Wednesday, May 8, 2013

A Trip to Holland... Michigan!

My hubby and I just returned from a few days of vacation.  I have countless tasks to do before the Ladies' Spring Tea at church this Saturday, but I wanted to share some of the details of our trip with you, so I'm taking a few minutes to blog before I plunge into tea preparations. I've missed being away from blogging!  

Back in March I saw a magazine advertisement about the Tulip Festival in Holland, Michigan, so I asked my husband if he'd be interested in going there for a short vacation.  This is the ad that began the plans for our trip!


I went online and found a Bed and Breakfast that sounded interesting and looked great, so my hubby made reservations for three night's lodging.

Even though we've both lived in Michigan most of our lives, neither of us had ever visited Holland or attended their famous Tulip Festival.  The city [appropriately nicknamed The Tulip City] is just under 200 miles from where we live, and the beautiful spring weather was perfect for traveling.  Holland, which was founded in 1847,  is located on Lake Michigan, and is full of Dutch history.

When we arrived on Sunday afternoon, May 5th, the city was bustling with people for the Tulip Festival festivities.


We stayed at historic, Bonnie's Parsonage, Holland's first Bed and Breakfast.  The house, built in 1908, was an actual parsonage for one of Holland's early Dutch churches, Prospect Park Dutch Christian Reformed Church.  The congregation built the house in order to call their first minister.




The lilac bushes were just budding and smelled so fragrant, and the tulips were beautiful.


There was a gorgeous tree outside the window of our bedroom, which I photographed through the screen window.  Is it a magnolia tree?


The proprietor/hostess was Bonnie.  She has lived in the house since 1973, and opened it as a Bed and Breakfast in 1984.

I wish I could have shared photos of the beautiful interior of her home, but she requested that I only take pictures of the room where we were staying [since photos are already on the website] and exterior photos.

Our room was the Parson's, and it was filled with lovely, comfortable antiques.  


One side of the window...


the other side of the window.




Some rooms shared a bathroom, but we had our own private bathroom.



Tomorrow's post will be our first full day of activities in Holland, and we packed in A LOT!


6 comments:

  1. What a fun place to visit! I missed you and am glad you were off having adventures. The B & B looks delightful, but that's not a magnolia tree. Can't tell from the picture for sure but I think there's a tree called a tulip magnolia and maybe it's one of those? Will look forward to seeing and reading more snout your trip. Meanwhile, good luck with the Spring Tea. I wish I were close enough to attend!

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  2. I googled "tulip magnolia tree" and found it is also called a "saucer magnolia" or "tulip tree." Check out the picture at http://forestry.about.com/od/forestphotography/ig/Saucer-Magnolia-Photo-Gallery/Saucer-Magnolia-.htm

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  3. Looks like a great trip, and the tulips and B&B are just beautiful! Looking forward to seeing more!

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  4. Last year when my husband and I made our road trip we stopped one day in Holland, MI right before the festival. They were busy setting up booths and getting ready, but there had been so much hot weather the tulips had already died. It was quite sad for them. We did tour the windmill and gardens and enjoyed that alot. The B&B looks like a very nice place to stay.

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  5. What a great adventure! The tulips are beautiful and so is your B & B.

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  6. What a fun trip! Holland, MI has been on my list of places I would like to visit for a long time.

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