David*Macinnis*Gill.com

Last week, I flew to snowy West­ern Michi­gan to do a cou­ple of short but glo­ri­ous site vis­its with Won­der Twins librar­i­ans Cindy Dobrez and Lynn Rutan, as well as tour­ing the offices of my audio­book pub­lisher, Bril­liance Audio (more about that later).  Of course, my flights were delayed–never fly with me–due to mechan­i­cal prob­lems, weather, and some­one who got caught in the jet­way. Even­tu­ally, I made it to Grand Rapids then drove across to Grand Haven, which is on the shores of Lake Michigan:

I stayed  in this beau­ti­ful B&B below, the Har­bor House Inn. The room had a great view of the river, and the break­fast was yummy.

So were the table fowl. Bring on the chikins!

With some free time and Google Maps on my phone, I ven­tured into nearby Hol­land, where they grow lots of tulips. I was a cou­ple of weeks early for the Spring bloom­ing, so I found a rea­son­able facsimile.

Eventually,I located the book­store that was spon­sor­ing my talk with the Boys & Girls Club later in the day.

I was intrigued by the Famous Nutty Pad­dle Pops. Alas, I didn’t get the chance to try one.

And then…

On to Har­bor Lights Mid­dle School to meet with Cindy Dobrez, Lynn Rutan, and the BBYA Read­ing Group. My name in lights! W00t!

Here’s one half of them.…

And the other half.…

This sculp­ture was too fun to let escape photoless.

They made me a cake! My name in lights AND a cake?

Let them eat cake!  And drink pop! (You know South­ern­ers don’t call it pop, right?)

The BBYA Club kept me on my toes with a string of great ques­tions. I man­aged to answer them all–I think. Way too quickly, I had to move on to the next event…

…but not before get­ting a pic of Cindy’s Printz Award Chikin.

Next up: The Boys & Girls Club of Holland!