Grand Rapids must sees? and do's? (Detroit, Lansing: house, neighborhoods, theater)

[cardwellave]

So I am contemplating a trip to Grand Rapids possibly as soon as this weekend, myself and my mom, so I was wondering if the trip is worth it, as both of us have never been, and whats ort of good things there are to do there. Is there good shopping? Some good restaurants? Nice historic neighborhoods or sights? Any parts of town to avoid when visiting?

Thanks a lot.

[kwhitt]

I lived in GR before moving to Maryland for work. Here are a few sites I had bookmarked:

Caboose
Ice Cream, sundaes, floats- Jersey Junction, East Grand Rapids Michigan
Grand Rapids Ballet Company (broken link)
Welcome to the Grand Rapids Symphony
Welcome to Binder Park Zoo!
Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park
GRAM:
Grand Rapids Public Museum
The B.O.B. - Grand Rapids, Michigan
Celebration! North - Grand Rapids
Van Andel Arena
West Michigan Whitecaps Baseball

Meijer Gardens is a great one. The museum usually has an impressive show on display. If you like old-fashoined, there is a small mom and pop restaurant in Plainfield township called Anna's House that has the best french toast and cheap prices...great for Sunday breakfasts. If you're a movie fan and you've never been to an IMAX theater, I recommend that as well. There are all sorts of great restaurants in the downtown section of GR, but they are pricey (at least to me). For late night entertainment I recommend dinner at The B.O.B. and catching the comedy show. There is a piano bar in the downstairs section as well. Enjoy your trip!

[suydam]

What do you feel like doing?
There are some nice museums downtown, great restaurants too.
I like just walking along the river on a nice day.
Heritage Hill historic district is great (since you mentioned that) and has a walking tour you'd enjoy if you're into that sort of thing: Heritage Hill Neighborhood Association, Grand Rapids, Michigan

For food, it really depends what you like. Great steaks (and I mean [i]great[i] at The Chop House on Monroe). Great tapas (authentic Spanish food) at San Chez Bistro. Great modern food at Restaurant Bloom on Monroe Center.

Give us some ideas of what you like. Shopping really isn't our strong point if you're from somewhere bigger. There are malls (2 decent ones in teh 'burbs) and cute downtowny areas (Rockford, East Grand Rapids).

If you're spending the night, I'd do a Saugatuck/Holland day too. One day in GR walking around downtown enjoying food, museums, the river and Meijer Gardens (a real treasure of the area) and then one day on the lakeshore (I'm partial to downtown Holland and Saugatuck... great shopping... but mostly closed on Sunday).

Have fun!

[cardwellave]

Thanks so much for the ideas! My mom doesn't want to travel 2 hours to GR this weekend, so I think we're going to check out Bay City instead, but GR is on my list for this summer for sure!

[cardwellave]

In a last minute decision, we decided to go to Grand Rapids.

We had a great time! We got off at Ottawa Ave and did sort of a big circle downtown and headed up Lafayette to Plainfield Ave to go to Anna's as someone here mentioned, since it was only about 11:00am. Very friendly people and a great restaurant. We came back down Plainfield and noticed a Pizza Hut where you can drive through to pick up your order, very cool, and headed downtown to see if there was anything to shop at. I noticed the shopping and stores overall seem to be really scattered. We tried parking somewhere near Monroe Center, but couldn't find a spot. Frustrated after driving around about 20 minutes, we crossed the Grand River on Pearl Street and went and toured the Ford Museum, which was fascinating. Ah-Nab-Awen Park is beautiful.

From there we checked for parking again to no avail, and decided to check out other options. We looked at Eastside, and went in an antiques store, then went up to Gaslight Village and visited Jersey Junction and the D&W's there. We discovered that unlike Detroit, a lotttt of things close on Sunday completely. Oops. We drove around Heritage Hill, and tried to visit the Voigt House, but after passing it a few times on one way streets and having to loop back, it was closed. We did get a tour of the Meyer May House, which was very interesting.

We then looked for any kind of good looking restaurant for nearly an hour, finding nothing open in that general area, so we traveled to Clara's in Lansing for dinner. Had been there yearssss ago, and it was just as good as always.

I was thinking though, would there have been more shopping or restaurants on the east side of the river or in Comstock Park? Or maybe more south of say Wealthy Street? I regret not venturing into these areas. I didn't know what was sort of an area you stay out of was, plus it is a decent sized city and didn't want to get too far from other things we had to do.

Thanks!

[SouperStar34]

Originally Posted by cardwellave

In a last minute decision, we decided to go to Grand Rapids.

We had a great time! We got off at Ottawa Ave and did sort of a big circle downtown and headed up Lafayette to Plainfield Ave to go to Anna's as someone here mentioned, since it was only about 11:00am. Very friendly people and a great restaurant. We came back down Plainfield and noticed a Pizza Hut where you can drive through to pick up your order, very cool, and headed downtown to see if there was anything to shop at. I noticed the shopping and stores overall seem to be really scattered. We tried parking somewhere near Monroe Center, but couldn't find a spot. Frustrated after driving around about 20 minutes, we crossed the Grand River on Pearl Street and went and toured the Ford Museum, which was fascinating. Ah-Nab-Awen Park is beautiful.

From there we checked for parking again to no avail, and decided to check out other options. We looked at Eastside, and went in an antiques store, then went up to Gaslight Village and visited Jersey Junction and the D&W's there. We discovered that unlike Detroit, a lotttt of things close on Sunday completely. Oops. We drove around Heritage Hill, and tried to visit the Voigt House, but after passing it a few times on one way streets and having to loop back, it was closed. We did get a tour of the Meyer May House, which was very interesting.

We then looked for any kind of good looking restaurant for nearly an hour, finding nothing open in that general area, so we traveled to Clara's in Lansing for dinner. Had been there yearssss ago, and it was just as good as always.

I was thinking though, would there have been more shopping or restaurants on the east side of the river or in Comstock Park? Or maybe more south of say Wealthy Street? I regret not venturing into these areas. I didn't know what was sort of an area you stay out of was, plus it is a decent sized city and didn't want to get too far from other things we had to do.

Thanks!

I live about 1 minute away from that Pizza Hut!

[cardwellave]

How do you like living there? That area looked pretty nice. Are there any particular areas of Grand Rapids that someone wouldn't want to live in? I really enjoyed it and would definitely return, and could even consider it a place to move someday.