Mike's Birthday Travels!

August 4, 2012

"Red Barns Spectacular" Gilmore Car Show

It was an early start for the day as we headed for the Gilmore Car Museum in Hickory Corners, Michigan. It was the “Red Barns Spectacular” Car Show and Swap Meet, my husband was very excited to go. The show was expected to draw around 1,000 cars. Besides the car show, the museum is also included with admission costs ($9/adult). The museum includes six buildings with all sorts of cars including:  Pierce-Arrow, Tucker, and Franklin just to name a few. Currently, there are additional buildings under construction. The facility is open from 9-5 daily and food is available on-site. Per the Michigan Travel Ideas Magazine 2012, the Gilmore Car Museum ranks #1 in the “10 Great Historic Auto Sites” column.

We headed back to Battle Creek for a very late lunch. We decided to check out the #7 ranked BBQ place in Michigan – Hogzilla BBQ Pit! We decided to opt for the lunch buffet ($9.99/person) so we could sample a little bit of everything. The meat was very smoky flavored and very lean. The BBQ sauce was spicy, kind of like the “Texas” type that some other BBQ places have. The mac & cheese was decent (good flavor and texture) – I am not a huge mac & cheese fan. I was disappointed in the corn bread; it was a bit blah and a bit over cooked. The baked beans, coleslaw, potato salad and spaghetti were all good. The owner of the establishment is very friendly and enjoyed talking about his business and the clients that he’s had.

Honolulu House

As we continued our trek home we stopped by Marshall. We had been to Marshall in the past, but it was in the early spring and the fountain downtown was not running. This time we were able to see the fountain in action and we also visited the historical Honolulu House. The Honolulu House tour was $5/adult and they start the tour whenever people show up. Photography is not allowed inside of the home. Our tour lasted probably about an hour. The tour is not really that formatted, so you can ask questions whenever you want. If you want more information on something the guides will share all they know, which could extend the length of your tour. There are many other historical homes in the area around the fountain. There are walking maps available at the Honolulu House.

Our last stop on the way home was Jackson. “The Parlour” is an excellent ice cream shop that has been serving since 1944!  The portions are very large – the banana split has six scoops of ice cream! They also serve food items, but we have only ever gotten the ice cream.