July 13th-15th Michigan part I. Meyer May House…Grand Rapids

Despite our intent to journey east, an opportunity to see one of our favourite artists perform in Grand Rapids at one of our favourite venues lured us slightly west again….briefly….but that will be the next post…..

In previous (pre pandemic, and pre Airstream ..!!) years we have travelled down and stayed in hotels locally. Grand Rapids is a great place for gastro pubs and microbreweries. This time , with our new found love for Boondockers Welcome, I had found a very promising host in Cedar Springs, just a little north of the city, 25 minutes from the venue (and 4 miles from a promising sounding brewery..!!)

Bonus this time was the Meyer May House in Grand Rapids. It’s another Frank Lloyd Wright restored home. (click here for more information)

The house is owned and maintained by Steelcase, one of the largest office furniture manufacturers in the world which was founded in Grand Rapids. Last time we were here we missed the tour b/c they only run them two days a week…this time we were prepared……tickets booked…….we were ready.

What a beautiful house it is……most definitely in keeping with others we have seen. It has been beautifully restored by the Steelcase owners…..and surprisingly, photography was allowed inside the house (much to the delight of my photographer…😅)

This place has a very similar feel to Darwin Martin House Complex in Buffalo, maybe its the same type of loving restoration. The enthusiasm and real love from the volunteers is the same in all the Frank Lloyd Wright houses. The decorative frieze pictured below had been painted over more than 40 times……its return is discussed with pride and wonder by the volunteers.

There were only four of us with our docent….the other couple were FLW superfans like us…..and we chatted her up enough that we got a couple of extra rooms on our tour.

Mr Wrights attention to detail and fascination with light yields some extra delightful moments in this house.

We were very pleased with ourselves for fitting this one in, it is a treasure.

Our Boondockers welcome (BW) host had recommended a trip to Grand Haven. A 45 minute drive from Grand Rapids. Following the travel mantra (always follow the recommendations…..even though this was not the laundry room…LOL) off we went, to the west side of Michigan and the Eastern shore of Lake Michigan.

It was a beautiful day, and so it was a perfect day to hit the beach, and to complete the Great Lakes set….with a swim in our fifth Great Lake..!!

…and a walk on the pier …….

….a bit of added excitement as the coastguard were called out, lights and sirens blazing…..

An absolutely beautiful place……

The host farm was a lovely property, and our site for the trailer next to a barn with a few resident sheep. Our gracious host met with us to help us get set up and told us of his missing cat ‘Shadow’ the barn cat. Shadow had not been sighted for some time but was still disposing of her daily kibble ration. (or was she..!!)

Scott met this little chap whilst filling the water jugs in the morning. We kept a respectful distance……but just had to take some pictures of ‘Shadow’….the funny lookin’ barn cat…!!!

As ever, all pictures are clickable if you wish a clearer view…..and underlined text is clickable links for more information.

EXTRA PIX