The other tradition is that the person turning another year older gets to plan their own day. If you don't have a fun day, it's your own fault. The other person has to gladly go along with all the plans, no matter how strange they may be. Because of rain in the morning, the day started indoors with some piano playing while waiting for the cheesecake to settle. Then we hit the road for a trip south to the next beach town, Grand Haven, and its red lighthouse.
Further out on the south pier is the fog horn light, painted in the same hard-to-miss color of red.
If we had been here a week earlier, this walk wouldn't have been possible, as the pier was closed for new cement. We're used to rough and rugged pier surfaces, so this was certainly a nice change.
We walked through the adjacent state park campground to get back to our car. With spaces facing Lake Michigan and the white sand beach of Grand Haven, you have to make reservations well in advance if you want to camp here.
There's lots of construction along the shore, but we managed to make our way to the six-foot-tall sundial along the Grand River channel.
The shadow is cast on the sun dial half-way between 12 and 1, so that must mean it's time to make our way to our first appointment of the day at 1:00.
We're at "Chocolate by Grimaldi" in downtown Grand Haven to get educated on all things chocolate. The very pleasant guide had pictures and information about how chocolate is grown. This wasn't news to us, as we have toured a chocolate farm in Hawaii and seen that all first-hand. We were allowed to see the 1950's chocolate rober, even though it wasn't robing anything today. In fact, the only thing happening was a single employee dipping oreos into a bowl of chocolate. So we didn't get to see much on our $4 tour.
We did get a goodie bag when we left, including their best seller--chocolate covered potato chips.
Denisa has an international birthday planned, so we are heading south to Holland--Michigan, that is. Our first stop is the Holland Wooden Bowl factory for another tour. They were featured in the Discovery Channel's series "How's It Made?" so our first step was watching that professional video.
Then we headed to the mill to see it all first-hand. It all starts with the big logs that are arriving at the back door. To the right, we could see that they are being cut into appropriate bowl sizes.
The greener the wood the better, as it makes for the most pliable product for turning into a bowl. We watched the wood chips flying, as they were whittled into bowls by hand.
This display showed the chunk of wood where the process starts, and the four different bowls nesting together that can be turned out from a single piece.
This is the largest wooden bowl manufacturer in the United States, and they make 800-1,000 wooden bowls each week. We saw just a little of their inventory in the back room. They are next steamed and then allowed to dry to be sure they will never crack, because these bowls have a life-time warranty.
After sanding and sawing off the bottom to a flat surface, the company name is stamped on the bottom. The last step is a dip in food-grade mineral oil and wax to make them shiny and to preserve them. What a great tour, and it was free! If we didn't live in a motor home with limited space, Denisa would have been doing a lot of shopping in their retail store on her birthday. If you don't have time to make the trip to Holland, they are available at William-Sonoma and Crate and Barrel.
This birthday is definitely running heavy on tours, as our next stop in Holland is at the De Klomp wooden shoe and Delftware Factory. We are greeted by the wooden shoe guru, who is displaying the chunk of wood and the stages of becoming a shoe.
This wall is filled with the patterns used to make all the different sizes of shoes.
He selected the appropriate pattern, and fastened it into its position on the right side of this 100-year-old machine. Two blocks of wood go into the two positions on the left. He then closes the window in front of us to protect us from the wooden chips that start flying as soon as he started the blade. It follows the pattern to form the outside of the left and right shoe at the same time.
The next machine is used to hollow out the inside of the shoe. In this case the pattern shoe goes in the center, and he follows its inner outline to carve wood from the two new shoes.
We've just watched two chunks of wood become the two wooden shoes on the right. Their tips have to be cut off, and they will be sanded in their next step.
They have finished shoes available for sale. How's that for a fashion statement?
These are actually made in the Netherlands, and we could buy this pair for $47.99. But once again, someone who lives in a motor home doesn't do much buying--just shopping.
Mark tried on this display pair, but they really aren't going to fit in the motor home.
We also got to watch as they are making Delftware in the same building. They pour the liquid ceramic mixture into one of the many molds they have in the pottery shop. After it is dried and fired in the kiln, it is painted by hand, then fired, then glazed, then fired . . .
All those steps and handwork might explain the prices on the pottery they had for sale. But again, breakable Delftware isn't a good purchase for someone living in a rolling home.
Right next door is the Veldheer Tulip shop, where over 5,500,000 bulbs go through their store each year. It's the end of their season, so some of the bins from their 800 varieties are empty. Within the next month they'll be planting bulbs to ready for next season. At 93 years young, Mr. Veldheer is still working 80 hours per week. He has been around longer than the 90th annual Tulip Festival, where visitors flock from across the country to witness the spectacle of millions of tulips blooming here in Holland.
Denisa's birthday includes another walk to the beach, this time at the Holland State Park. We seldom turn down an offer to have our picture taken together, and this one was in front of the Big Red Lighthouse on the pier.
One of Michigan's most-photographed lighthouses, it was once pale yellow in color. That was until the Coast Guard mandated that all structures on the right side of a harbor entrance be red. How's that for a special birthday when you get to see two red lighthouses in one day?
After our morning rains, we were treated to a beautiful blue-sky afternoon. We were just in time to see that sailboat lessons were getting started. The sailboats are tied together, then pulled out of the channel by a motor boat.
Once they were on Lake Michigan, they were untied and free to catch the breezes to sail on the great lake.
No trip to Holland would be complete without a picture of the authentic windmill. Found at Windmill Island Gardens, it was shipped here from the Netherlands, and reassembled in the middle of the gardens. If we had more time, we would have spent the $20 to tour Windmill Island, but it was too late in the day by this time. So a picture from the distance would have to do.
Every birthday has to include a nice meal out, and then we headed to the theatre. The Frauenthal is a beautifully remodeled old theatre that hosts live productions. We're here to watch "Disenchanted" a musical comedy that spoofs some of Disney's princesses that didn't necessarily live "happily ever after."
Wow! That was a full, but wonderfully special day! It was topped off with phone calls from special family members, and lots of facebook happy birthday wishes. Denisa thinks she did a great job of planning a special birthday, even when every day is special as we wander!
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