6 West Michigan Staycation Ideas

You don't have to be an art lover or gardener (my mom and sister are both) to enjoy a trip to the world famous Meijer Gardens.

We strapped on our walking shoes and took a stroll on a nice summer day through the gardens. You could spend DAYS walking around and looking at all of the plants and sculptures.

Oh, and it's definitely kid friendly as my 2-year-old nephew had a blast playing in the great lakes water display in the kids area.

West Michigan is known for having the best beaches in the world. We are so lucky to be in driving distance to the sound of crashing waves and picturesque sunsets.

We drove to Oval Beach in Saugatuck and for $8 we drove our car load full to the beach.

We went a bit before noon so we were actually able to score a fantastic parking spot overlooking the lake next to the changing rooms/concessions area.

My folks told me when they came up. They wanted to go to the lake. We all agreed we could live at the beach.

With my nephew in town, we had to go to the John Ball Zoo to look at all of the animals. And the petting zoo as well.

I don't know how popular this is but our trick for zoo exploration is... ride the Funicular (tram) up to the top of the zoo, then walk down the hill. Which means all of the zoo awesomeness, none of the thigh burn.

You could spend the whole day walking around downtown and doing things.

From the Children's Museum (for little man, of course) to the GR Public to the GRAM.

And food? Some of our favorite places to eat and drink are downtown.

Come on son. Downtown is where its at! Though its easy to fall into the favorite restaurant trap in downtown. (I could eat buckets of crack fries from HopCat...) But if I didn't shake it up every once in awhile I would never have tried Grand Central Market.

Come on now ... it's vacation. If you were in Chicago you'd most likely dine out every night anyway. Hit up your favorites or try some place you haven't before.

We went to: Marge's Donut Den, Pietro's on 28th, Hopcat, Fred's on Plainfield, Anna's House, and a couple of other places, too.

It didn't do our waist lines any favors but that's what vacations all about.

The thing I learned when I moved to West Michigan is, when someone says "I'm going up north" that could literally mean any direction on the compass.

We wrapped up our week by going 'up north' to the in-laws' cabin which is technically south and east of here.

Did a little fishing and visiting. Nice and peaceful.