We didn’t have Michigan on our original itinerary, but decided we had a few extra days to add another state to our adventure. We left Illinois on Sunday, September 30th via I-80 east, then took I-94 north to Kalamazoo, and finally Rt 131 to Hopkins. Hopkins is about half-way between Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo. We stayed at a beautiful campground called Hidden Ridge Resort. Not being used to fall weather up north, we definitely had the heat going for the first few days here!
Since we had rain for the first two days, we found some inside activities. The Air Zoo in Kalamazoo is an aviation museum with many historical and rare aircraft, including the SR-71B Blackbird. Interestingly, the museum’s name doesn’t come from its location in KalamaZOO, but because so many of the planes in its collection have animal nicknames like Warhawk, Wildcat, Bearcat, etc. The museum also has flight simulators, a 4D theater, and offers rides in aircraft during certain times of the year. As former Air Force officers (and Mike being a pilot), we enjoyed this stop very much.
We ate at Downtown Market, home to 22 indoor market vendors, 2 restaurants, cooking classes, greenhouses, and more. We tried BBQ at Slow’s (no it wasn’t Texas BBQ, but it was pretty good!) and had local beer from Founder’s brewery. And of course, if there is an ice cream place then we can’t pass that up!
We also viewed some of the artwork in the Artprize 10 contest. For 19 days, Grand Rapids’ downtown is transformed with hundreds of art exhibits of all types with the winners decided by public vote. One of my favorites was called Rainbow Connection and involved little rolled up paper pieces to form animals and plants–look closely to see the detail!
A beautiful stop was the Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park, a 158 acre botanical garden that is Michigan’s 2nd largest tourist attraction. Even though the day was overcast, the colors and plants were absolutely gorgeous.
The extra $4 for the tram tour was definitely worth the cost, as you get a narrated tour of the whole property. It was interesting to hear the stories behind some of these rather unique sculptures.
Our last day was finally sunny and we took advantage of the opportunity to canoe on the peaceful Grand River. At 260 miles long, the river is the longest one in Michigan and passes through four cities before reaching Lake Michigan.
Wow, y’all covered a lot of great places. Manny would love all the planes too, is the SR-71B Blackbird the plane we saw in Idaho? Sounds like a lot of good food, I love those markets with so many choices.
Yes, that is the plane we saw at Mt Home AFB many years ago. Manny would definitely love all those planes!
Wow so much to do there! Those planes are very cool and that ice cream looked amazing. Any time spent in a canoe is always a good time. Great post again.
I am on a mission to find good ice cream in all the states we visit- lol. Hoping to find one that rivals our Latest Scoop here in San Angelo, but that may take some time because it’s THAT good!
I was honored to have bumped into Robin and Mike at the Air Zoo, and to be able to give you two a tour of our air planes on exibit in our museum.
It appears that you enjoyed our mitten state and I hope that you have as much fun in your other state visits.
Thanks again for visiting us at the Air Zoo.
Denny Montague. Docent.
Thanks, Denny! It was a lot of fun and your tour was awesome. Thanks for checking out my blog:)