Battle Creek Michigan

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We had spent the night in the parking lot of the RV glass shop in Elkhart to let the glue cure after getting the windshield replaced. We didn’t have a very long drive to Battle Creek Michigan - just over 80 miles. We were planning on staying at the Elks Lodge in town. We didn’t have great information about the lodge but from the looks of things, it is situated on a fairly large property with a pond just west of town. We pulled in and carefully assessed the height of the entrance sign and realized we would easily clear it. As we pulled into the lot and started to unhook the Jeep, a woman drove her golf cart over from one of the many campers sitting on a small peninsula jutting into the pond. She informed us that they had all of their official “sites” taken by members but since they don’t have electricity or water at each site, we explain that we can easily camp in the field just off the gravel lot. She checked with one of the lodge officers and were told that would be fine. She was so exited to have a traveling Elk stay here. She had us hop on her golf cart and we got a grand tour of the facility.

Entrance to Battle Creek elks

Camping Area Next to Pond

Peaceful Pond

Since we had arrived fairly early in the day, we headed to the nearby Leila Arboretum. It sounded like there were numerous chainsaw carvings located around the park and we had an Adventure Lab to help tour us around.

Leila Arboretum

It sounded like many of the carvings were from a large number of ash trees here that had been lost to the emerald ash borer. Some of the carvings were done on the trunk of the trees in place where they once stood while others were carved from the logs of the trees and then mounted around the area.

Moose

Bigfoot

Genie

There were many very creative works of art with a great amount of detail. After completing the carvings, we wandered around more of the arboretum and the many walking trails.

Wizard

When Pig Flies?

Saber Tooth Tiger

The next morning we head out about 20 miles northwest of the lodge. Our goal was to check out the Gilmore Car Museum. We had found out about this place from our next door neighbors in Florida down at The Great Outdoors. Being Michiganders, they had provided several ideas of places to visit during our travels to the state. Even though Connie isn’t really into cars, she says this place was worth the trip. We watched some YouTube videos and realized we probably would enjoy it and we were so close that it was an obvious choice.

Entrance at Gilmore Car Museum

Situated on 90 acres with numerous large buildings around the campus, the Gilmore Museum boasts over 400 automobiles making it the largest car museum in North America. We were surprised to find very few visitors parked in the large lot at the entrance. It was a nice Sunday, so we were anticipating a large crowd. But there were no special events taking place and next Sunday is Father’s Day, so maybe everybody was waiting to come then. This was fine with us since it made it easier to check out the cars and for me to take pictures without lots of people in the way. After paying our entrance fee, we start to explore the Heritage Center. Which starts out with race cars from Formula One to NASCAR and lots of older ones.

Assorted Race Cars

1981 Indy Car

1967 Shelby 427 Cobra

I’ll warn you in advance, I took lots of pictures. It seemed like each car in the collection was worthy of a shot. I’ve tried to winnow down to my favorite ones but there were SO many beautiful cars that I was left with quite a few to show here. I did my best to track which car is pictured and many will have the details in the shot. As we wandered the grounds, I noticed how I was drawn to some of the old hood ornaments from years gone by. Here are some of the better ones I found.

1930 Cadillac V-16 Roadster

1959 Metropolitan

1948 Jaguar 3.5 Litre

1932 Pierce-Arrow Model 54

1942 DeSoto Deluxe

Late 1920's Erskine

Paige

1930 Lincoln Type 172

Continuing through the rooms in the main building, we come into the 1920’s/1930’s room. There were lots of cars that were quite nice although the majority of them I have never seen before or even heard of.

1934 Ford Station Wagon with Curly Maple Panels

1936 Checker Cab

Excelsior Motor Super X

1936 Mercedes-Benz 540 Special Roadster

The 50’s and 60’s gallery was next up. Now the cars were starting to look a lot more familiar.

