A fun trip this week to Lowell, Michigan.   Founded as a trading post in 1831 by Daniel Marsac on the Grand River, in 1851 when a post office was established it was named Lowell after the township.  Located about 20 miles from Grand Rapids, this small town has a six-block downtown with antique stores, art galleries, restaurants and boutiques lining Main Street.

In 1999 this downtown area was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Since my husband began painting again in his retirement, the first places we headed were the art galleries.   We found beautiful paintings – and some what I can only call “different” paintings.

I love the picture of this old man!

The colors here are so vibrant!

The Flat River meets the Grand River here at Lowell.   Duck boats are available to take a ride on the Flat River.

We also saw plenty of ducks while we were there.

Real ducks.

And rubber duckies.

This weekend was the Riverwalk Festival and the folks from the local Art Council had a float playing on the “duck” theme.  We were walking along the street right beside this float as they played the rubber ducky song – and by the time it ended my husband had removed his hearing aids – and was ready to scream “enough!”

It was neat to walk along the Flat River and enjoy all the arts and crafts and local food on display all along the riverwalk.

And lunch was delicious at the Flat River Grill.

After exploring this unique and interesting small town, we headed north to the covered bridge at Fallassburgh.

You can read about this bridge and the village time forgot in my blog:

A Village Time Forgot

If you are ever in the Grand Rapids Michigan area, it would be worth your time to take a side trip to Lowell.