The day began with a rumble of thunder that woke me up at 6:15 AM (5:15 my time...is it possible to have jet lag between the Central and Eastern time zones?). I debated whether to get up and take the dogs out before the rain or sleep a little longer, so I laid in bed awake and ended up standing in the pouring rain hoping like anything Greta would just pick a spot and GO.
After breakfast, Dad called from his trailer in a minor panic because he couldn't find Amelia, Mom and Dad's beloved cat. He had torn apart every cabinet and drawer and looked under everything. Knowing how outgoing she is, I figured she might come out if I went over to the trailer. After she came slinking out from under the love seat less than twenty seconds after I walked in his trailer, Dad was caught somewhere between relief and embarrassment.
We then headed to Saugatuck, a quiet, charming art community north of South Haven. While I'm not really one for shopping in quaint little stores - unless it's for dog collars, my weakness - I can appreciate why the National Trust for Historic Places named Saugatuck and neighboring Douglas a distinctive community for their preservation of their built historic resources. Then, at the peak of the Tulip Time Festival, it was off to Holland...
The "world-famous Dutch Dancers" are actually kids from the Holland-area high schools. They were really good - good dancers and, from the looks of it, good kids - but my notoriously short attention span during performances of any kind left me wondering. Do the kids volunteer, or do children in Holland grow up knowing they're destined to dance a Dutch Dance on Main Street as part of their passage to adulthood? Did the Dutch invent and perform these dances sober or while tipping back a frothy mug or two or five? How do they keep those shoes from flying off when they kick?
Afternoon has brought us - and more rain - back to the campground. I'd like to think I'm friendly and all, but I can't quite figure out why, when only about twenty of the nearly 150 sites here are filled, the office put someone in right beside me. They seem very nice albeit a bit vocal, but they have two yappy Boston Terriers, one of which is a teacup, as though a regular Boston Terrier isn't small enough. The teacup - named Angel in the kind of irony with which only people with teacup or otherwise made-up "breeds" can name their dogs - came running out yapping at me and paying no heed to her owners as I turned my water back on. It didn't bother me at all, and when the owners seemed horrified that I might be scared of little Angel, I had to bite my tongue so as not to inform them either of the dogs in my trailer could eat sweet little Angel without even chewing. I didn't want to give them the wrong impression so soon.
Ahhh, rain, cold weather, sleepy dogs, heater on...movie time.
