A long, great Saturday--Coast Guard festival!

Saturday was spent over in Grand Haven Michigan, taking in their Coast Guard Festival.

(The US Coast Guard is 223 years old this year.)

There was, of course, a parade.

This is small-town real America. They still do stuff like this there.

Being western Michigan, the Ottawa County Republican Party had a nice patriotic float in the parade, too. (Like I said, "America".) But this area still has a proper bi-partisan make-up; the Ottawa County Democrat was there too. In fact I think I saw him standing in line at the lemonade stand.

Then it was time for a day at the beach. Grand Haven has some of the best beaches on Lake Michigan--think Florida only with fresh (and slightly colder) water.

After a swim and a nap in the sun, we grabbed dinner and went back to the waterfront for the famous Grand Haven Musical Fountain and Coast Guard festival fireworks display. That was fantastic as usual and worth dealing with the crowds. We got back home at 2AM. Long day, but wouldn't have skipped a minute of it.