Henry Ford Museum

Michigan Day 9

This was to be a recovery day. No paddling or biking. Just take it easy today. So we planned a day-long tour of another museum. A big museum!

But first we visited the Song Bird Cafe in Ann Arbor for breakfast sandwiches and coffee.

—You see this type of menu in coffee shops all the time. How do they do this? Where do they find people capable of legibly writing on the board, in chalk with no smudges? Is it a job requirement? Does it come up in the employment interview? Just asking—

*—The coffee was a medium roast and tasted very good. The breakfast sandwiches hit the spot—*

We finished up and headed to Dearborn. Thirty minutes later we were at the The Henry Ford Museum. We arrived at 10:00, just as they were opening for the day so we found a decent parking spot. This place was huge! If we had gotten there just an hour later, we would have been stuck taking the shuttle because the only parking available would be one of the outlying parking lots that always seem to be in another county.

There are three main attractions at the complex; the museum, Greenfield Village, and the Rogue Assembly Tour. You can purchase tickets for the other attractions separately or as a package.

Greenfield Village has a working train, buildings with recreations of Edison’s research lab and the Wright brothers bicycle shop, along with two “working” farms and other craft makers and artisans.

The Rogue Assembly Line Tour takes you to the plant that is currently making the F-150 pickup.

We knew we likely wouldn’t have time to stroll through the village and since it was Saturday, there was no “assembly” going on at the plant so we purchased tickets for just the museum.

*—This entrance was a little deceptive. It looked a little small for such a large complex—*

*—Many of the displays stretched for hundreds of feet—*

—If you look carefully, you can see a steam locomotive through the arch. I failed to get pictures but there were at least four complete trains of varying lengths and age. One of the trains had at least 5 cars stretching almost 400′—

—This is not my video but it’s worth a look—

*—This “Blue Streak” 9-person bike was part of the Cycling History display—*

—This display was to demonstrate how difficult it is to steer a car at high speeds. The steering wheel had a heavy counterweight that made it difficult to turn the wheel quickly. I never finished the test faster than 7 seconds. I can’t imagine doing it in the 4.22 second registered as the fast time of the day—

—After spending hours at the Ford Museum, we thought a cup of coffee would pick us up for the drive home. The museum cafeteria area was doing a huge business especially the coffee line. Amazingly, the coffee was pretty good. Plus little did we know that the coffee supplier would also be our source for a really interesting supper clear across town—

*—There’s a lot of kids activities including the paper airplane exhibit—*

*—I was happy just to watch the youngsters and their reactions but there were lots of oldsters giving it a try as well—*

All told, we spent almost 5 hours in the museum. We easily could have wandered around two more hours until closing time but we’d seen enough. What a wonderful place. Clean and well-maintained. If we ever return, we’ll definitely plan on a Friday so that we can see the plant, visit the village and tour the “Henry Ford” again. Highly recommended!

We drove back to the hotel. We might have even taken a short nap. By then we were getting hungry but eating out on a Saturday night without reservations can mean a long wait. I did a search for other options and found a deli about 20 minutes away.

That seemed like a good idea. We’d have a lighter supper tonight in preparation for tomorrow paddle race. Since Google Maps placed the deli in the middle of a neighborhood, we thought it would be a quick trip with a short wait. That could not have been further from the truth.

While it was sort of in a residential area, it was busy. There was a little traffic and parking was at a premium. Finally we found a spot and walked up to the deli-which actually turned out to be what I would call and ‘food block’. Lots of small stores selling gifts, flowers, and other items I can’t recall. Zingermanns, as it turns out, is not only a deli but a bakery, a coffee shop, a chocolatier, a pizzeria, and a general grocery store.

This place was hopping! We were a little lost at first with people standing around and in lines with so much to choose from. Finally an employee directed us to a kiosk and showed us how to order ‘online’. Apparently, they move to the kiosk ordering when it gets busy. We ordered our sandwiches and while we waited for a number to be called, we bought some bagels and cream cheese for the next morning.

It took about 20 minutes to get our orders and by then, the crowd was starting to thin out a little. We took our trays outside to the large canopy and enjoyed the nice weather and good food.

Admittedly, it was a little intimidating at first-not knowing where to go or how to order. But now we’ve done it once, we got it all figured out. If we are ever in that area again, we’ll definitely go back. We can highly recommend Zingermanns.