Nothing wrong with hitting the Holland State Park beach in March

The lighthouse on the shores of Lake Michigan near Lake Macatawa at Holland State Park.

The last time I was at Holland State Park, the beach was full, the water was full and the sky was lit up with patriotic fireworks.

It was a far cry from that Saturday afternoon. While visiting my wife on the west side of Michigan for the weekend (she's there for two weeks on work), we decided to head to Holland for the afternoon. After stopping by the Holland Museum downtown, we made the drive to Holland State Park, where we were met with a vastly different scene this time around.

Ice covers rocks on the jetty.

There were plenty of people coming to check out the sun as it glowed in the horizon, more than I expected. It goes to show the Great Lakes can draw people pretty much anytime of year, not just during the warm summer months and on Independence Day, which is the last time I paid a visit to this park back in 2010 while working in Grand Rapids.

While the nearby lighthouse was not covered in ice as I had hoped to see, there were still plenty of signs of winter: several rocks along the jetty were covered in white ice, with icicles dangling off of some of them. It wasn't what I was hoping for, but it was a sight I hadn't seen.

The wind whipping off of Lake Michigan proved to be the winner, as we didn't stay long on the waterfront. But just making the short drive to the beach on an early March afternoon can be invigorating.