Grand Rapids Weekend Extravaganza

6 - 11pm, artists take over (last weekend).  ART.DOWNTOWN.  It's a yearly event.  Sometimes it was a regular venue, sometimes it was an abandoned building, but it was art, and it was local, and it was awesome.  And it was everywhere.

I took home free seeds in exchange for claiming what I will become (this photo is full-sized, if you want to see what other people will become).

My brother did the same.

We checked out the tulips in Holland, as they'll be done by the time the Tulip Festival rolls around.  That warm week we had in March really screwed up the ecology of the area.

We went to the Gerald R. Ford museum - it was Free Museum Day!  The Ford museum was...a place.  There are more interesting museums, but they weren't open until noon :)
The zoo captivated my interest just a bit more.

This is the least sad photo of the bears that I took.  While I appreciate the diversity of species in the world, and the ability to see animals that I otherwise would not have (or probably want) the chance to see in the wild...zoos, like ciruses, are really quite sad.

The spider monkey discovered his reflection.

We also met up with my cousin and his wife at Brewery Vivant.  They did not, however, join us for the beer tour.

This brewery is small, local, and pushes strongly for recycling.  They are LEED certified, and they reuse almost all of the grains used in brewing.  They also compost all the restaurant scraps.

Just one more reason to drink beer!