50's and 60's Gallery

1953 Chevrolet Corvette

1957 Ford Thunderbird

1969 Corvair

1959 Chevy Corvette Big Brake Fuelie

Entering the Baum Gallery brought back lots of childhood memories - the muscle cars of the 1970’s. Not that I ever owned one of these cars. However growing up in Ohio, our house was next to a car dealership and I always liked to check out the Chargers, Challengers, Road Runners and Super Bees. But then I spotted one vehicle I had at least driven before - the 1979 Dodge Lil Red Express. During high school, I worked weekends and evenings at the Dodge dealership in the truck department. My job was to clean up the new trucks and vans that were delivered to make sure they looked good on the lot for prospective customers. When this little red truck showed up on the lot with its 360 cubic inch V8 and wide rear tires, it became the cleanest truck on the lot. I was constantly finding a reason to drive it a block away to the dealership's car wash.

1970 Mercury Cougar

1963 Chevrolet Corvette Sting Ray

1969 Dodge Charger Daytona

1964 Chevrolet Impala SS

Jack and His 1979 Dodge Lil Red Express

Next up was the Franklin Museum. This was one brand I can’t say I’ve heard of before but probably should have known something about them since they were built in Syracuse NY. Maybe the fact they were only in existence from 1902 to 1934 would help explain my ignorance.

1930 Franklin 147 Speedster

The next wing in the tour was the Lincoln Museum. Developed as the luxury Ford brand, they definitely had some fancy cars back in the day.

1939 Lincoln Type 413-B

1931 Lincoln K

1940 Lincoln-Zephyr Continental Coupe

We finish up the main, interconnected, buildings in the Museum of the Horseless Carriage. We see some really old cars from the early 1900’s. They even have an exact replica of what is considered the very first automobile - 1886 Benz.

Entering Museum of the Horseless Carriage

1903 St Louis Boston Carriage

1886 Benz Replica

We had spent an hour touring these first buildings and realized there were many more places to see as we enter the rest of the grounds. The Blue Moon Diner was quite nice. Originally in Connecticut, it opened in 1941 and survived almost 60 years. It was restored and moved to the Gilmore grounds in 2004.

Blue Moon Diner

Another building near the diner appears to be some sort of small reception room with a very neat old wood bar but the more interesting thing here is part of the set from the 1967 live-action Disney movie “The Gnome-Mobile”. I can’t say we have seen this movie but it centers around a 1930 Rolls-Royce. To make the actors appear small during the filming, the interior of the car was created at nearly 4 times actual size.

Who Shrunk Chris?

Just across the street is an old time Shell Station. Inside were all sorts of vintage Shell memorabilia. A TV was playing a documentary showing school children learning how to be good drivers. As we watched the show for a bit, the narrator sounded familiar. Sure enough, if you search for Jimmy Stewart driver training on YouTube, you can find the 11 minute video from 1954.

Old Shell Gas Station

A Motorcycle Gallery is near the Shell station. While not nearly as extensive as some others we have seen like the Wheels in Time in Maggie Valley North Carolina or the Sturgis Motorcycle Museum in South Dakota, there were a fair number of old bike to check out.

Motorcycle Gallery

Next we head to another standalone building. This one is a 125 year old barn that was moved and converted into the Classic Car Club of America Museum back in 1985. The club focuses on luxury vehicles produced between 1915 and 1948. One of the interactive displays shows 10 or so hood ornaments and a list of vehicles they were on. We didn’t do great but eventually matched them up properly. Just about every vehicle here at Gilmore has had a sign nearby thanking us for not touching the cars. So as we were wandering through this building, I was amazed to find something guy touching a car and then actually sitting in it. As we got closer, it turned out this one car had a sign stating we could actually get behind the wheel. So Chris did just that.

1930 Stutz

1921 Roamer

Chris Drives 1937 Cord 812 Phaeton

1926 Wills Sainte Claire T-6

1930 Cord L-29 Cabriolet

The next building was dedicated to the Pierce-Arrow Motor Car Company. Turns out these vehicles were also made in western New York. This time in Buffalo between 1901 and 1938 - again way before my time! They did make some outstanding vehicles and even a few bicycles.

