MICHIGAN TRAVEL TIPS
FROM
THE HOLOGLOBE PRESS
(The 24th Edition)by
Victor Edward Swanson,
Publisherwww.hologlobepress.com
RULES OF USE
The reports and stories contained on this Web page have been put together with information taken from "The Victor Swanson Fabulous Files of Places to See in Michigan and Wisconsin" and with information obtained from operators and staffers of tourist attractions and from press releases, Web sites, and other sources. The reports and stories are provided as a public service by Victor Swanson and The Hologlobe Press. Almost all persons and entities, such as staffers of radio stations, may freely use the materials; neither AAA Michigan nor any employee of AAA Michigan may use, distribute, download, transmit, copy, or duplicate any of the material presented on this page in any way or through any means.
- - - Travel Thoughts for Everyone - - -
While watching television news programs or other television programs that show images of countries in the Middle East, I get the impression many countries in the Middle East really have little in the way of variety to offer vacationers. Often, through what television programs I see about places in the Middle East, I only see sand and dry land and more sand and dry land. Also, while I watch television programs showing places in the Middle East, I often recall the wide range of things that there are for vacationers to see in Michigan. In Michigan, in the winter, people can see places that have ice-sculpture festivals, such as the city of Plymouth, and can cross-country ski for miles and miles through forests, and throughout the year, there are all types of museums, from a musical-instrument museum to several car museums, to see, and in the summer, people can go to water parks and beaches and hike on nature trails. One reason there are so many different things to see in Michigan is individuals with various backgrounds--persons whose ancestral backgrounds have ties to, for instance, the Africans, the English, the Dutch, French, the Swedes, the Ukrainians, and the Japanese--have been the driving force to create many different things, and government entities have not restricted individuals from creating different things, which can happen in, for example, a country with a dictatorship-type government. You may think this opening paragraph is designed to push a political thought, and if you do, you are right, but the political thought is simply a piece of reality, noting one reason why Michigan has much more to see than a place with nothing more than sand and dry land and more sand and dry land.
This edition of Michigan Travel Tips is a collage of information about things that people can see in Michigan or that people should be able to see in Michigan soon, or, really, this edition notes some of the pieces of information that I have added to my files recently about places that were in Michigan or are in Michigan or will be in Michigan for the first time or again.
I begin by noting something that there was to see in Michigan up until recently. Temperance is a place in Monroe County of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan, and, officially, up until recently, I had no place at Temperance listed in my files as a place to see. On February 9, 2006, I caught a television news report on WXYZ-TV Channel 7 (in Detroit) that noted that a small petting zoo called Nature's Creek Petting Zoo in Temperance burned down. I now know Nature's Creek Petting Zoo was a place in Temperance, and that information is noted in my files, or, really, my files have a listing for "Nature's Creek Petting Zoo" at Temperance and no other information. In the future, I may be able to place information in my files that states that Nature's Creek Petting Zoo has been rebuilt and reopened.
Maybury State Park Living Farm, which is in Northville (of Wayne County of the Lower Peninsula), was damaged by fire on February 13, 1993, but the operators repaired or replaced what was damaged, and Maybury State Park Living Farm was reopened to visitors on September 20, 2005. Maybury State Park Living Farm is located at Maybury State Park; generally speaking, the park is on property that has Beck Road for an eastern boundary, Napier Road for a western boundary, Seven Mile Road for a southern boundary, and Eight Mile Road for a northern boundary, and the entrance is along Eight Mile Road. Maybury State Park Living Farm is thought of as a "working farm" and has animals that are commonly found on farms in Michigan, and it is open to everyone on most days of the year.
In the tenth edition of Michigan Travel Tips (which was published on January 10, 2005), I talked about the Michigan Space and Science Center, which was at Jackson Community College (of Jackson County of the Lower Peninsula) at one time, and talked about how the operators of the Air Zoo, which is at Portage (of the Kalamazoo area of Kalamazoo County of the Lower Peninsula), were in the process of making a new Michigan Space and Science Center, which, for one, was going to hold items that were once housed in the Michigan Space and Science Center of Jackson Community College. From time to time, since January 2005, I have been looking to see if new information is available about when the new Michigan Space and Science Center is going to be open, but I have yet to find any information to put in my files or pass along to you. The last information that I have is the new Michigan Space and Science Center (of the Kalamazoo area) is supposed to open sometime this year. (To see the tenth edition of Michigan Travel Tips, click on this link: Travel #10.)
