My Bride and I like to visit museums, I know for a fact that I just can lose myself wandering around and some times we even rack up some points on her “fit-bit watch.” There was and is a unique museum that I have wanted to visit for ages, and recently I heard that the people that own the building, want to tear everything down and rebuild, with no concern for the museum.  I am talking about Marvin’s Marvelous Mechanical Museum, which is one man’s interest and collection of all types of mechanical amusements, and they all work. In 1932 Sam Yagoda and his wife, opened their first family friendly drug store and in 1937 bought a larger store, and still in business and run by there son Marvin.  The museum outgrew the store and is now housed in a 5,000 square foot building with vintage coin-operated machines, from the earliest to brand new incarnations.  Everywhere you look there is chachkas, on the ceilings, the walls, in nooks, even a child size carousel.  The big draw is that they cater birthday parties for children, and the parents probably have as much fun as we did.  You can even take selfies, in the original setting with a photo booth.  And did I mention that admission is free, and they are open every day.  After so much entertainment, I wanted a hot Pastrami on Twice-baked Corn Rye and a Selzer.  So, you will get a photo of the ongepatchkit instead.

Another day, we went to Greenfield Village to take our daily walk.  Greenfield Village is part of “The Henry Ford” which when I was a kid there was Greenfield Village and the Henry Ford Museum, which is now the Museum of American Innovation. The two of them on together must be among the top ten museums and tourist destinations in the country.  When I was a kid, we would ride our bikes from Detroit to the grounds and tour one of the two museums each trip.  It got to the point where I could have become a docent there. Now my Bride and I have year-round passes and we probably get there at least once a month for a date.  I mean there is eighty acres of a grand outdoor museum, with a steam-engine train ride around the circumference, a steamboat on their own lake, and even rides on Model T cars, that zip around the streets.  Henry Ford bought historic buildings of all types, had them meticulously taken apart and rebuilt on the streets of his village.  Thomas Edison’s Menlo Park laboratory and grounds from New Jersey, along with his laboratory from Fort Myers, Florida.  The Wright Brothers Bicycle Shop, the homes of writers, poets, musicians, schools, machine shops, and artisan shops; there is even a working farm.   

Since the weather was great, we wanted to walk outside, as the Village is suspended during the winter months.  They are still adding to the collection of structures, as a few years ago they added the outdoor Detroit Central Market, and then they recently added a new restaurant adjacent to the market called Stand 44, where the celebrated local huckster Mary Judge sold her goods.  My Bride had the Grilled Chicken Salad with Romaine lettuce, grape tomatoes, cucumbers, garbanzo beans, pickled red onion, Kalamata olives, and a creamy Asiago dressing. I had a Shaved Roast Beef, Jack horseradish cheese, arugula, roasted red peppers, horseradish sauce on an onion roll. Everything in the restaurant was recyclable.  We also had cans of wine, which I think was my first ever and both made by Leelanau Cellars in Michigan.  My Bride had the Leelanau Cellars Summer Sunset Rose Bubbly MI NV “this semi-sweet Rosé seamlessly merges strawberry, melon and rose flavors for an airy taste of summer in a bright fizzy finish.”  While I had the Leelanau Cellars Great Lakes Red Bubbly MI NV “the concord grape you grew up with in its pure, rich flavor blended into a sweet, vibrant and juicy red wine all wrapped up in a delightfully carbonated bubbly drink.”  These wines are made for quaffing, and I couldn’t finish my selection.  I hope that the next time I encounter a can of wine, it will be more craft-like and less like soda-pop.