Grand Haven – The Coast Guard City – July 23, 2015

When we left to explore Grand Haven, we were a little hesitant to leave our relaxing, peaceful campsite.  In the morning, the river is just like glass with a perfect reflection of the trees until the first boats stir up the water.  We saw a wild rabbit searching for some food and its just hard to leave.

By the way, the Park Hostess at this campground was right when she said that  dusk is very late.  It is actually at 9:45 pm.   Plenty of time to play 18 holes of golf even if you start at 6 p.m.  (This would be for you, Carl).  Sunrise is about 6:30 a.m. so there is lots of daytime to fit in plenty of activity.

Anyway, back to Grand Haven.  We drove into this charming town with a bustling downtown district filled with shops and restaurants of every liking.  We stopped at the Chamber to get the lowdown on activities and found out just how big the Coast Guard Festival is.This is the welcome area at the center of town.

This is the 225 Anniversary of US Coast Guard so you can imagine its going to be big.  Every year it is held here in Grand Haven and they call themselves the Coast Guard City.  We will only be here for the first few days but the festival will last a full week ending next Sunday, August 2nd, with a gigantic fireworks display.

Coast Guard Station – Grand Haven, MI

We had lunch at Snug Harbor Restaurant on the upper deck on the riverfront.  Spectacular view (below) and weather for eating outside which is probably why everyone else in town was there as well.

Entrance of Grand River from Lake Michigan

We decided to return on Sunday to see the Musical Fountain show at nighttime and wander through the shops.

We drove over to the beach, which was where all the other people were.

Beaches at Grand Haven

 The sign said the water temperature was 65 degrees so I have to question the sanity of all these people.  It’s interesting to see the State has an RV Park right at the edge of the beach with camp sites that looked like zero-lot-line housing.  But how else do you fit all those campers into such a limited space.

The beach was beautiful whitish soft sand and thousands of people slicked with sunscreen.  Within walking distance was a long walkway leading to the old lighthouse.  During stormy weather, the walkway is often underwater so there is an elevated walkway used by the lighthouse keeper to service the light.  Today,  the lower level is a promenade for walkers and runners.  On this walk we saw confirmation that the teen brain is not fully developed yet.  There were groups of teens running and jumping into this 65 degree water.  I know that doesn’t sound that ridiculous until I tell you that the spot they chose to do these gymnastics had two levels of seawall and if you didn’t get out far enough to avoid the lower level, well suffice it to say the damage would not be pretty or temporary.

Tomorrow we plan on taking in the sights and sounds of Holland.