summer. We count ourselves lucky that we can get there in anywhere from 4-6 hours (depending on the I-90 and I-294 traffic), so we try and make it there at least a couple times each summer for a long weekend or more when we can.
What’s to love- For me it is the beach, which is one of the best I have seen. The sugar sand on this side of Lake Michigan makes it spectacular for swimming, kite flying, and just generally relaxing at the beach. When the wind kicks up - out come both the kite surfers and surfers in droves, all sharing the waves with swimmers and body surfers. Right next to the beach is a fabulous downtown with a nice array of unique shops, restaurants, coffee shops and ice cream parlors.
With so much going on this summer, it was just not going to work to be able to get to Grand Haven. However, in late July, we were driving home from a family event in Grand Rapids and decided we would “just swing through” Grand Haven on our way. Within 30 minutes we talked ourselves into booking a night at a local motel, which luckily still had availability during the start of the Coast Guard Festival.
So with essentially an afternoon, evening, and following morning to pack in our favorite things, here is what we did. First stop coming into town was to go straight to the beach. The majority of the beach is part of the Grand Haven State Park with the Grand Haven City Park being the smaller southern section of the beach. It is all the same beach, but we find the City Park end is typically less crowded than the State Park. The State Park end has the larger restroom facilities, playground, volleyball nets, and food trucks so many people prefer that side. Either way, you can’t go wrong and even in the high season it does not seem crowded since the beach is just so large.
After an afternoon at the beach, back to the room to check-in and clean-up. Note that we would have normally stopped at Pronto-Pups for a deep-fried hot dog on a stick snack on the way by, but being the festival week, the line was crazy long. So after a shower, back downtown for a quick bite at one of our favorites, The Toasted Pickle. This place has never disappointed. After dinner, a walk down to hear a free concert at the pavilion for the musical fountain and then an evening stroll along the boardwalk for a cone at Temptations, which is one of our many favorite ice cream shops.
In the morning we got up early to take a walk on the pier since we’d missed it the day before. Unfortunately a storm was rolling in and we could not get all the way out due to the danger from the waves. No worries as it was very cool to watch the storm start coming in over the lake and the Coast Guard cutters sitting outside the channel waiting to come in for the upcoming boat parade. Next we headed to Trish’s favorite coffee shop The Baker’s Wife. I’ve actually seen her skip into the place, she likes it that much. Unfortunately they were closed for the day as the carnival was setting up in the street outside. Time for some damage control or it was going to be a very long ride home to Chicago. So we decided to try for breakfast the Morning Star Cafe. It is no secret how good this place can be, so the wait can be over an hour if you are not there early. This time, luck was with us and we walked right in for a table. You can’t go wrong here, but the blue cornbread scramble is my favorite. For sure this was a quick visit and Grand Haven has so much to offer. But this “fix” will have to last until we return to the States next year.
