A weekend in Michigan

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We really like to travel. Jay and Amy have been to Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri, Ohio, and Florida for student ministry conventions. As a family we have visited California, Maryland, New York, Florida, Georgia, Delaware, South Carolina, and New Jersey for vacations or to visit family or friends. And some of us have visited Virginia, Rhode Island and Kentucky for Mission Trips and summer camps. 

When we were young, Jay and Amy, visited Germany, Puerto Rico, and Amy has been to Jamaica; all to serve in short-term mission trips. It's not a lot of traveling, and most of it was connected with work or serving opportunities, but there has been a good amount of travel for vacations and family fun.

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When the kids were younger, traveling was limited to vacations and work related trips. Exploring new places of interest wasn't in our budget or our timeline. But as our kids get older and move out to begin their own lives, we are discovering the opportunity to travel and explore new areas.

This past weekend, Jay, Amy and Breya, traveled to Grand Rapids, Michigan, to attend the wedding of a close friends son. We have been friends with this family since before Amy and Jay were married. And even though there are hundreds of miles between us, we have done our best to stay connected. 

The wedding was beautiful. The service, the reception, the time to visit and fellowship with friends was great. We really enjoyed our time. But we did a little more than simply attend a wedding. I mean, if you are going to go as far a Grand Rapids, Michigan, for a wedding, you better take advantage of your time in a different state to explore. And that's what we did.
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So what did we do in Grand Rapids? Well, not much. We learned that Michigan has something like 300 miles of beaches and costal attractions. So...we decided we wanted to see the beach.

As we looked for a beach-front area to explore, some folks suggested we visit Grand Haven, Michigan. When we looked it up, we learned that Grand Haven, was about 40 minutes from where we were staying in Grand Rapids. So Grand Haven it was. And it was totally worth it!
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Grand Haven is absolutely beautiful. From the downtown shopping district with shops and eateries, to the beach-front state park, the whole area had this costal vibe to it. And we picked the perfect weekend to visit. Not only was it Father's Day weekend, but the town was full of visitors shopping at the farmers market, the downtown shops, and various crafters and vendors. And the state park; well that was packed with campers, beach goers, boats, fishermen, and volleyball players. Yes, there was a huge volleyball tournament. It was great.
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Our time in Grand Haven was limited, so we weren't able to explore everything, but we did our best to tour the beach and the downtown. No doubt we will attempt to visit again and spend additional time shopping and enjoying the beach and waterfront. 

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We took along the camera and did our best to capture some of the fun while in Michigan. You can watch the first two vlog episodes of our trip on our YouTube channel, Life in the Higham house.

But not only did we visit Grand Haven on Saturday, but we also spent the better part of the Sunday visiting the world's largest Christmas store in the world, Bronner's CHRISTmas Wonderland! Bronner's is located in Frankenmuth, another incredible little town in Michigan. Bronner's boasts 7 acres of Christmas shopping on 26 acres of decorated property. We spent over 2 hours in the store, it was awesome. The vlog of our time in Frankenruth and Bronner's goes live today, so be sure to click the links below to watch.
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All things said, we were a bit surprised by just how beautiful Grand Haven and Frankenmuth were. Not that we thought Michigan wouldn't be, we just weren't expecting it. It was a trip that has definitely sparked a deeper desire to travel and see more places. Amy and Jay are planning to do more traveling and more vlogging about where we visit and explore, so watch for more travel vlog coming later this summer. 

- the higham family

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watch our Michigan vlogs

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