If you have been following along, you will remember a few posts back when I mentioned I had finally convinced my husband to do a 10-day trip to a lakeside city. It was this one. And then you will also remember how we pivoted to an actual seaside destination instead. So Holland, Michigan quietly got shelved for the summer.
I was disappointed. A part of me had really been craving that Dutch-summer fantasy. Windmills, tulip fields, canal energy, all of it, well.. just in West Michigan.
I love that the universe sometimes conspires to give me what I wish for, in ways completely unexpected. A work trip. My favorite kind. Except this one came with zero choice in the matter. I was mandated to be there. For an entire week. In Holland, Michigan. Right smack in the middle of the exact dream I had already grieved and let go of. What can I say? Honestly, I should have bought a lottery ticket that day! Chances are I would have won it.
Being mandated to travel solo to your dream summer city, spend a week there in blissful solitude, and have every meal expensed is a genuinely elite life experience. Work itself was hectic, sure. But everything outside of it was pure joy, starting with the six-hour solo drive in a rented beast of an SUV. No one to argue with on my choice of the mind-blowing 6-hour playlist! Pit stops at whichever travel station caught my eye. I piled up on every sugary and savory road-trip snack I wanted, because the only consequence I had to answer to was my own scale. No small humans with a sugar high to manage on the other end of it.
After work, I drove straight to the different beaches, every single day. I stayed out well past when I should have, just to catch the sunset. It was brutally hot the whole week, but I refused to leave without watching the sky do its thing first.
As much as I loved strolling the streets of downtown Holland, if I have to crown a favorite spot, it's South Haven, no contest. Walking the pier with that beautiful red lighthouse standing at the end of it and the beautiful lake just all around it was absolutely breathtaking! And right before the beach, there is this impossibly cute little street. The quaintest shops, the prettiest cobbled sidewalks (I am a complete sucker for cobblestone; it is a real weakness). The ice cream was outstanding. The parking was an absolute nightmare, especially when you are piloting a full-size seven-seater SUV that towers over every sensible sedan around it!
But honestly? This trip was exactly what I needed. A little break before my big break.
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