This month, I added new information about Michigan's Adventure, which is an amusement-park and water-park place at Muskegon (of Muskegon County of the Lower Peninsula). Since November 2005, the operators of Michigan's Adventure have been building a new attraction. The new attraction is called the "Grand Rapids," and it will be open for the upcoming tourist season, which begins, roughly, in late-May. The new ride is described as "...a 1,500-foot-long rapid river ride that will carry riders through a rocky canyon filled with geysers and a waterfall." (By the way, it is two years in a row that I have added information about something new at this place.)
The previous edition of Michigan Travel Tips focused on old one-room schoolhouses in Michigan, and since I published that edition, an individual has passed along information about a one-room schoolhouse that was not noted in the previous edition of Michigan Travel Tips. The individual reminded me that there is a one-room schoolhouse at the Midland County Fairgrounds in Midland County (of the Lower Peninsula). I now have information about that schoolhouse in my files; however, I have no details about the schoolhouse in my files yet. If you go to the Midland County Fairgrounds this year, you might see that schoolhouse, at least the outside of the schoolhouse. (By the way, there is a link to the previous edition of Michigan Travel Tips at the bottom of this Web page.)
In the eighth edition of Michigan Travel Tips (published on November 10, 2004), I reported that there was a fire at the Yankee Air Museum, which is based at Willow Run Airport, Belleville, in Wayne County (of the Lower Peninsula) and which focuses on, for one, American aviation stuff of World War II. I have no new information to pass along to you here about the museum, because that is not the purpose of this paragraph. I do now say that the guys and gals who operate that museum did lose a lot of memorabilia in the fire, and if you learn of someone who is about to get rid of materials or wants to get rid of materials that would be well suited to be a part of the collections of what will be the new Yankee Air Museum, you should urge the someone to pass along the materials to the Yankee Air Museum. It is better to let the museum have such materials than have the materials thrown away and lost forever. (To see the eighth edition of Michigan Travel Tips, you can click on this link: Travel #8.)
I learned, such as through an article in the Onaway Outlook (Jakey, Peter. "Nearly a century in the waiting, courthouse clock is installed." Onaway Outlook, XXXI, No. 25, 24 June 2005, pp. 1 and 2.), there are finally clocks--four-clocks--in the clock tower of the Onaway Courthouse (at Onaway in Presque Isle County of the Lower Peninsula). The tower is not necessarily a thing to see like a museum; however, I note in my files that the clocks were put in the tower. If you travel through Onaway, you will see what I will call "new" clocks in the courthouse tower, and that is something different to see.
Incidentally, on a daily basis, I do not type information into my files; I usually collect pieces of information in a pile for a while and then spend a few hours of one day putting the new information into the files.
Deer Forest Fun Park (at Coloma in Berrien County of the Lower Peninsula), which I first went to sometime in the early 1960s when I was a little boy, is under new ownership, the change of which took place in 2005, and I recently noted that information in my files, but I did not note exactly who the names of the new owners are, since the Web site related to Deer Forest Fun Park did not clearly tell who the new owners are. Deer Forest Fun Park is a place that has been at Coloma for decades, and it is a place at which children can get up close to animals, such as deer, llamas, and various types of birds, and there is a playground at Deer Forest Fun Park. Generally speaking, the place is open during the summer tourist season--from Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day weekend.
In the nineteenth edition of Michigan Travel Tips (which was published on October 10, 2005), I talked about sculptures made by Moran Iron Works (at Onaway in Presque Isle County of the Lower Peninsula) that are on display at various places in Michigan. Since October 2005, I have added the correct title to one of the sculptures that I listed in the nineteenth edition of Michigan Travel Tips as only "globe with two persons." I now have it noted in my files that the sculpture is officially entitled "Community Vital," and that information was obtained from an article in a 2005 edition of Good Health Gazette, which is a publication of Cheboygan Memorial Hospital, and from Special Reporter Joan Scheel. Also, I can say that the "Butterfly with Flowers" is on display at Harbor Springs (in Emmet County of the Lower Peninsula) for a few months; the sculpture is at Harbor Springs for a temporary stay. (To get to the nineteenth edition of Michigan Travel Tips, you can click on this link: Travel #19.)
