#3. Grand Rapids IS Pretty Grand!

We may have asked a few of you how big your driveway is; well, be careful how you answer that one, because you may find company out there when its least expected! Anne's brother, Steve, said his drive was quite large, and that is all we needed to hear. Pretty soon, Grand Rapids was a stop on out trip. There is nothing better for a camper than free camping, or boondocking. We love it!

This coming Wednesday a new 10 day international event called Art Prize begins in Grand Rapids. What the heck is Art Prize, you might ask - as we did. Well, its a $250K prize awarded to the top art projects submitted to the annual competition. The art may be large or small, sculpture or painting or anything in between. Though we were a little early for the official start, we did see some interesting art scattered around the downtown area.

One of our favorites was this huge mosaic crafted entirely with lottery tickets.

A large bronzed pyramid-shaped work comprised of migrating lines of birds was pretty cool. At the top of the pyramid, they changed direction and start circling the perimeter of the pyramid - maybe an endless migration???

Do you shop at Meijer's? We do - but little did we know that the company is headquartered in Grand Rapids, and that the son of the founder was a philanthropist who helped found the Frederic Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park. When asked by the Grand Rapids Horticulture Society about sponsoring some projects, he said that he just happened to have a 130 acre parcel of land looking for a home (it was to be a Meijer store, but zoning didn't permit building it). He donated the land, and in 1996 the Gardens opened. Mr Meijer asked that the Society include space to exhibit some sculpture - he had been an avid collector all his life, and the Garden now includes a 32 acre outdoor sculpture park. Like the Mejer chain, the Gardens have continued to flourish and today are the third most visited attraction in Michigan - after the Ford Museum and Greenfield Village.


This weekend there was a special exhibit at the Gardens of decorated gourds. Some of the creations hardly looked like gourds.

In addition to Venus Fly Traps, a sizable collection of different carnivorous plants was on display. They look hungry, don't they?

And Orchids........

The sculpture park could be lazily viewed from the tram.

Ahhhhhh..........

And what was the most impressive exhibit? Nothing less than Leonardo Da Vinci's 24 foot tall bronze war horse. Mr. Meijer learned about Da Vinci's design that was sculpted in clay, but never completed because of a war. He contracted to make two of the horses according to Leonardo's plans and drawings. One now resides at the sculpture park, and the other was presented to the city of Milan, 500 years after the full size clay model was sculpted there. Once we saw the horse, we realized that we had seen a PBS special about how the bronze statues were made. WOW!!!!

What a magnificent war horse! Imagine facing this fellow on the battlefield?

And what other places are hidden in Michigan?