The pandemic’s still going strong. Jeff still gets one day off of work (usually) each week. We are so centrally located in Michigan that, depending on weather, there are many wonderful places we can go for a day’s getaway. Now, with Jeff retiring this fall, the crunch is coming along with our plans to move to Wisconsin to be near most of our family. Top on our list for a place to revisit before we leave was the South Haven area on Michigan’s West Coast. Even the 90-minute drive to the water and woods and sand is enjoyable (especially once off of I-94). Roadside flora included white queen ann’s lace, orange day lilies, red sumac, brown cattails, and purple and blue flowers I could name if my wildflower books weren’t all packed up.

First stop on the coast was at familiar Van Buren State Park. We checked out the campground just because we do that. In all our visits, we have never-ever seen it as crowded. Mostly there were very large RVs, making the narrow camp roads filled with pickups to move those large homes, more narrow. We were flabbergasted. And claustrophobic. Plus, we only saw two people wearing masks, even around the bathrooms where six foot distancing cannot be maintained. People.

On to the main beach entrance with flush toilets and vending machines and playground. Last we were there, Lake Michigan had eroded a lot of the beach and beach trail. Beach access was closed. The sidewalk was a crumbled mess, with almost a sidwalk-width of beach. Yes, the sign read no beach access, but it didn’t stop people from accessing it. People.

We still got in a little bit of a sand climb while there onto the wood-covered dunes.

 

Second stop. I’d recently read about a little known public beach between Van Buren State Park and South Haven and thought it would be fun to check it out. WHY hadn’t I heard of Pilgrim Haven Natural Area over our visits once or twice a year during the past sixteen years? My guess is that under normal circumstances, this place would be pretty much void of people. The shore was rocky (only a few miles north of Van Buren), and rock hunters were out. We walked the short length of beachfront, and then discovered a stream with a bridge.

 

Butterflies! Oh, my. There were many butterflies around this stream. I tried to capture them in photo, but failed. We circled through the woods and back to the parking lot. It was a short but sweet hike.

 

Along the parking lot were more wildflowers, and a pretty little monarch to make my day.

 

On to the mandatory DeGrandchamp Blueberry Farm shop.

 

It was a very short visit because there were many people inside, and a long line waiting to purchase items. Everyone was masked, but most people do not know how far six feet is. We left quickly without buying a single blueberry anything.

 

On to South Haven, which looked like a normal July day, pre-pandemic. About one in 200 people wore a mask. As people walked everywhere, we decided to eat our picnic lunch inside the van and watch the people and boats go by.

 

There’s a new Splash Pad for children at the base of the lighthouse pier. It looked rather fun.

 

The beach was also barricaded off. It had already eroded a lot over the past couple years, but what was left was now halved. We didn’t get out of the van to see how crowded it was, but there were no parking spots available, and many umbrellas up.

 

To close our west coast trip, we stopped at a farm market where only one other customer lingered. We lingered long, and bought much. All the fruits and vegetables looked great. Among other things, we bought a blueberry pie, and cherries from Traverse City, and apple cider from their own farm (leftover from last fall, but we had some last fall, too).

As we pulled into our neighborhood, we got word that the paperwork from our house buyers was done. Jeff turned to me and said, “We’re not going home. We’re going to our rental.”

And so begins our next stage of pre-retirement.

(Taken from the front porch of our rental property on Friday evening.)