Michigan: Grand Haven (Day 2)

Day; 61
no travel

Because we got in late and Grand Haven has so much to offer with sites to see and bike trails to explore, we signed up for a two-night stay in this lovely town.  Grand Haven has an interesting history and, over the years, has morphed itself from a fur-trapping town into a lumber producer and finally into a resort town.  The beginnings of Grand Haven as a resort town started in the 1950s with the Musical Fountain attraction as well as a stunt boat driver who drew people in from all around to see his daring do with a speed boat.

We decided to hit the bike trails as early as possible today due to warm temperatures and high humidity.  Early for us turned out to be some time after 10:00 as we slept in for a change.  Our bike ride took us past an historic train engine / site honoring the Pere Marquette #1223.  Clark took numerous pictures of the engine and other cars as well as the tower built to supply coal to the engine when it came through town.  I forgot Clark was into trains as a child.  I guess he hasn't outgrown his fascination.

Building for supplying coal to Engine 1223

Pere Marquette #1223

From the train memorial we followed the trail to Linear Park.  I couldn't help but wonder where I would find the "non-linear" park.

Linear Park on Bike Trail in GH

Bike Trail along the waterway

Coal Tower now seen in the distance on other side of river

As we explored the town, we found a sundial that keeps accurate time (according to our watches at least).  We checked twice today and both times our watches were in complete agreement with the time shown on the sundial.  Really cool.

Sundial in Grand Haven

While we were out exploring the bike trails, we came across a Walgreen's Drug Store where I bought several items I haven't been able to get in weeks.  From there we found a West Marine and bought a few items that we had on our wish list and couldn't find previously.  Clark decided to buy a fan that runs on DC for the boat as we travel into more hot and humid climates.  We have an electric one, but we want to have one that still runs when electric is unavailable.  When I'm cooking in particular, I find the heat almost unbearable without a fan.

By the time we were done with our exploring and shopping, 12:00 had come and gone and I could tell I really needed to eat.  We followed the longer but quieter, more scenic bike route back to the boat where we grabbed some sandwiches for lunch.  As soon as we were done eating, we were back on the bikes to head out to the lighthouse in daylight to see what we missed in the dark the night before.  For our first stop we headed to the ice cream shop on the pier because Clark had his heart set on raspberry sorbet.

A steady stream of foot traffic slowed our progress out to the lighthouse, but we finally got to the end.  People participate in several rather unsafe activities out there.  Many people "play" near the edge of the pier tempted to see if they can either get splashed by the waves or avoid the waves depending on their inclination.  Also, many crazy people run and jump off the pier into Lake Michigan.  They have no idea what might be below them as they run full tilt and drop off the edge into the water.   

An engraved headstone commemorates the over 50 people who have died for one reason or another out at the pier and the rescuers who risked their lives trying to save them.  A very sobering billboard display shows the pictures of two teenagers who lost their lives - one who was swept into the water by a wave splashing over the pier and another who was swept away in a rip current after jumping off the pier.  Yet it was easy to see that the risk was ignored by many in favor of the fun aspect of the activity.

Here we are at the end of the pier with the lighthouse behind us
(well away from the splashing waves)

Grand Haven State Park -
People enjoying swimming and beach volley ball fun

 I was supposed to do laundry today because use of the washer / dryer is complimentary to boat owners staying at the municipal marina.  Well, with all the coming and going, I just plain forgot until 7:00 when I went to start dinner.  The place gets locked at 8:00, so I was out of luck as I knew I couldn't get it washed and dried in one hour, so it will have to wait for another day.

Besides the musical fountain, which provides a different show on Sunday versus Saturday, Grand Haven has a summer program called WoW - Worship on the Water with tonight's guest performer Jason Gray.  Since our boat is docked right next to the stands, we had no choice as to whether we wanted to listen to the show.  In fact to get to our boat in our slip, we had to break through the line of folks waiting to be allowed admittance to the stands.  We got a couple of "hey what are you doing looks" until folks figured out we were trying to get to our boat.

The picture of the stands below was taken from our boat.

I listened to Jason's show as I cooked, as I ate dinner, and finally as I did the dishes.  All told the show / service lasted about two hours.  It started by warming up the audience with a gospel sing-along that started around 7:00 and then Jason came on at 7:30 and sang / played his guitar until around 9:00.  Very few of the audience stayed for the musical fountain show.  Either they came back after taking a break or a new set came in.

Full to overflowing for Jason Gray Musical Service for WoW

Clark watched the Musical Fountain show from the fly bridge tonight while I caught glimpses of the lights out the front windows of the boat while working on my blog down below.  With or without the light show, the music provided entertainment while I composed my blog entry.

We are heading out tomorrow for Saugatuck as the next interesting stop along the coast of Lake Michigan.  Holland Michigan sounds like an interesting place to visit but the town is so far from the docks as to be prohibitive as a reasonable stop for us with only bikes for transportation.