In this blog I’m going to tell you about the places we saw during our weekend road trip, giving you a great itinerary for a weekend trip of your own. The places we visited during this trip include:
- Marvin’s Marvelous Mechanical Museum
- Heidelberg Project
- Belle Isle (with stops into the conservatory and aquarium)
- The Eastern Market
- The Belt
- Breweries, like Eastern Market Brewing Company and Jolly Pumpkin Brewery
Our trip started off great, unlike this car that we passed on the road: that’s a gas pump trailing the car, has this ever happened to you? Or have you seen any other peculiarities during a road trip?
While we were driving to Michigan, we were listening to music and I was reading some suggestions that my friend Lindsey had sent me (we didn’t do a lot of preplanning for the trip). We came across an interesting coincidence: one of the things Lindsey had one her wish-list was a place called “Marvin’s Marvelous Mechanical Museum”. I told this to Tommy and he told me that happened to be the name of an album by a band he really loved- Tally Ha. We googled it and when I saw pictures I knew we had to stop!
Thus we made our first spur-of-the-moment decision- to make a short detour to the town of Farmington Hills, MI to check out this wonder. When we pulled in a strip mall I thought we had made a wrong turn, but then we saw this sign and I knew we were in the right spot.
Marvin’s Marvelous Mechanical Museum
Marvin’s museum lives up to its name- it is marvelous and there are all kinds of mechanical wonders. In a space of 5,000 square feet there are vintage coin-operated machines, but also nostalgia and oddities from different decades and collected over the years by Marvin. Every inch is decorated by posters, model airplanes, collectors items, neon signs and more. All you need are some quarters and you can spend hours playing games, or just wandering around taking it all in.
We chose to use most of our quarters playing some of the old machine. One gem, pictured below, told you your health; the next guy promises to give players a shock. Putting money in one machine with a cigar-smoking baby gets your a bunch of insults insults thrown at you.
Tommy showed off his pin-ball skills (and they were legit!). There was so much to see and for just $10 worth of quarters we had a few hours of fun. As you can see from the photo, there is no shortage of things to see and do here.
There are many games that you would see at the likes of Dave & Buster, like skee-ball, where you can win tickets. We turned in our tickets for these awesome prizes!
Heidelberg Project
The next morning our first stop was the Heidelberg Project. This outdoor art project was started in 1986 by Tyree Guyton. Guyton, upon returning to his neighborhood, found it in shambles. So he, his grandpa and some neighborhood children started collecting refuse, transforming the neighborhood. It really is a sight to see, don’t get just drive around it in your car, get out and walk among the art.
Isn’t it amazing how someone can look at something that most people would think of as junk and turn it into something that’s beautiful? Some might not say it’s beautiful, but it certainly is creative and a sight to see.
One major theme you will notice is all the clocks. These are meant for visitors to reflect on where they have been, where they are now, and where they are going.
They even turned some abandoned houses into “gigantic art sculptures”.
Belle Isle
The island of Belle Isle is just a quick drive from the Heidelberg Project. Created in 1880, this is an outdoor oasis for the residents of Detroit. This island, located in international waters of the Detroit river, separates Detroit and Windsor, Canada. You can see both places from the shores of the island. While it was very cold out so we decided to check out the conservatory and the aquarium.
Conservatory on Belle Isle
On Belle Isle, The Anna Scripps Whitcomb Conservatory is the oldest continually-running conservatory in the US. It is divided into 5 sections: the Palm House (where a giant palm tree looks like it is soon going to bust out of the ceiling), the Tropical House, the Cactus House, and the Fern House. There is also a show house.
Belle Isle Aquarium
Located next door to the conservatory is the Belle Isle Aquarium. It was opened in 1904 and is the oldest aquarium in the US. We enjoyed checking out the fish, especially the seahorses, puffer fish and a very active turtle.
When we were leaving the conservatory we struck up a conversation with the women working there. These lovely ladies gave us some new ideas about places to visit. I love having an open-mind during traveling, and getting suggestions from locals! “You’ve got to head over to Eastern Market, especially since it’s Saturday morning” they said, so that’s exactly where we headed next.
The Eastern Market
The Eastern Market is the largest historic public market district in the US, and it is indeed a district, with the warehouses (of which there are 5 to walk through) stretching a mile long!
