October 11th 2022 - Fall road trip Days 3 and 4 - Sarnia Ontario to Kalamazoo Michigan

We got in a peaceful walk along the river front in Sarnia later in the evening after our hike and dinner. 

 

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After our 2 days in Sarnia, Ontario we got an early start Sunday morning headed for Kalamazoo Michigan.  There were literally zero cars at the enormous border control station along I-69.  With some Canadian formula DayQuil and a reasonable night's sleep, I had high hopes for a lot of on-the-way sight seeing since this would be the day that would, if we wanted, take us into the Detroit area with its wealth of things to see and do.  I had printed out information about the Franklin Cider Mill and doughnut shop which is a fall only Michigan landmark.  We were surprised how hopping that place was even at 9 am on a Monday.  We got 2 cider doughnuts and they were lovely soft gems of sweet goodness but we didn't linger since the atmosphere was more frenetic than we expected.

It was pretty clear I wasn't physically going to be up for any interesting hikes that day so we decided to relent to multiple people's suggestion from back home and go to the Henry Ford Museum.  Even my step-mother from Oregon mentioned it to me years ago and a car museum is certainly not out of my comfort zone anyway.  Thankfully for Brian, the Henry Ford can't really be just called a car museum, though it does have an extensive auto collection. It also has a modest but well done Aviation section, some very impressively large train engines and possibly the largest collection of early steam and water powered engines in one place. The main museum hall is unbelievably huge and there must be 20 acres of parquet wood flooring throughout.  It's from another age when nothing could be too big or too much of a spectacle.  Even when there are 5000 people at the Henry Ford I'm sure it feels empty.  We spent about 3 hours there and didn't walk through Greenfield village or the outdoor exhibits at all.  I felt pretty awful and was a sneezing mess the whole time.  I hate being out in public like that but thankfully there was a lot of space at the Henry Ford. 

I had another food related stop I had hoped to make near Detroit but the location of Sanders Candy that was closest to us after the Henry Ford wasn't open on Sunday and the other locations were 40 minutes in the wrong direction so we pressed on without ice cream.

Our lodging for the Kalamazoo area was a 'mini cabin' at Fort Custer State Park which is pretty close to both Battle Creek and Kalamazoo. Our cabin was fine but very minimalist.  Just squeaky springy bunk beds with mats on top and a few chairs and one very small table.  Nowhere to really lounge around or anything resembling a counter to prepare food on etc let alone any water.  The bathrooms in fact were kind of a haul to get to.  About 1/3 of a mile each way which may or may not sound like a lot until you've done it at night and really need to use the toilet.  The bathroom facilities were hard worn and thread bare also.  Overall, if Fort Custer is a fair representation of the Michigan State Parks system, I'd give it a below average grade.

One of Brian's old friends from Vermont now lives in Kalamazoo and Brian hadn't seen her in 17 years.  We met her for dinner at the Eccentric Cafe of Bell's Brewing.  It was a relaxing dinner and the people, including Brian's friend, were all very warm and nice.  I was still feeling pretty lousy so I was glad to make it through dinner with minimal body distress.

Our 2nd day at the cabins started with an early morning shower then breakfast at Panera Bread before heading to Grand Rapids.  Grand Rapids wasn't really on the schedule for this trip but we intentionally didn't over book ourselves so we could be a little spontaneous.  I saw the Blandford Nature Center on a things to do list for Grand Rapids and was drawn by its mix of animals and trails.  We came close to going to the zoo in Battle Creek and I think I wanted at least a little bit of a zoo experience.  The nature center was wonderful  The indoor exhibit space is mostly birds and turtles that were rescued from various awful interactions with people and automobiles.  Outside there are a number of larger enclosures with a bobcat, a number of owls, a hawk and some turkey vultures each with a little information about how they ended up at the Blandford.  The guide in the museum seemed to read our minds and suggested that the outer trail at the park would be very quiet and child free.  There were a lot of kids at the nature center.  She was right and we had a quiet few minutes watching a beaver silently slip in and out of green mossy water and came very close to a deer bedded down along side the trail.  It was wonderful.

The last thing we did in Grand Rapids before returning to our cabin was to visit the Grand Rapids Public Museum.  The uninspired name of the museum doesn't prepare you for the inspiring spectacle of exhibits inside.  It's absolutely one of the best most engaging and extensive museums I've ever been to and while I'm sure in some important statistical ways it's no Smithsonian, in terms of being a place you will remember and be in awe of, it really is in that league. We were particularly enthralled by the extensive 'streets of Grand Rapids' exhibit which is a 3/4 scale walk through street scene that cleverly curves away from the entry point and makes it feel like a really big really cool movie set.  Some of the stores have volunteers who talk about the merchants or their wares etc.

Somehow, neither Brian nor I took a single picture at the museum.  We then had dinner at Tupelo Honey (yum) before walking back across the river and returning to the cabin.

We finished our evening up with a 2.25 mile hike around Fort Custer recreation area and some Yahtzee playing on the picnic table in front of the cabin.