Schmap Detroit Motor City Flavor

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Detroit - Motor City Flavor
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For the adventurous, the great industrial underbelly of America is displayed at Ford Motor Company's Rouge Complex, where the United Auto Workers fought its seminal battles. Tours of this sprawling automobile and steel factory are available. Not far away is Zug Island, where open flames and coal slags and screeching machinery create an industrial hell on earth. You can get a tour here too if you are brave enough to set foot on the island. The best way to get a real flavor of the Motor City is by car - drive up Woodward Avenue from Six Mile Road in Detroit toward Pontiac. The first mile is the oldest paved highway in the United States. At the edge of the city is the Michigan State Fairgrounds. North of Eight Mile Road, the stretch is the site of the Woodward Dream Cruise every August. During the rest of the year, you can still see the legacy of the automobile cruising culture, with bars and restaurants and stores abounding. Great stops along or just off the strip are Ferndale's fashionable downtown, the Detroit Zoo, trendy downtown Royal Oak, downtown Birmingham, and the Cranbrook Institute of Arts. Following Jefferson Avenue from downtown to Lake St. Clair is the trip locals often take to relax. Take Jefferson east from downtown and stop at Belle Isle, one of the greatest free attractions in any city. Drive around the island, enjoy the views, and then park your car near the Children's Zoo and visit the wonderful old aquarium, conservatory and gardens. Continue east on Jefferson, past the grand old and new riverfront high-rises, through an area of blight and renewal, and gape as you exit the city and enter the Grosse Pointes—it is one of the most dramatic urban-to-suburban transitions anywhere. Eventually Jefferson Avenue reaches Lake St. Clair and becomes Lakeshore Drive, a picturesque boulevard along the lake with awesome mansions. At the north end of Lakeshore Drive is the Edsel & Eleanor Ford House, open for tours of the legendary auto magnate's estate. If you like boats, continue a couple miles further along the lake and you will come to St. Clair Shores and its Marina Mile. Here thousands of pleasure craft are anchored. Lake St. Clair is a fishing paradise. You can get a charter boat at Bray's Charters in Detroit, Second Heaven Charters in Warren, or various locations in the St. Clair Shores marina complexes.

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Detroit Zoo

Paradise for Animal Lovers

8450 West Ten Mile Rd
Detroit, MI 48068
United States
+1 248 398 0903
http://www.detroitzoo.org

The Detroit Zoological Park is one of the nation's oldest and most stately zoos. Its huge main campus is located on land situated in the suburb of Huntington Woods but owned by the city of Detroit. Renovations of many of the zoo's older buildings and new exhibits have modernized the zoo. Popular exhibits include the new Amphibiville, home of the National Amphibian Conservation Center, a Wildlife Interpretive Center and adjacent butterfly/hummingbird gallery, a chimpanzee exhibit, a penguinarium and a model farm. The grounds are large and a free train is often crowded in summer. Admission: $11 Adults, $9 Seniors (62+), $7 Children (2-12).

Review © 2007, Wcities

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Detroit Zoo photo by Behind My Blue Eyes ~~ Stevie Exxxx

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Detroit Zoo photo by morenojohn81@yahoo.n

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Edsel & Eleanor Ford House

Elegant Lake-Shore Mansion 1100 Lake Shore Road
Detroit, MI 48236
United States
+1 313 884 4222
http://www.fordhouse.org The manor of automobile magnate Edsel Ford and his wife is not much bigger than many of the mansions in the Grosse Pointes, but it is the only one that is open to the general public. The 87-acre estate on the shores of Lake St. Clair is a peaceful hideaway, and the beautifully landscaped grounds are open to visitors. The house was designed by the renowned architect Albert Kahn and features original paintings by Matisse, Cezanne and others. Other decorative arts and fine furnishings abound. Guided tours offer a good history lesson. Admission for a guided house tour is $7 for adults, $6 for seniors, and $5 for children (6-12).

Review © 2007, Wcities

Photo: Luigi Giordano

Ford Rouge Factory Tour

Great American Manufacturing 20900 Oakwood Blvd
Detroit, MI 48124
United States
+1 313 982 6001
http://www.thehenryford.org/ro... There are five separate elements to this tour. All Historic Driving Tours begin on the historic grounds of The Henry Ford. Buses will transport you for a narrated driving tour past famous landmarks and behind the scenes of this massive manufacturing complex. At the Rare Historic Footage Viewing learn about the triumphs and tragedies surrounding the Rouge, much of it told through rare, never-before-seen historic footage. The Virtual Reality Experience will provide you with a 360-degree look at how automobiles are made! On the Observation Deck Tour view the world's largest living roof from the 80-foot-high Observation Deck. Lastly, at the Assembly Plant Walking Tour see where the new Ford F-150s are assembled in a new lean and flexible manufacturing plant. Visitors will have the opportunity to view the final assembly process from an elevated walkway. Note that actual vehicle production will vary on a daily basis and is based on vehicle production needs, which is controlled by Ford Motor Company.

Review © 2007, Wcities

Photo: jeffwilcox
Photo: jeffwilcox
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Michigan State Fair

Oldest State Fair in the Nation 1120 West State Fair Avenue
(8 Mile Road and Woodward Avenue)
Detroit, MI 48203
United States
+1 313 369 8250
http://www.michigan.gov/mistat... The oldest state fair in the United States began in 1849. Since 1905, it has been held at the permanent fairgrounds on the edge of Detroit. It would be hard to find a more compelling encounter between rural and urban culture. Hog farmers anxiously prepare their prize pigs for judging while inner-city kids stroll the midway. Major musical acts perform nightly and judging of animals from horses to pigeons takes place almost continually, while sack races and husband-calling contests are staged. Seek out the small animal house and marvel at the variety of roosters, rabbits, pigeons and other birds and fowl on display.

Review © 2007, Wcities

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Royal Oak

Detroit
United States
In the southern part of the county, a vibrant restaurant and nightclub scene has sprung up in once-stodgy Royal Oak. The nightlife has even attracted its share of celebrities--and celebrity crimes; Eminem was arrested here in 2000 on charges of gun possession. The city has also been home to Meg White of the White Stripes and someone with a different sort of fame: Dr. Jack Kevorkian.

Review © 2007, Wcities

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Woodward Dream Cruise

Wild Nostalgic Car Cruise Woodward Avenue
Detroit, MI
United States
http://www.woodwarddreamcruise... This street celebration of '50s and '60s automobile culture has grown in a few short years into the world's largest rolling car show. Free to all visitors, it attracts close to two million people a year, who line Woodward Avenue for 16 miles through nine host cities watching classic and not-so-classic cars drive by. People dress in bobby socks and poodle skirts and leather jackets, and music of the era is everywhere. Parades, swap meets, sock hops, picnics and Elvis impersonators abound. The cruise officially begins August 18th but it unofficially begins the week before.

Review © 2007, Wcities

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