There are also lots of shops and restaurants lining the streets on either side of the Market. There are over 150 vendors, and being as it was almost Christmas, the Christmas tree and wreath sellers were out in abundance! Additionally, there were also lots of fruit and veggie sellers, handing out free samples.
Tommy got some hot cider to sip on while we were wandering around (half of the warehouses are open to the outside, and some are inside) and we were loving strolling around taking in the sights, along with what seemed half the city. But I don’t blame them- if I lived here I would be here every weekend. The prices were great and the wares looked and tasted delicious!
The Eastern Market opened in 1891, with sheds being added in 1922 and 1929. In 1970, the stalls rented by farmers were decorated with paintings of produce and livestock, and now those murals are all around the area, and I just loved them!
The Belt
Another place that we visited, by suggestion of our Airbnb host, was ‘The Belt’. This is an alley in the heart of downtown Detroit, named because of its location in the former garment district. Murals and artwork cover the parking garage and alley.
I read a lot about the bars and restaurants that are popular. A bar called This Skp was the one our host was very enthusiastic about one. Our thoughts: it was just okay, but I did enjoy their Christmas decor. There were several other bars there, but being Saturday night it was very busy.
Michigan Central Station
Our final stop on Saturday was to see the old abandoned train station, Michigan Central Station (recently purchased by Ford my Airbnb host told me). This train station was used from 1914-1988, and was the tallest train station in the world when it was built. I love the Beaux-Arts style of the building, and can’t wait to explore it when it opens.
Dining in Detroit
The real reason we were near the Michigan Central Station was for dinner! We wanted to eat at a place that was recommended to us- Gold Cash Gold. We just got appetizers, and drinks but what we had tasted amazing. And the interior is so cute!
Let’s talk about some of the breakfast places we ate at while in Detroit. Near our AirBnb was Rose’s Fine Food. Though it’s not much to look at from the outside, the food was outstanding! From our spot at the counter we got to watch all the food being made. This made us question our food decisions because it all looked sooo good, I would definitely go back.
The second morning we checked out a breakfast spot Tommy read about it called Le Petit Déjeuner. It was family style breakfast, everyone sharing the food, but we had to wait over an hour and a half for our food to come! And then we never got water or coffee refills (we had to wait over 30 minutes for our coffee, and that was only when we went to the hostess to beg for some). To make up for our lack of coffee they gave us coffees to go- only they didn’t have cups! The highlight of the morning was getting these soup bowls of coffee!
Detroit Breweries
I don’t think a roadtrip is complete without some visits to breweries, and Detroit has some great one!
Eastern Market Brewing Company
After all that walking and “window-shopping” we did at the Eastern Market, we were thirsty, so we headed to one of the several breweries in the area- the Eastern Market Brewing Company. We both got flights- the strawberry milkshake and elephant juice beers were my favorite!
Also in the area was the Detroit City Distillery, so we stopped in for some yummy cocktails. These were sooooo good!
Jolly Pumpkin
Out of all the breweries in Detroit one I had to go to was Jolly Pumpkin. I have been to other Jolly Pumpkins and I just love their sours! We got flights and they were awesome- especially the Keiki No More. They have a full kitchen too with lots of yummy looking food, though we had breakfast before we went and didn’t try any.
That was our weekend in Detroit! It was awesome, and there is still a lot on my list that I need to see. I have visited before , and checked out of few places worth noting if you are wanting to visit Detroit.
Other ideas for a visit to Detroit
a) The Motown Museum- where the music of Motown started. No pictures are allowed inside, but it is amazing to see. There is tons of memorabilia and things have been left exactly as they were when this house was used as a recording studio.
b) the Detroit Historical Museum, telling the story of Detroit from it’s start with cobbled-stoned streets, through the auto assembly line and the boom of the car industry to current times.
c) The Renaissance Center complex. A group of 7 interconnected skyscrapers. From here you can catch a ride on the People-Mover.
So that’s Detroit (on a budget!) I have a lot more I want to see, but I hope I’ve given you some good ideas that inspire your trip to Detroit, Michigan (on a budget). If you want more ideas for traveling on a budget, let me suggest my post about Unique Kentucky, where the focus was all about crazy roadside stops. If you have any suggestions for my future travels, let me a comment. Thanks for visiting Catching Katie today!