1917 Pierce-Arrow Model R8 Truck

1934 Pierce-Arrow Silver Arrow

Just across the street is the 20’s to 40’s Gallery. It is a smaller building but it does have two floors of vehicles and had some pretty neat models to check out. Many of them seemed to have a more outdoorsy theme with a canoe on a roof rack or towing a small travel trailer and many of them seemed to have the real wood side panels unlike the fake wood one of the station wagons my dad owned over the years.

1942 Chrysler Town and Country

1947 Dufrene 14 foot Camping Trailer

1948 Ford Super Deluxe Woodie Wagon

1947 DeSoto 9 Passenger Suburban

We still had a few more buildings to work our way through but we cut out to our more humble car to have lunch before continuing. Once back inside, we head to the rather large building dedicated to the Ford Model A. Built in 2013, it replicates the look of a 1928 Ford dealership. It is a rather large building and has quite a few displays besides all of the cars. We found the Model A horn collection to be impressive and we had to push the button to make one of them make that classic sound. After watching the introductory video, we headed in to see the cars.

Ford Exhibit

Model A Horns

Parts Counter

I hadn’t realized just how many different Model A’s were produced in the 4 year time span from 1927 to 1931. Obviously there are a great deal of very dedicated people that take these cars very seriously even today.

1929 Ford Model A Business Coupe

1930 Ford Model A Deluxe Roadster

1931  Ford Model A Deluxe Pickup

There was one whole corner of the building that was receiving some sort of renovation so it was closed off and many of the nearby cars were covered in plastic to prevent them from getting dirty. But there was still plenty to see. The handmade wrought iron roadster was very unique and looked like it must have been a great deal of work to create. One section of the building had all sorts of utility versions of the Model A. This is a very comprehensive display dedicated to just one vehicle.

1931 Ford Model A Wrought Iron Roadster

1931 Ford Model AA Paddy Wagon

1928 Ford Model AA Fire Truck

Our last building for on the museum grounds is all about the Cadillac brand. There were some outstanding vehicles on display here.

Entering Cadillac Exhibit

1956 Cadillac Eldorado Seville

1958 Cadillac Fleetwood Sedan

1927 LaSalle 5 Passenger Sedan

1933 Cadillac Fleetwood Convertible

Fin of 1961 Cadillac Four Door Hardtop

1962 Cadillac Convertible

As we headed back through the museum to make our way out, we spent a little more time exploring some of the areas we might have rushed through earlier. We were quite impressed with the Gilmore Museum and felt it was definitely a must see if you are in this part of Michigan or far from Kalamazoo.

1930 Packard 745 Victoria Coupe

It was only midafternoon and we wanted to do something else in this part of Michigan. We discovered that Bells Brewery in Kalamazoo offers tours. We checked online at lunch and found they had availability for the 3 o’clock tour and signed up. We made the drive from the car museum and found the brewery in the heart of town. It looked like an eclectic type of place based on the artwork outside the building.

Art Outside Bells Brewery in Kalamazoo

This place was quite busy but we finally got the bartender’s attention long enough to ask where the tour starts. We were directed to a long hallway between two rooms and waited there. It wasn’t too crowded here with only a few of the tables occupied. After a couple minutes, a guy from a few tables down asked if we were here for a brewery tour. Turns out he had only checked the number of people expected late last night and wasn’t aware there were two more. We sat down with the other couple and introduced ourselves while the guide went to grab us a couple of beers. We got a history of this brewery and how it is now under the same family as New Belgium Brewery which we toured in both Fort Collins Colorado and Asheville North Carolina. Next we head off into the inner workings of this downtown brewery.

Stainless Steel Kettles

This is a very small facility that had expanded as much as it could over the years before opening a larger and newer plant in Comstock, east of here. Tours at that plant are only offered on Saturday. It was still interesting to see this place and sample some of the beers they offer. After the tour, we headed into the bar and got a couple of pints of our newfound knowledge and enjoyed the old building charm.