Recently, I added information about the Boll Family YMCA to my files, even though the place is not necessarily a tourist attraction. The Boll Family YMCA is a new YMCA center that was opened up in Detroit (in Wayne County of the Lower Peninsula) in December 2005. If you travel on business to downtown Detroit for a day or two, you might think about spending a little time there, if you normally do workouts, such as at some type of exercise center near where you live, and you wish not to miss a workout session. The Boll Family YMCA is located at 1401 Broadway (between Grand River and John R), and fees are involved for people who wish to use the place, and, generally speaking, the Boll Family YMCA is open seven days a week. There is a Web site to the place, and it is www.ymcadetroit.org.
I now note in my files that something called the "K.I. Sawyer Heritage Air Museum" exists in the Gwinn area (of Marquette County of the Upper Peninsula). A few weeks ago, I found an advertisement for this museum in a newspaper, but the advertisement gave little information about the museum, so I did a little research, and I found the museum is, in essence, a project in the works, though the place does have some exhibits, which are on property that was once a part of K.I. Sawyer Air Force Base of the Gwinn area, and some of the items are a FB-111A and a McDonnell F-101B "Voodoo." The Web site for the museum notes that the museum, which has a temporary location in the West Branch Township Community Center, is open to persons who make an appointment, but it does seem to me that, sometime in the future, I will be able to note in my files that the museum is open on some type of a regular basis not associated with making any appointment. The West Branch Township Community Center is at 301 A Avenue in Gwinn (of Marquette County) and is near Sawyer International Airport. (Incidentally, sometimes, I start to learn about something new to me by finding only what amounts to as a name and maybe a general location.)
Also, I recently created a listing in my files for the Ziibiwing Center of Anishinabe Culture & Lifeways ("Ziibiwing" is roughly pronounced as "Zee-ba-wing," and "Anishinabe" is roughly pronounced as "Ah-ni-sha-nah-bay."). It is a place that is watched over by the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe of Michigan. The place is at Mt. Pleasant (in Isabella County of the Lower Peninsula). The museum proper of the Ziibiwing Center has permanent exhibits, such as an exhibit about the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe, and temporary exhibits, one of which focuses on woodcarvers of the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe, which will be closed down on July 22, 2006. This cultural center and museum is open to visitors during the day from Monday through Saturday, and admission is charged most persons who wish to see the museum proper. The Ziibiwing Center for Anishinabe Culture & Lifeways is located at 6650 East Broadway.
By giving you pieces of information that I recently put into my files of places to see in Michigan, even if the information seems incomplete to you at times, I should have clearly shown you how many different types of places exist in Michigan. Although I focus on Michigan, you should not believe Michigan is the only state within the United States of America in which there are wide range of things to see, since Michigan is not the only state with a wide variety of things to see. But I do focus on Michigan, and more proof exists that Michigan has many things to see--look at the catalog page for Michigan Travel Tips, which now contains links for two years of editions of Michigan Travel Tips. (There is a link to the catalog page of Michigan Travel Tips at the bottom of this Web page).
Once again, I say, "If you are a tourism operator in Michigan or if you are not, you may submit information about places to see in Michigan or changes at places to see by using the address for The Hologlobe Press, which is Postal Box 5455, Dearborn, Michigan 48128."
Your travel tips in Michigan are:
The Air Zoo and the Michigan Space and Science Center, Portage (the Kalamazoo area), Kalamazoo County, the Lower Peninsula.
Boll Family YMCA, Detroit, Wayne County, the Lower Peninsula.
Cheboygan Memorial Hospital, Cheboygan, Cheboygan County, the Lower Peninsula.
K.I. Sawyer Heritage Air Museum, Gwinn, Marquette County, the Upper Peninsula.
Maybury State Park Living Farm, Northville, Wayne County, the Lower Peninsula.
Michigan's Adventure, Muskegon, Muskegon County, the Lower Peninsula.
Nature's Creek Petting Zoo, Temperance, Monroe County, the Lower Peninsula.
The Onaway Courthouse, Onaway, Presque Isle County, the Lower Peninsula.
