Day Fifty

Day fifty found us at the Binder Park Zoo in Battle Creek.  I just loved the overgrown and jungle feel of the vegetation!  It was a nice, cool day so the animals were much happier after the heat wave broke.  It had stormed the night before and provided some relief.  While having lunch at their restaurant, some peacocks that wander the grounds were walking around outside begging, and one hen had two chicks with her – adorable!  She was getting all the attention!

They had a Swamp Adventure area where you walk through a marshland on a boardwalk 0.8 miles, so we went on a trek through the swamp.  We kept our eyes open for bigfoot, and Sam even did his bigfoot call, but to no avail.  J 

A short tram ride took us to the African Safari area where we walked another 0.8 mile loop.  Sam and Sean fed the giraffes, who always seem hungry!  While walking by the kukkaburras, they burst into spontaneous “song” for a while – boy were they loud!  We saw lots of beautiful animals, and I especially thought the red panda was gorgeous!

We stopped at a local Mexican restaurant for dinner, and the food was scrumptious!

Day Forty-Nine

Day forty-nine we went to the Air Zoo in Kalamazoo.  This was a very interesting place to visit, with lots of airplanes to view, along with wonderful historical information about airplane battles in past wars.  There were also some rides for children, and some great flight simulator rides, along with a space shuttle simulation ride.  A small movie theater also offered some 3D and 4D movie experiences!  We all thoroughly enjoyed our day at the Air Zoo!

Bob and Elane treated us to their homemade pizza that evening for dinner – excellent!  Best pizza ever!  They could put some folks out of business with that one!  J

 

Day Forty-Eight

Day forty-eight we drove to our friend’s house in Sturgis, MI.  After a little turnaround on some country roads and a drive through their backyard, we were in!  J  What a lovely home and a nice, quiet, secluded place!  They have birdfeeders and hummingbird feeders on their back deck, and more birds than I’ve ever seen outside an aviary!  Gorgeous ruby throated hummingbirds, golden finches, purple finches, rose breasted grosbeaks, and more!  Just lovely!

We spent a nice relaxing evening chatting and hanging out.  Bob made steaks and corn-on-the-cob on the grill for supper – yum!  Buster just loved the yard, and went right inside and made himself at home!

Day Forty-Seven

Day forty-seven and we met up with our friends – yeah!  We all toured the Maker’s Faire first, since it was outdoors and the day was already heating up.  Lots of new ideas and innovation out there!  Some practical, some logical, some whimsical, some way out there!  All interesting, though.  The highlight of the morning was when Sam got to get up close to the TIV, which is the tornado chaser’s vehicle.  Sam got to meet Sean Casey, the filmmaker, and his crew, and got some pics with him and his vehicle – awesome!  He was all smiles!

After a hot morning, we all went inside to spend the rest of the day touring the museum.  The place is massive!  There is some renovation underway as they are moving some things around and preparing a new display area for next year, but most everything was still on display.  We viewed all the vehicles from the Oscar Meyer Weinermobile to the HUGE steam locomotive, the Allegheny.  There were lots of impeccable old vehicles, including a 1931 Bugatti (only six were produced), and some of the past president’s limousines, including JFK and FDR.

We ate lunch at their café, and the food was excellent!  Afterwards, we continued on our tour, checking out all the steam powered engines, the Dymaxion House, and the Heroes of the Sky.  One of the most fun activities of the day was building the Model T Ford vehicle.  There is an actual Model T Ford on display that the staff literally takes apart each evening, and it is assembled piece-by-piece by visitors throughout the day.  Sam, along with Sean and Tyler, our friends grandchildren, helped assemble the vehicle.

Another fun activity for the kids, and everybody, was an assembly line model, where the participants put together 14 model vehicles along an assembly line. The whole gang got involved in that one (while I took pics) and they had a blast!

As usual, our feet got tired before our eyes, so we finished up the day and headed out.  It was great to see our friends for the day, and we get to visit with them more tomorrow!  We are actually driving to their house tomorrow to park at their place for a few days – yeah!



Day Forty-Six

Day forty-six found us at The Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, MI.  Some dear friends of ours were going to meet us there the next day to tour the museum, so we opted to go to the Ford Rouge Plant Tour today.  When we arrived, we found that there was something going on called the “Maker’s Faire” for the weekend, and it was packed!  There was a special two day preview at the IMAX theater of a movie called Tornado Alley, covering some storm chasers that were frequently seen on television.  It turns out that the filmmaker/storm chaser/star of the show and his crew had his special vehicle at the Maker’s Faire!  Since we didn’t buy tickets for the Maker’s Faire, we would have to wait until the next day to meet him.  We did, however, see the IMAX film today – it was very cool!

We then went on the factory tour, and it was great!  The production line was running, so we got to see the truck assembly in progress.  What a nice, clean working environment!  I have worked in some factories, both in the automotive field and in large appliances, and they were never this clean and quiet!  The tour was very informative, and it is quite a feat that Henry Ford accomplished everything that he did.  It is also inspiring to see that his great-grandson is taking the company to new heights, and leading the way with environmental concerns.  They have the world’s largest “living roof” and it is quite a sight!

Day Forty-Five

Day forty-five and we drove to Monroe, MI to stay at the Harbortown RV Resort.  We picked this campground because it is close to Detroit, and our destination for this stop is The Henry Ford Museum.  This campground seemed like it had lots of nice amenities, so it was the winner.  Once we got here, Sam was off to play at the playground while we were checking in.  They have a very nice pool that looks extremely inviting, and they handed us a sheet of weekend activities that look cool!  There is mini-golf, a go-kart track, and they have a little café where they serve breakfast, and some lunch and dinner items!  They even deliver to your site.

We played a round of mini-golf later that day.  We didn’t keep score, but Jim and I both think we each won.  J  Sam took part in the last planned park activity of the day, which was a flashlight candy hunt.  There are LOTS of kids at this park!

 

Day Forty-Four

Day forty-four and we went back to Cuyahoga National Park to catch the train from Peninsula to Akron.  It was a nice scenic train ride along the Cuyahoga River, and there was a free audio tour given on the headsets if you were interested.

When we reached Akron, they provided a free shuttle bus to the Akron Zoo, so we spent a couple of hours checking it out.  It was a small zoo, perfect for a couple hours of wandering time, and Sam had a blast, as usual!  The animals seemed much more aware of their audience here than I have ever seen before, and seemed almost like they wanted to interact with us.  The lion pair was looking at everyone and posing, and the sun bears were a hoot!  They were right on the glass, sitting up and rolling around on the grass, rubbing up against the glass like they wanted to come home with us!  It was another hot day, so they were all probably looking to get inside to some air conditioning!

The train took us back to Peninsula, and we had dinner at a local restaurant in the quaint little town.  What a beautiful area!