Holland Tulip Festival Part 1

This past weekend I did something that I've always wanted to do but never took the time to. On Saturday I went to Holland for the Tulip Festival! This trip combined several of my favorite things all in one. 1) Tulips 2) Roadtrips 3) Photography 4) Port towns. Ok so technically this was a mini-road trip but it was still a lot of fun! Because I did a lot of things and took many pictures I'll do this post in two parts.

Mom and Dad were in Iowa this weekend for a friend's wedding so this offered me the opportunity to have a day completely to myself and do exactly what I wanted to do. I was a little nervous about the weather because we had a storm the night before and it was supposed to continue to rain in the morning and then clear up before starting to rain again in the afternoon. I left the house at 6:30 a.m. and it was raining. I wanted to allow myself plenty of time since it's approximately an 1 hr and 45 min. drive. I also was GPS-less this weekend since Mom and Dad had taken it with them to Iowa.

I used to just take an atlas and drive and didn't care if I got lost because I could read a map and find a way home. I can't believe how dependent I've become on my GPS. However, I did have fun having to rely on the atlas and enjoyed the feeling of adventure I used to have before I had the GPS. I call it GPSYI by the way! :) GPS, travel... GPSYI.. get it?! Yes, I know it's spelled different!

Anyway, after a short stop at McDonald's for a large unsweetened iced tea in a styrofoam cup for only $1, I was back on the road. It continued to rain for most of my drive and as I was traveling I kept looking at the sky and thinking to myself, "This may have been a bad idea!"

After I arrived in Holland I followed the signs for downtown. I first stopped at the Amtrak station to take a quick picture of the "Welkom to Downtown Holland" sign which was surrounded by tulips. I then drove around the corner to Windmill Island but they weren't open yet so I headed downtown to take some pictures of the many tulips lining the streets. I then went back to Windmill Island just as they were opening and about this time the rain stopped. Perfect! I took a tour of 240 year old windmill which was imported from Holland. It is still used to make flour. Standing out on the observation deck was quite a view!

I then went and ordered myself some tulip bulbs! I kept telling myself that I didn't need any but I just couldn't resist. After Windmill Island I went back downtown to Centennial Park and watched some children doing some Dutch dancing in their wooden shoes. I couldn't get a very good view because there were too many people in front of me but it was neat just the same. I then walked around and saw some of the vendors in the park before walking across the street to Hope College. Their buildings reminded me of when Mom and I were in York, England. Very neat!

Holland also has a 6 mile drive through town where there are tulips lining the streets and street corners. Everything was so beautiful! I kept stopping, parking and getting out to take pictures. Most of the tulips were in their prime so I think I picked a good day to go. In the town of Holland there are over a half-million tulip bulbs planted!

After leaving town I went north of few miles to the Veldheer Tulip Farm. They have 700,000 tulip bulbs planted as well as other flowers. All of the beds are numbered by variety and you can walk through with an order form and decide which ones you want to purchase. They also have a large gift shop specializing in wooden shoes and delftware along with specialty dutch foods. They also raise bison and sell the meat.

After finally pulling myself away from the tulips and deciding that I had seen enough of them for the day I decided to drive over to Lake Michigan and look at the lighthouse before I left. I'm a sucker for water in big forms such as the Great Lakes and the oceans! I took a street out of Holland that turned into a really rich section of town and eventually ended up at Lake Michigan. You have to park and walk approximately a 1/4 mile to get to the lighthouse. It was a very windy day so the waves were really crashing into the shore. They call the Holland Lighthouse, Big Red. It is more of a square shape as opposed to a tower shape like most others.

After leaving the lighthouse I headed back home stopping one more time to get ice cream at the Plainwell Ice Cream Co. They make their own ice cream and it's a little bit pricey but very, very good. I was exhausted when I got home having walked so much during the day. It was a long but wonderful day. Now Mom and I are going back because she didn't get to go. I'll post those pictures in Part 2! Stay tuned!