OT What to do in Michigan

John B. · Mar 14, 2016

This Fall my wife and I are headed to St. Joseph Michigan for a wedding. What is there to do in that area?

Doesn't have to be tractor related. I would like to do some outdoor activities.

We'll be coming from the St. Louis Mo area.

johnlobb · Mar 14, 2016

Whatever you do, don't go north and cross the St. Joseph river into Benton Harbor. Benton Harbor is worse than Detroit..

wisbaker · Mar 14, 2016

You'll find a lot of antique shops along the lake shore as this is an area a lot of folks from Chicago have summer cottages or condos in. Just over the Indiana line there is a festival park that has steam engines and antique tractors, if you're there on a weekend they have things going on it's worth the trip, we took my dad there on fathers day or his birthday (4th of July weekend) and rode the steam train, part of their track loops back into Michigan. There are winerys in the area and a lot of them have tours, I'd recommend the folks that do Blue Heron Wine. South Bend isn't that far and their is a Studebaker museum there.

Ivan in Mich · Mar 14, 2016

There is a tractor show in South Haven in Sept

el6147 · Mar 14, 2016

http://michiganflywheelers.org/ here is the South Haven show.

RayP(MI) · Mar 14, 2016

Gilmore car museum. Fantastic collection, beautifully presented. Google them. They do some farm weekends as well.

Steve A W · Mar 14, 2016

Wisbaker
Were you talking about Heston Steam museum?
Here's a link. It's not too far from St Joe.
I've been going there for over fifty years!

Steve A W
Heston

K Effective · Mar 14, 2016

John B- how about some hints? Dates- how late in Fall? Ages and activity levels? Just you two or kids/grandkids,etc. That kind of stuff. It's my hometown, so I can try to help.

And for johnlobb, you may not recognize the place if you haven't been here lately...

unc · Mar 14, 2016

(quoted from post at 15:20:16 03/14/16) Whatever you do, don't go north and cross the St. Joseph river into Benton Harbor. Benton Harbor is worse than Detroit..

When we were kids in the 60's we went to Benton Harbour, stayed at the House of David, and went and bought Heathkits the next day. Good memory .unc

matt fleisher · Mar 14, 2016

St. Joesph has Lake Michigan wonderful beach. Beautiful wine country tours and Baroda and Bridgman have there own brewery's. Gilmore museum is a must see.. Silver beach carousel many many more things to do! Google St Joesph Mi.

Paul from MI · Mar 14, 2016

Lots of wineries around PawPaw, MI. The Air Museum in Kalamazoo, MI is really neat. Plenty of fruit farms in the area, some have tours. Warren Dunes park is neat too.

hillbilly2 · Mar 14, 2016

About 45 minutes up the lakeshore is Saugatuc Dune rides. Google to see more about them. It is definetly worth doing. I'm in South Haven about half hour north of St. Joe. Benton Harbor isn't as bad as it used to be but it is still a rough place.

hillbilly2 · Mar 14, 2016

If you are there Sept 8-11 Flywheelers is a nice tractor show in South Haven.

Spudm · Mar 14, 2016

Benton Harbor is home to Harbor Shores Senior PGA golf championship and is headquarters for Whirlpool corporation. St.Joe is a little town across the river along the lakeshore of Lake Michigan. It's a tourist attraction on the weekends for travelers. Google "St. Joe Today" for a calendar of events going on in the area.

D beatty · Mar 14, 2016

Sounds like he is talking about the Heston Steam museum. It makes a loop just over the Michigan line and back into Indiana. Their big show is over the Labor Day weekend. I live about 10 miles southeast of show.

JMS/.MN · Mar 14, 2016

google Michigan Tourism Bureau. States typically have free tourism guides that they"ll send out. Lots of hits on that google.

wisbaker · Mar 14, 2016

Can't remember the name, found out about it on the web. My dad lived in Bridgman for the last 15 years of his life. One time we were coming to visit from Wisconsin and my brother and I took him to the steam Museum, he seemed to enjoy it but his health had gone down hill and he wasn't big on walking or being out in the heat. It was either Father's day or his Birthday which was July 5th. The more I think about it it was his Birthday and we took him to the museum as a gift and also to try to get him out and doing something. He stopped doing things and that's kind of what finished him off. I remember they had a uniflow engine working that day and wondering if it had Baker valve gear on it.

P I Pete · Mar 15, 2016

type in roadsideamerica.com in your search engine Pete

Al Baker(pumpman) · Mar 15, 2016

Slide up the lake shore north a little to Ludington. Beautiful beach, light house tours, State park with dunes on the water, and the Badger sailing to Wisconsin twice a day. Google Ludington and check it out.

JL Ray · Mar 15, 2016

John; It looks to me like you got some good advice. If you could tell us what week your in the area and for how long we could help more. I live south of Kazoo and have been to most of what has been listed and if I were to recommend a visit it would be Gilmore museum North east of Kazoo. I normal try to go on the week end they have a tractor show there. That way you see the tractors and the cars for 12 bucks a head.
If you wanted to drive farther north, Travis city is nice. Sleep Bear dunes are nice. If your in to road racing, Gingerman raceway in South Heaven in cool. I just love spending time in South Heaven.

INCase · Mar 15, 2016

lots of good suggestions below. You could head north a bit to South Haven. nice beaches there too. Holland a bit further north along the lake has some touristy stuff as well. Farming wise along the lake lots of orchards and vineyards. further east you'll see more flat grain country.

you could also run down US31 to south bend and visit the Oliver mansion (yes Oliver tractor family) and the adjoining Studebaker museum. both are nice.

If you are around on Sunday with nothing else to do you could walk around Hine's Implement salvage yard (Mishawaka, IN). you could walk around all day and not see everything. I would like to go in the next couple of weeks before the trees start leaving out as you'll miss about 1/2 of what's there otherwise. Unreal what they have. Mostly tractors but other junk as well. Wear your boots. only "open" Sunday and Mondays.

If you want to see Amish stuff you could head my way to Elkhart county Indiana and poke around there. note; most Amish places aren't open sundays (Amish Acres in Nappennee is) and places like our town roll the sidewalks up at noon on Saturday.

Mike M · Mar 15, 2016

DO NOT drink the water !

K Effective · Mar 15, 2016

(quoted from post at 12:10:19 03/15/16) DO NOT drink the water !

yeah, about that . different lake

OT What to do in Michigan

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