Today we leave our campsite at Holland Beach, find connections to the Wizard of Oz, and visit more Lake Michigan lighthouses as we travel down the coast to Indiana.
08 September 2025 – Monday
We spent the night at Holland State Park’s Beach Campground
AT&T 5G 2 bars
Clean restrooms and individual shower rooms.
Electric only, no full-hookups
Site 345 is 3 car widths wide
You can see more about this campground by reading yesterday’s post.
The low was 48°F and a the moon was full moon overnight
I woke before Beth, so walked to the beach to see “Big Red” in the morning light.
m/v Eclipse was heading out into Lake Michigan as the sun rose behind us.
Found a trail from the beach up into a neighborhood of cottages.
The Ottawa Beach Historic District is only accessible by walking paths.
Homeowners share a common parking lot and use carts to bring items to and from their cottages.
Some of the “cottages” are quite impressive.
A posted map shows the cottages, piers, beach, campground, and walking paths.
Completing a walking loop back into the campground, it was fun to see another ProMaster camper van with a different configuration.
While making breakfast we were surprised to see park workers clearing sand from campsites and roads. In hindsight, it makes perfect sense at a campground next to the beach.
Unlike at museums and amusement parks, you don’t exit through the gift shop at campgrounds . We strive to exit via the dump station in order to leave with clean waste tanks.
0930 74,217 52°F 531′ Leave Beach Campground
1001 74,228 57°F 618′ Downtown Holland
Downtown is active with lots of beautifully maintained brick storefronts. Tin ceilings were evident in all the shops we visited.
New Holland Brewing wasn’t yet open for the day, so we didn’t get a tour. We did like their Dragon’s Milk beer logo.
This cute store was open. Beth found space to store some of their puzzles in the back of the van.
Even without their namesake tulips on display, Holland’s shopping district planters overflowed with color.
I “had” to capture a photo of the R.I.T. Music store as I earned my undergraduate degree at the totally unrelated Rochester Institute of Technology.
Centennial Park has a Wizard of Oz theme. L. Frank Baum spent summers here where he wrote some of the stories. The local bricks are yellow.
Tulip Man welcomed us to the Holland railroad station.
Almost as bright is this 1941 Pere Marquette Railroad caboose.
The 1925 station was renovated in 1991 and offers Amtrak service north to Grand Rapids and west to Chicago.
1149 74,231 59°F Windmill Island Gardens
Of course there is a windmill in Holland. We made lunch nearby where we decided that tulip gardens would be much more interesting in the springtime, so we elected to keep moving.
1340 74,263 66°F South Haven, Michigan
The Michigan Maritime Museum is closed on Mondays, so we need to return on another trip.
Here’s a view of the museum from the water.
Harborwalk extends along both sides of the river.
This drawbridge connects the two banks when it isn’t open for a boat.
1413 74,264 66°F South Haven, Michigan
The South Haven Light was built in 1903. Originally white, it was later painted red because red marks the starboard side of a channel when returning from sea. The Great Lakes are effectively inland seas and follow the same navigation rules. You can see the white pillar marking the port side of the channel entrance if you look through the electrical towers.
Sand removal equipment is needed for these parking lots, just like at Harbor Beach.
1450 74,289 66°F St. Joseph, Michigan
Our last stop in Michigan revealed a light and a lighth on the same pier. We walked out and back.
Do be aware that the streets are narrow on the way out here. If you have a large motorhome, you might want to skip this stop.
1656 74,362 Michigan City, Indiana
Time Change – We set our clocks back an hour.
1717 74,362 70°F Gary, Indiana
Gary’s Awesome Acres was our Harvest Host spot for the night.
Entertainment for the evening was provided by geese and a heron in the pond. Gary’s was quiet , level, and paved. We left a $20 donation since there really wasn’t anything to buy. It’s a fine spot to stop if you need a place t sleep at the bottom of Lake Michigan.
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