Lowell MI | Grandma's Ramblings

Hard to believe it has been one year already. Exactly one year ago today my husband and I left our home in northern Illinois and traveled to the middle of Michigan to a new home.

The metropolitan area we lived in known as the Quad Cities has a population of over 400,000. It includes five larger cities: Moline, East Moline and Rock Island on the Illinois side of the Mississippi River and Davenport and Bettendorf on the Iowa side. Interspersed between and around those five larger cities are many smaller town so that you can drive from one town right into the next.

Moving from that highly populated area to a small town of less than 8,000 is quite a change.

But it has been a fun year as we have spent the summer exploring our new state of Michigan.

Our first road trip was to Flint Michigan – a city we heard so much about in the news for the water crisis. Visiting the city we found there is a lot of history beyond the news reports.

From Flint we headed to Frankenmuth a place where you can enjoy all things Bavarian and it is Christmas there all year long. Frankenmuth – Michigan’s Little Bavaria

Come spring, we headed out again. The first trip was a short one – just a few miles down Route 21 to Ionia. On the way there we turned off to look at a small town on the way. Muir.

There was really nothing there to recommend the town except we came across this historic church.

You can read more about this historic church in my post Getting Off the Beaten Path

Listed in the National Register of Historic Places, this church is considered to be the mother church for the Disciples of Christ denomination in the Grand River Valley and is one of Michigan’s oldest Disciples of Christ congregations.

On to Ionia where we discovered a beautiful courthouse that boasts black and white marble floors, fourteen marble fireplaces and a beautiful walnut and butternut staircase.

The town has some beautiful old Victorian homes and I loved the brick streets still in use on Main Street.

Next stop was the Fort Custer National Cemetery. All the flags along the main entrance to the cemetery was very impressive.

In early spring we headed to Holland the Tulip Festival.

Beautiful does not begin to describe this visit! This town is on our list to revisit next spring. We only spent one day there but next year we want to take two to three days to take in all the beauty.

Check out all the beautiful pictures and story of Holland in my post: Welkom to Tulip Time

My husband has began painting again and one of his goals this summer was to photograph and then paint some of the many lighthouses in Michigan.

We captured Big Red at Holland.

Big Red Lighthouse is one of the most photographed lighthouses in Michigan.

Beginning American history nuts, a visit to the Gerald Ford Museum in Grand Rapids followed. I was never a fan of President Ford but after visiting the museum and reading more about him, I came away with a much different opinion of him and his time in office.

Read more about the museum at Gerald Ford Presidential Museum

Lowell Michigan was our stop in July. The day we were there they were celebrating their annual Riverwalk. What fun we had watching the parade and all the ducks.

We enjoyed the views of the Flat River and our delicious meal at the Flat River Grille.

Getting off the beaten track we discovered a village almost lost to the world just a few miles north of Lowell.

The village of Fallassburgh is like stepping back in time. Way off the beaten path, few visitors find their way here, but it was a beautiful, peaceful place. A Village Time Forgot

As we enjoyed the lakes and beaches and neat little towns we found a desert in Michigan. Well, not really a desert but some great sand dunes. A Desert in Michigan?

As summer came to a close we visited two more towns and they both rate, along with Holland, as ones I want to visit and spend more time in next summer.

First one was Manistee. Not one but two beautiful beaches and another interesting lighthouse made this a favorite. Which Town is My Favorite?

Our last town of the year was Frankfort.

It has been a busy summer! One more trip to make before winter sets in.

Next week we head out for the tunnel of trees. Voted by USA as the Best Scenic Autumn Drive in America I’m looking forward to that trip.

Hibernating then for the cold Michigan winter, we will be drinking hot tea as we watch some of our favorite movies by the fireplace while studying maps and making plans for another summer of adventures, God willing, in 2020.

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.

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

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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.

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We also saw plenty of ducks while we were there.

Real ducks.

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And rubber duckies.

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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!”