Fun Getaway!

 Some of you may remember that this Spring, our church hosted a fun night where we played The Price is Right. I ended up being the grand prize winner! People had donated prizes and part of my prize was a stay at a B&B.
Our stay was Friday night, at a Bed and Breakfast in Holland Michigan. Holland is about 25 minutes from us, on the shores of Lake Michigan. It's known for its Tulip Festival in the Spring, but tourists visit often, just to enjoy the beautiful city with its Dutch heritage and also to enjoy Lake Michigan.

True to the history of the area, we were greeted by these Dutch Dancer figurines at the entry.
The owner also greeted us, showed us around and showed us our room.

When we got to our room, she informed us that friends from church had already been there and left us these flowers, candy, champagne and money for supper!

Here's our room.  The whole house is filled with antiques.  Look at that bed!

This was also in our room.

And this sitting area. There was also a bathroom with a jacuzzi and shower.

Here's a few other areas of the house, the living room...

The sun room...

The Dining room.

After checking out the house, we went to downtown Holland. There are lots of charming shops to check out. One thing Holland is known for is their heated sidewalks. In the winter they heat them so people can walk with no concern for snow and ice.

There are quite a few art pieces downtown, including this one of kids raising the flag.

We ate supper outside at this authentic Irish pub. We were early but when we left this area was full of people.  We enjoyed our meal.

We admired this old church, built in 1856.  It was the first church in the area, when people were immigrating from the Netherlands to Holland.

We walked through this big, beautiful park. There was a band playing in the gazebo.

We came upon this huge living book.  It's a tribute to Frank Baum who wrote The Wizard of Oz. He liked to spend time in Holland and said that a park he visited there had a path with gold pavers that inspired the yellow brick road.

When we got back to our room, I got a message from the Dr I used to work with.  He lives in Holland and I had told him we were coming to his town.  He wanted to pick us up and take us to a favorite ice cream place.
It was a nice surprise to be picked up in his 1929 Model A Ford!  What fun to drive through town in this old car.  It's beautifully restored and attracts a lot of attention. It was nice to catch up with him and his wife and the ice cream was good!
We had a nice evening, then had an amazing breakfast the next morning.  We were able to meet and talk with another couple who were staying there.
We headed home, but then had a little more of the prize package to enjoy.

We went to our friends home and Bob was taken out on a fishing trip.  My friend Barb and I went out and did some shopping.

After all that fun, we had supper with them, and it was time to go home.
Bob and I felt thoroughly spoiled. It was a wonderful weekend!