Bob and I had a leisurely morning after my run before checking out of The Element Hotel to make our way across the state to Holland, Michigan. We left Detroit impressed with the Riverwalk, the numerous green spaces downtown, and walkability to sports and cultural activities. There is, as in every city, areas that are very rundown, but there appears to be a lot of new construction, and they announced a new building plan for the sports district which includes new retail, hotel, and housing. Fingers crossed it continues its revival without displacing a lot of current residents.
Since we were driving on Friday of Memorial Day Weekend and rain was in the forecast, we were not that excited about the drive, even though it is only just under 3 hours normally. It ended up being okay. We hit patches of traffic and had a decent amount of rain with a couple of heavy downpours, however, we weren’t severely delayed and were able to check in a little before 2 when we arrived.
We had a quick lunch snack in the room and then headed off to do a bit of exploring, with Bob giving me grief about my tendency to lose hotel room keys. It is not untrue, but neither of us could tell you the last time I lost one.
Our Marriott Courtyard (These can range in quality. This one looks new and/or well-maintained.) is right on 8th Street, which is also the main drag in Holland. It is also just a block down from the Visitor’s Center, so we stopped in to pick up information, talk to the helpful staff, and take a photo that you can only take in places called Holland.
We thought the downtown was charming with lots of cute retail and restaurants. We popped into a few during our stroll.
From downtown, we walked about 25 minutes out to a market to pick up dinner. On the way, we passed a metal scrap yard, not usually a good thing, but they had decorated the area near the sidewalk with metal art.
We also walked through a couple of lovely parks along Lake Macatawa.
We’re currently back in the room reading over the brochures we picked up to plan our day tomorrow — after having picked me up a new room key, as I somehow managed to lose the first one on our walkabout. This made Bob’s day.
Peckish Travels 