When we left the Petoskey, MI, area, we headed to Sun Retreats Gun Lake, about thirty minutes south of Grand Rapids. Having learned that the Tulip Festival had just ended in Holland, MI, we took a trip over to see if there were any tulips still blooming.
It makes me wonder how pretty things would have been at their peak. There are several venues for seeing lots of tulips. Some require a paid admission. We opted out of any of those since it was rainy and most tulips were past their prime.
We did head over to Veldheer's, Holland's only tulip farm. We were hoping to see a few acres of the five million tulips from the parking lot. We didn't see as much as we hoped and chose not to sog through the gardens. However, we did enjoy watching the a woman handpainting a vase at the Delftware Pottery facility onsite. They are the only production facility in North America.
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| The paint room |
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| Lots of detail here |
If Delft pottery is not your thing, perhaps you'd like the wooden shoes. In the Netherlands, leather didn't last long with the soggy ground. So the Dutch started making wooden shoes back in the 13th century as a long-lasting alternative. The shoemaker wasn't there when we were, but that didn't stop us from trying on the wooden shoes. What a unique souvenir that would make.
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| Someone's been busy |
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| Ok, so these are a little big. |
We finished our time in the area with a good friend from our King George, VA, days. Jeff is a former shipmate of Harold's who roams the USA in his fifth wheel about six months in the year. We're planning to catch up again this summer in our home state of South Dakota.
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