Fortunately at our previous rest stop in Michigan, we'd picked up a brochure about Holland, so we had a few more interesting places to check out on our trip there today!
Our one stop ahead of arriving in Holland was the Steelcase Pyramid in the city of Grand Rapids, an almost cultish-looking structure that was built for Steelcase, a top manufacturer of high-design office furniture. It now sits vacant, awaiting its newest disciples--I mean, employees?!
Holland and the Bowl Mill
We'd driven the length of the state over the last couple of days--from Detroit in the east to now Holland on the west. Holland, as you can guess, was settled by Dutch immigrants, specifically a group of Dutch Calvinist separatists who left the Netherlands seeking religious freedom and better economic opportunities. Today, it's still sticks closely to its Dutch heritage, hosting a tulip festival (one of the largest flower festivals in the country), and with other Dutch-themed attractions and shops.
We'd read about the Holland Bowl Mill, a 4th-generation maker of handmade wooden bowls and other useful wooden kitchenware and products. When we walked into the store, we could immediately see the impeccable craftsmanship of the bowls, spoons, chopping boards, rolling pins, and other kitchen objects. These were crafted in different varieties of wood, including cherry, maple and walnut.
The Holland Bowl Mill offers a free tour of the factory behind the store, and we ended up having a private tour! We first watched a video inside the shop that provided us with an overview of Holland Bowl Mill and its history, spanning more than 150 years to now be the largest solid wood bowl production facility in the world. Brenda, our guide, was fantastic, explaining and showing us the process of making the wooden bowls from start to finish, and we got to see folks at the back sawing and polishing the bowls, and the company's focus on sustainability so that every piece of the wood is used, and any imperfections in the wood are worked into the bowl to make it even more unique. The tour was excellent and educational, and the history and craftsmanship applied to making each item certainly makes for a special gift.
Picking Blueberries!
During this trip, Lisette was eager to find a place to pick fruit (we were mere minutes too late to pick strawberries in Sauvie Island, Oregon), so we thought we'd try our luck again to pick blueberries (Michigan's state fruit), at Bowerman Blueberry Farm. We drove in and were excited to see the blueberry plants--we've picked strawberries before in California, but blueberries would be a new experience. We eat these every morning for breakfast with yogurt, granola and bananas, so it would be great to fill our fridge with ones we'd picked, that would also be cheaper than buying at the store!
The blueberry fields looked suspiciously empty of people, but we shrugged it off as likely because it was a weekday, school holidays were pretty much over, and it was hot outside. Next to the fields is Bowerman's Bakery & Cafe, which sells blueberries that have already been picked and packed, various blueberry-flavored items (including blueberry-infused barbecue sauce, honey, pies and more), and other gourmet food items and cafe meals. We were compelled to buy two donuts--one blueberry lavender and one blueberry lemon flavor, and they were both delicious!
Unfortunately when we asked about blueberry picking, we'd learned that their season had ended 3 days ago! The season apparently hasn't been good this year, as there hasn't been enough rain, and the blueberries were much smaller this year. Apparently we'd be hard pressed to find any good blueberries. Just our luck! On our way out, we wandered into the blueberry fields, and noticed that while yes, the blueberries were small, they tasted sweet and delicious. We'd have happily picked these blueberries (it's not the size, but the taste that matters)!
At Holland Bowl Mill, Brenda had recommended that we check out Tunnel Park, an area on the Lake Michigan beachfront that is great for swimming, picnicking and just hanging out, where she suggested we could have lunch. We arrived there, but it was a tight fit for our RV (not really anywhere to park), and would cost us an additional $8 for a day pass. Lisette was still holding out hope to find a blueberry farm to pick berries, so after researching and calling around, we learned that S. Kamphuis Blueberries was open for 3 more days before it also closed for the season, yay just made it!
S. Kamphuis is a 5th-generation blueberry farm, and when we arrived they had a couple of different buckets that we could use to pick berries. Lisette's eyes were clearly over eager, as had it not been for Michael she would have selected the big, 12-pound bucket, missing the more suitable 2-pound bucket completely! There were 2 types of blueberries, a tiny blueberry that tasted tart and almost like aged wine, and another variety that was even teenier but was a bit sweeter. We selected the latter, and while they weren't as sweet or as many as the ones we tasted at Bowerman, they were more than perfect for what we wanted. We ended up getting over a punnet that you'd purchase in a store, and it cost a mere $1.50 (a bargain compared to the $3-4 that is sold at stores)! And of course they'll taste better knowing that we've picked these ourselves.
Clogs and Windmills
Next up was the perfectly named De Klomp Wooden Shoe & Delftware Factory, which specializes in making the Dutch wooden shoes (clogs), and delftware, the Dutch tin-glazed earthenware, typically decorated by hand in blue on a white background. There's also a tulip garden and windmill out the bak, although tulips are in full bloom in spring, so they weren't around when we went.
It's quite a big store, with a couple of people working in the factory, quietly hand painting the clogs. The machines weren't running to make the clogs from wood, and there were only a couple of other visitors in the store. It was more silent than a library! So we tiptoed around, voices low, marveling at the display of clogs still to be decorated, with an arrangement of them in a horseshoe shape for people to try on and see what size clog they are in case you want to order. At the top of the horseshoe is a massive clog, perfect for taking a photo with your feet in the troll-sized shoe, of course!
Besides the clogs and the delftware, there were other Dutch products for sale, including stroopwafel (a delicious, thin, crisp waffle cookie with a caramel syrup filling, licorice (may have been from Germany though), fridge magnets, tiny decorative clogs, and more.
Our final stop in Holland was the Windmill Island Gardens, a 36-acre park adorned with flowers, windmills, and a celebration of the town's Dutch heritage. We could see the beautiful gardens and its authentic Dutch windmill, called "De Zwaan" ("The Swan" in Dutch), standing over 38 meters (125 feet) tall. The park also includes a kid's carousel with hand-painted horses, a working street organ that was a gift from the city of Amsterdam, and other replica structures. We even saw a lady dressed in traditional Dutch garb within the park.
However, we arrived at Windmill Island Gardens an hour before closing time and it cost $13 to go in. With not enough time to see everything and get our admission's worth, we took some photos and admired it from the gates, chatting to a couple of folks from Michigan who also admitted that they still hadn't been to the Gardens, but hoped to one day!
And that was it for Holland! We drove an hour south to get to our RV Park, although we learned ahead of time that they didn't have a laundry onsite. We went to a laundromat about a mile away before arriving at Eden Springs RV Park in the town of Benton Harbor, where we could cool down and sleep.
Route Map
