Holland to Grand Rapids

The big windmill in Holland

We slept in after the long day at the lake, and it felt quite luxurious. Just as we were getting out of the shower, Chris and Dan came home. Chris is so bubbly and friendly, she was so happy to see us. Dan is a hard man to describe, I'll try to do him justice. He has a shaved head and many colorful tattoos. He is more in shape than I'll ever be, and probably more in shape than my brother Dan was when he played high school football, and he packs all of this into a stout 5'6" frame. When he walked in the door he had already said hi to Stephanie outside, and he immediately came over to shake my hand and look me square in the eye. Dan is a martial arts master and a master marksman. He and Chris had just returned home from spending the weekend in Cadillac Michigan at a shooting competition. Dan got third in his competition, and Chris had to drop out of her competition due to heat exhaustion.

Momma administering a little TLC

I helped them carry things in from the car and then Dan showed me his shop, where he is building a muzzle loading rifle, circa 1700's. He is passionate about history and guns, and one of his hobbies is creating period accurate weapons. His current piece is causing him some headaches because he has opted to give it a worn/beat-up look that he hasn't tried before, and is causing the construction to take much longer than normal. Still, I can see that it will be an awesome weapon.

See? He's buff!

After greeting Dan and Chris we went over to a starbucks to do 2 posts, I have had a hard time keeping up since I got to michigan, due to terrible cell service and only dial-up service at JD's house. I know it annoyed JD and Judith to wait for us, but they were troopers, and after about an hour we were out of the local starbucks.Mmmmmm, Starbucks, and checkers.

When we got back from starbucks Chris and Dan took us out to lunch at one of their favorite restaurants in Saugatuck. Chequers is like an english pub, and Dan is well known there, even though he's an Irish Feinian. I had the fish and chips, and Dan had the london broil, which seemed about as authentic as could be. JD and Chris had burgers, and Steph had crabcakes.

Dancing

After lunch Dan and Chris headed over to one of their favorite local bars for a little dancing by the juke box. They are accomplished dancers and twirled and whirled and generally looked like they were having a good time. Dan kept coaxing Steph to try dancing, but in the end it was Chris that got her up for half a song. We had plans to be in Grand Rapids by evening, so we headed out the back and drove back to their home. On the porch of the house was a large moth which had been hanging out since we got there. It was about 4 inches across and colored like a stray leaf. It was so huge you could see its eyes and mouth. I had to take a picture to show my blog friends.

Big freakin moth

On the way out of town Stephanie asked JD to see a windmill, so he took us to the biggest one around at windmill island, the local tourist trap. By the time we got there at 6 the island was closed for the day, we walked in a little ways, but then decided to turn back due to the approx 2 mile driveway. On the way out I tested the gate and discovered it was unlocked! So I grabbed the car and we drove back in there, across the pedestrian paths and right up to the windmill itself. Talk about service! We didn't damage anything, and we put the gate back the way we found it when we were done, so I don't think anyone could possibly be upset at us, and we got some cool pictures.

Pretty stuff at Windmill Island

After the windmill escapade we drove about 30 minutes to Grand Rapids to stay with JD's grandmother, Bunny. Bunny is the sweetest old lady, and she will talk your ear off if you want her too. She always has something interesting to say. She showed us around her 100 year old house that she has lived in since she was a kid. It has a lot of old features like wall lamps that turn on at the base of the lamp, and a tub in the bathroom with no shower. It's a very sweet house and it suits her perfectly. Bunny was a bit stubborn and insisted we take her bedroom, the only room with AC, and she slept on the couch. We spent well over and hour arguing with her, but she wouldn't hear any of it. She's such a darling.

Yeehaw! Topless carwash!

After getting settled in we washed Stephanie's car really quickly and then got ready to go out to a club. Judith had had to work between 3 and 10, and met us there. The club, "BOB", was in downtown Grand Rapids and quite trendy. It wasn't really busy at 10, but by midnight it was jamming. We staked out a piece of prime real estate near the dance floor and drank expensive drinks and watched the peoples. I suppose I have a bit of agoraphobia, because I just hate large crowds, and I am completely uncoordinated and hate to dance. So a club is just about the least fun thing I would ever want to do. Unfortunately, I was outvoted. Steph, JD, and Judith had a really good time, and I tried my very best not to be a sourpuss. We left the club slightly before 2am so as to beat the crowd of drunks and went back home and crashed out.

What a day.