July/August 2023


the most incredible arcades and theatre entrances. We stopped at the Ford Piquette Avenue Plant Museum,


the


birthplace of the Ford Model T. Walk amongst


some of the finest Ford automobiles built in the company’s early days, and where the initial experiments were held to finesse the infamous assembly line.


Onwards we went to the Motown Museum,


or


“Hitsville USA” as it’s known. The former home of Motown founder Berry Gordy, it was the first headquarters and recording studio of the Motown record label. Stand in the recording studio, and get an opportunity to sing and dance. Marvin Gaye,


The


T emptations, Stevie Wonder, The Commodores and the Jackson 5 to name but a few – you can follow in their footsteps and stand in the very same recording studio where they produced musical magic. As it’s known as Motor City, Detroit


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does have a constant theme running in the background while you’re enjoying your stay. So from Motown it was on to the Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation. Trains, planes and automobiles – see every presidential car used from the invention of the motor car up until the government started destroying presidential cars so as not to risk revealing security secrets. You can stand beside the very car that JFK was sitting in when he was assassinated. You can sit in the actual bus that Rosa Parks refused to vacate her seat in during the Montgomery Bus Boycott, or see the rocking chair in which Abraham Lincoln was sitting in the Ford Theatre when he too was assassinated! From there it was a short shuttle bus ride to the Ford Rouge Factory.


An industrial complex that comprises six Ford factories. You get to enter one of the factories and witness first-hand the famed Ford assembly line, producing the Ford F-150 truck. The complex is still Ford’s largest factory and employs 6000 workers. After such an eventful day, it was time to relax a bit, and head for Top Golf Auburn Hills. Top Golf, for those who have never been, is a mix between a driving range and an entertainment complex, offering fun games that makes it a lot more appealing than to just golfers. A definite fun night for friends and/or families.


The following morning it was up early and into the car for the two hour drive to Grand Rapids. Once at the destination, we checked


in to the Embassy Suites on Monroe Ave NW. Fully equipped with gym and swimming pool, a coffee shop and adjoining restaurant, Big E’s, the hotel ticks all the boxes. From the hotel we walked to our first attraction,


the Gerald Ford Presidential


Museum. One for the history buffs this, it is a museum dedicated to Grand Rapids most famous son, the 38th President of the United States. The museum lets you see who Ford was from an early age, showing his role in the boy scouts, through to his sporting ability at college. It offers an insight into what it is like to hold an office in the US government, and also has an Oval Office and Cabinet Room set up for you to see.


From there it is a very short walk to the Grand Rapids Public Museum – a definite location for families to enjoy. With exhibitions and displays covering everything from The


Streets of Old Grand Rapids or the story of Native American culture in West Michigan, to the wildlife of the area, 1980s arcade machines and a mounted skeleton of a Mastodon. Also see the skeleton of a whale hanging from the ceiling, a 1928 Spillman carousel, a Wurlitzer Band Organ, or the hanging airplane. For the art fans, the Frederick Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park is a 158 acre botanical garden, art museum and outdoor sculpture park located just a few miles outside Grand Rapids. See the Japanese Garden with its blooming blossom trees and authentic Japanese structures, or the interactive Children’s Garden that invites kids of all ages to explore in a setting that


KEEPING IT FRESH IN MICHIGAN | 35


fosters curiosity, experimental learning, and the engagement of all five senses. Time for dinner, we headed for one of the local breweries that had recently popped up throughout Grand Rapids, Knickerbocker New Holland Brewing. When at a brewery it’s always good to order a flight of beers. On this occasion I went with an O’Doherty’s Dry Stout, Dragon’s Milk White, Passion Blaster and Tangerine Time Machine.


The Embassy Suites breakfast was a fantastic way to start the day with a full hot food buffet and omelette bar. Once on the road, it was a two hour drive to the amazing Traverse City. Our first tour stop was the Sleeping Bear


Dunes National Lakeshore. It is in Michigan’s Lower Peninsula and hugs the northeast shore of Lake Michigan, and includes the


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