This summer we decided to vacation on the other side of the lake in Michigan. This seems to be a vacation that most Chicago residents take in the summer and we are by no means experts of the area but we wanted to share some of the fun things that we did. The drive to the first town we went to, St. Joseph, was about 2 hours, just the right amount to feel far enough away from the City and not too far for everyone to go crazy in the car. We love the first rest stop once you cross the Michigan border because there is a great playground for everyone to stretch their legs.
As we drove up the western side of Michigan our first stop was the beach town of St. Joseph. It was around lunch time when we got there, so we stopped at the Neon Grill, which is a drive through only restaurant serving hamburgers, hot dogs, and fries. The location of the restaurant, 2650 Niles Ave., is tipped off by the Chevy parked on top. I had seen an article in Travel + Leisure where someone had said the Neon Grill has the best burgers they have ever had. I'm not going to say they were that good but the restaurant is definitely worth the trip if you are in the area. There are a couple of parking spaces next to the restaurant and that is where we ate since there is nowhere to sit inside or out. Might have been fun to take to the beach or scenic lookout but the car worked too.
Next we went to the beach where I believe we paid $8 to park. The big draw for us was across the street from the beach at the Silver Beach Carousel (333 Broad St.). After taking several spins around (there was never a very long line so the girls were able to get off one ride and right back onto the next one) we went next door to the Whirlpool Compass Fountain, which was an unexpected highlight. The fountain level was constantly changing creating a fun area to splash around in. The girls got totally drenched and we had to drag them away to go to the beach. When we got to the beach the girls were blown away by the fact that there was a playground in the sand. The beach is large, family friendly, and clean with a good bathrooms with plenty of room to get changed. There is also a children's museum near the carousel, which I have heard is really good, but we were more interested in doing outdoor things the day we were there.
On the second day of our vacation we drove up to the town of Holland. While there, we went to Nelis' Dutch Village and Windmill Island. You can buy a combo admission pass that gets you into both attractions and saves you a few dollars. We were able to do both in one day without too much trouble. First we went to Nelis' Dutch Village, which the girls really enjoyed but I probably would have skipped if I didn't have children. As the name implies this is an old fashioned village with a farm house, wooden shoe carver, cheese maker, and Dutch dancing performances. In addition, there is a slide in the shape of a wooden shoe, a carousel, swing ride, zip line, and self propelled cars for the kids to ride on, all included in the admission price. Every 20 minutes there is a presentation in one of the village buildings and, because my daughter wanted to get answers to every question on the scavenger hunt provided at the entrance (she was promised a prize if it was completed), we went into most buildings and stayed quite a bit longer than we expected.
We went to Windmill Island next and since it was toward the end of the day we didn't stay super long but I would say it is worth the visit. There is a nice playground for the kids to play and a carousel. The big attraction, however, is the 250 year old DeZwaan Windmill. It is a working windmill but when we were there it was undergoing repairs that are supposed to be completed by the end of the year. A free (or at least included with admission) tour is provided at the windmill by costumed guides. It is an interesting tour and worthwhile but there is definitely a lot of stairs to climb which could be difficult for a small child or if you are carrying a 20 lb baby like we were. There is also a Dutch dancing presentation that is done in front of the windmill.
We stayed in Holland for dinner at New Holland Brewing. This restaurant is huge and totally kid friendly in addition to offering a large selection of their own beers on tap. The menu includes salads, sandwiches, and pizza. The kid's menu is decent with the usuals plus grilled chicken, steak, and a chef's plate with apples, cheese, pepperoni, celery, and carrots. My kids had cheese pizza of course. The food was pretty good and beer was very good.
On our last day we spent the morning at the beach in South Haven. We went to North Beach because South Beach was closed during the time we were there. Since we have had an unseasonably cool summer this year it was quite chilly and breezy during our visit so we didn't do too much swimming but we had a nice picnic and an enjoyable day.
That afternoon and evening we headed out to Fenville for some peach picking and dinner. Crane Orchards, www.craneorchards.com, had a great orchard of peach trees for us to pick from in addition to some summer apples. Across the street is Crane's Pie Pantry Restaurant and Bakery. We were going elsewhere for dinner but we did take home a rhubarb-raspberry pie, one out of about 10 choices of pie flavors. It travelled home with us the next day and still tasted really good when we had the chance to eat it.
After the orchard and pie shop, we went to dinner at Salt of the Earth, a restaurant that sources almost all of its ingredients from farms within a 50 mile radius. The restaurant is located in downtown Fenville and street parking was quite easy. There were a quite a few families dining when we were there, however we did end up feeling a bit self conscious because, although it is family friendly, it is not really the kind of place where people don't care about a screaming baby and we happened to have a screaming baby. We got through it, however, and the food was excellent. My husband and I both had different types of wood fired pizza, which were really, really good but the menu also has entrees including chicken, steak, and pork. I can't remember everything that was on the kid's menu but one of my daughter's had, you guessed it, cheese pizza and the other had pasta with tomato sauce. The kid's dinners came with the most delicious bowl of Michigan blueberries. Since it was my husband's birthday we got a bunch of desserts that included a bowl of vanilla gelato, a gelato milkshake, and what they call a wood toasted s'more. The s'more was huge and consisted of a cake that mimicked a graham cracker, chocolate pudding and a giant toasted marshmallow on top. It was very good but my favorite dessert was the milkshake.
We had a really great family vacation. It was nice to go somewhere close by and still have lots of fun things to do. I'm sure we will be back sometime soon.
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