2025-08-20 – South Haven, MI – Van Buren SP
We were getting desperate for clean clothes, so we stopped on our way out of Holland to do our laundry and get some breakfast at MacDonald’s.
We made the short drive to South Haven via Saugatuck. We’d be staying in Van Buren State Park, south of the city, but we stopped in town to take a quick look around. They have the usual pair of piers that protect their substantial harbor and Sandy walked out to the South Haven Pier Head Lighthouse. After a quick look at their nice shopping district we headed for Van Buren SP and set up.
Returning to town, we stopped in Admiral Jack’s, a bar on a downtown barge, for drinks. Then, heading back to the campground, we prepared a delicious dinner of salmon, broccoli and rice.
2025-08-21 – South Haven, MI – Van Buren SP
South Haven is home to the Michigan Maritime Museum. Since we’re suckers for most things maritime, we checked it out. The museum is right on the town’s harbor. The featured exhibit was all about the steamships that once plied these waters. They were quite elegant, conveying both business people and vacationers to the various ports on Lake Michigan and beyond.
The museum also has a fleet of four boats that visitors can pay to take a harbor cruise. They include a CG surfboat, a mahogany decked Chris Craft runabout, an electric launch and a gaff-rigged schooner.
A novel attraction in town is a chain ferry that crosses the harbor. It’s a small affair for passengers on foot and is powered by a hand operated crank. It wasn’t operating at the moment so we didn’t get to take a turn at turning the crank.
Oval Beach is famous as one of the prettiest beaches anywhere. We wanted to walk it but discovered that parking would cost over $10 whether we wanted to stay all day or just take a peak. In fact, there was no free parking near any of the town’s beaches. We did discover, however, that a street high above the Oval Beach had free parking if you were willing to use a very long stairway.
Lunch was pizza, and a beer, at the Mitten Brewing Co and back at the campground we had a ham and veggie stir-fry for dinner. Afterwards Susan, a campground neighbor, invited us to share her campfire. She’d left her husband and kids at home for some much needed solitude.