Brewing Beer

Nice Stained Glass in Bar

We still hadn’t taken the opportunity to visit downtown Battle Creek. This place is somewhat famous for being the home of the Kellogg Company. I remember reading about it as a kid if you count reading the location my cereal was produced from my box of corn flakes. I likely even sent some box tops to their address to get some free trinket. It only took me over 50 years to actually visit. They don’t offer tours of the plant but they do have a small museum in downtown. We felt inclined to watch a Jerry Seinfeld movie from 2024 called “Unfrosted” which chronicled the birth of the Pop-Tart in 1964 and heavily features Battle Creek. It didn’t seem like a movie we would have picked other than our being here in town.

Kellogg Headquarters

Tony Says They're Great

The museum was unstaffed and small but was stuffed with all sorts of information and old advertising about the birth of the Kellogg Company and corn flakes as well as the founding of the Post Company which first introduced Grape Nuts in 1897.

How to Make Corn Flakes

Old Post Cereal Display

We ended up spending a fair amount of time reading the displays and reliving a portion of our childhood.

Kellogg Company Timeline

Snap, Crackle and Pop (or the sounds my body makes)

After finishing up the museum, we headed into over to a nearby park to find a geocache that had been placed in January of this year but still had not been found. We enjoyed a walk in the park and past the Kellogg Community College campus before finding the cache for the First to Find honors.

Our next destination for the day was up to Lansing to visit the state capitol building. It was a bit of a drive but was closer to this stop than our next one so we head the 50 miles northeast of camp. After finding parking on a side street, we walk over to the capitol only to struggle with where to enter as a visitor. We eventually found an entrance that worked although we were on the wrong end of the building for the tour. The guard directed us to the main visitor entrance where the tours would begin and discovered our problem with finding the proper entrance. We were walking the outside of the building at street level and there was a walkway one level up that we had missed.

Michigan State House

Main Visitor Hall

When the tour began, there were just 6 of us and the very knowledgeable docent. We were given the history of the various capital buildings before this one became the current state house. There have been several additions over the years and many of the larger buildings surrounding the capital now house various functions like the state supreme courts and the governor’s office.

Hallway

Fancy Lamp

The center dome is around 200 feet overhead and quite impressive. But when the building was being constructed in the 1870’s, the budget was tight and there were a fair number of details that were made with steel and then faux painted to look like other materials. The governor’s office is nice but largely ceremonial in nature.

Dome High Above

Governor's Office

There are multiple floors to explore and paintings of the past governors line the walls below the dome. Our docent has lots of interesting stories regarding the past state leaders and their portraits.

Former Governor Portraits

Closer to the Dome

The house and senate were not currently in session so we could safely enter the two chambers. The docent had more to say about the rooms and furnishings. The state Supreme Court room is also ceremonial with just one case heard here each year.

House Chambers

State Supreme Court

Senate Chambers

After the tour was over, we wandered around to check out some of the other areas not part of the formal tour. A fair amount of construction was taking place but for the most part we could get to the places we were told to check out - like the view to the east from one set of windows.

Near the Dome

Looking Out State House Window to the East

Elaborate Scaffolding for Workers

We managed to exit the building from the preferred door and made our way back to the car. We were glad we made it to the capital.

Another State House Shot

Fountain

We had some time left before dinner and the county to the north of Lansing needed to have a geocache found so we drove the short distance to Granger Meadows Park. It looked like a nice place with quite a few trails and geocaches to find. However as we parked for the first hide, we saw some dark clouds moving in. By the time we repositioned to the next set of caches, the wind picked up and we had to bail after it started to pour on us. We accomplished the mission but didn’t get to fully enjoy the park.

View from Sledding Hill at Granger Meadows Park

It was a short but fun stop in Battle Creek Michigan. Our next stop will take us northeast past Lansing to Bay City which sits in the web of “the thumb” when describing the state as a mitten like so many do.