The one-room schoolhouse at the Midland County Fairgrounds, Midland County, the Lower Peninsula.
Yankee Air Museum, Willow Run Airport, Belleville, Wayne County, the Lower Peninsula.
Ziibiwing Center of Anishinabe Culture & Lifeways, Mt. Pleasant, Isabella County, the Lower Peninsula.
- - - Public Service Copy for Broadcasters (four pieces) - - -
Number One:
(Note: "Ziibiwing" is roughly pronounced as "Zee-ba-wing," and "Anishinabe" is roughly pronounced as "Ah-ni-sha-nah-bay.")..
In May, the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe of Michigan can
have a celebration--it will be two years since the tribe opened the
Ziibiwing Center of Anishinabe Culture and Lifeways, which is
really a cultural center and a museum. Maybe, the place is
unfamiliar to you, since it is fairly new. The place is at Mt.
Pleasant, and visitors are welcome from Monday through
Saturday. There, visitors can see a number of exhibits, such as
the exhibit that tells the story of the Saginaw Chippewa Indian
Tribe. Special events are held somewhat regularly; for instance,
on April 22, the curator is going to show and talk about textiles
from around the U.S. that are part of the Caleb E. Calkins
Collection. A current special exhibit at the Ziibiwing Center
through July 22 focuses on "Woodcarvers of the Saginaw
Chippewa." The Ziibiwing Center is along East Broadway, and,
remember, enjoy your safe traveling to Mt. Pleasant--buckled up.
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Number Two:
Boating season will soon be here, and that means the guys and
gals of the United States Coast Guard and the U.S. Coast Guard
Auxiliary will soon be working to help keep boaters safe on the
waters of the Great Lakes, and, again this year, they will be
hoping boaters take part in the "America's Waterway Watch"
program. For one, it is a program that urges boaters to watch
for people involved in what can be described as "suspicious
activity," and suspicious activity can be such things as people
performing "unusual night operations" or people "operating in or
passing through an area that does not typically have such
activity." Boaters should watch for unusual activity at such places
as marinas and industrial facilities. To file a report, your should
call the "National Response Team" at 1-800-424-8802
or 1-877-24-WATCH. This year, be a part of "America's
Waterway Watch" and enjoy safe boating by using life preservers
all the time!
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Number Three:
Within Michigan are a number of special libraries, and one that
you might not know about is the "Wayne County Regional Library
for the Blind and Physically Handicapped." The history of this
library can be traced back to at least 1931, when the library was
given a special designation as a "regional library" by the Library
of Congress. The Wayne County Regional Library for the Blind
and Physically Handicapped is located along Michigan Avenue
in Westland, and it is open on most weekdays during the day.
It has "talking books," large-print books, and descriptive videos.
Library services, such as delivery of materials to the home,
are for qualified residents of Wayne County and are free, but it
does not mean a nonresident of Wayne County may not visit this
library. Remember: It's in Westland, and now you can tell
someone about the Wayne County Regional Library for the Blind
and Physically Handicapped.
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Number Four:
When the winter snow is long gone from the ground, animals
can move around easily in the woods and forests of Michigan,
and families can get outside and can move around easily in
"Deer Forest Fun Park," a tourist attraction that has existed in
Coloma, Michigan, for many decades. Really, it's a place for
children, and, as it has been for decades, it's a place for children
to interact with live animals, some exotic and some more
commonplace for Michigan. In essence, Deer Forest Fun Park
is like a petting zoo, but it is more than only a simple petting zoo,
having a playground and children's rides. One of the attractions
is "Storybook Lane," that place in which children use "elephant
keys" to turn on boxes that play audio fairytale stories and songs.
This summer, think about taking children that you know to Deer
Forest Fun Park in Coloma. There are camels, rabbits, llamas,
macaws, and, more, and there are pony rides, too!
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- - - Contact Information - - -
The Hologlobe Press
Postal Box 5455
Dearborn, Michigan 48128-0455
The United States of Americacopyright c. 2006
File date: 10 March 2006To see the next edition of Michigan Travel Tips,
click on: Travel #25
To see the previous edition of Michigan Travel Tips,
click on: Travel #23
To see the catalog page for Michigan Travel Tips,
click on: Travel
To go to the main page of The Hologlobe Press,
click on: www.hologlobepress.com
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