Skip to main content

Great Lakes Road Trip Day 2; Hunting memory lane in western Metro Detroit and Greenfield Village

The second day of the trip was spent locally with some family.  The day started out with a trip down M-5 to find my Grand Parents house off of Grand River Avenue which was once US 16.











Specifically my Grand Parents lived off of Grand River Avenue in Redford.  I want to say they bought their house back in the 1950s or 1960s but the exact date eludes me.  I remember actually walking to the grocery store and McDonald's with my Grand Parents when the neighborhood was still decent.  A lot of the blight that has taken over Detroit really has migrated northwest on Grand River, there was essentially almost no activity or people moving about.






I had some family members with me who wanted to look at old houses that they lived in decades ago.  This involved crossing back over Telegraph Road on 6 Mile to return to Grand River Avenue.  I liked the Michigan Left diagram on this guide sign in particular.


I took Grand River Avenue on M-5 down to the M-39 on the Southfield Freeway.  I haven't been on the Southfield Freeway since maybe 1990 and really it didn't look any different than it did back in that era.  The interchange with I-96 always was something that was amusing to me given how complex the design was.  I jumped off on Michigan Avenue/US 12 in Dearborn and headed over to the Henry Ford.















I haven't been to The Henry Ford since the mid-1980s and it was nice to see a museum about engineering that is this high in quality.  The irony for me is that I've found so many of the buildings and machinery rotting away in mining camps out west that was fully operational in Greenfield Village, it was a little of surreal site for me.  I really enjoyed some of the Edison displays and the rail features most out of everything we went to see.




































On the way back north to I took US 12 west on Michigan Avenue, US 24 north on Telegraph, and I-96/I-275.  I had to make a stop in Farmington Hills to drop off a family member which didn't help with traffic but at least allowed me an opportunity to take a picture of the I-696 "Ends" shield and placard. 






Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Dillon Road

Dillon Road is a 34.2-mile highway located in northern Coachella Valley of Riverside County, California.  Dillon Road begins at Avenue 48 on the outskirts of Indio and ends to the west at California State Route 62 near San Gorgonio Pass.  Dillon Road was developed the 1930s as a construction road for the Colorado River Aqueduct.  Dillon Road serves as a northern bypass to much of the development of Coachella Valley.  Dillon Road is known for it's frequent dips and spectacular views of San Gorgonio Pass.   Part 1; the history of Dillon Road Dillon Road was constructed as a haul road for the Colorado River Aqueduct through Coachella Valley.  The Colorado River Aqueduct spans 242 miles from Parker Dam on the Colorado River west to Lake Mathews near Corona.  Construction of the Colorado River Aqueduct began during January 1933 near Thousand Palms and was made functional on January 7, 1939.  West of Berdoo Canyon Road the alignment of Dillon Road is largely concurrent with the Colorado

Oldtown Toll Bridge - Maryland and West Virginia

  The Oldtown Toll Bridge linking Oldtown, Maryland over the Potomac River with neighboring Green Spring, West Virginia is only one of a few truly privately owned toll bridges located in the United States. It's a simple bridge by design, as the 318 foot long Oldtown Toll Bridge is a low water bridge. Low water bridges are designed to allow water to safely and efficiently flow over the bridge deck. Additionally, a dozen concrete pedestals have been secured in the Potomac River in order to support the bridge and wooden deck. The bridge was constructed in 1937 when a gentleman by the name of Mr. Carpenter obtained the proper permits to build the Bridge through an Act of Congress. This was a blessing for residents, especially on the West Virginia side of the Potomac River, as it saved motorists commuting to Cumberland an hour in travel time. Using Mr. Carpenter's blueprints, the Army Corp of Engineers and a number of local laborers constructed the bridge and it remained under the

Tehachapi-Willow Springs Road

Tehachapi-Willow Springs Road is an approximately 21-mile highway located in southeast Kern County.  Tehachapi-Willow Springs Road begins at Tehachapi Boulevard (former US Route 466) in Tehachapi and crosses the Tehachapi Mountains via the 4,820-foot-high Oak Creek Pass.  Tehachapi-Willow Springs Road enters Antelope Valley of the wider Mojave Desert and passes by the historic stage station of Willow Springs to a southern terminus at Rosamond Boulevard.  Tehachapi-Willow Springs Road has historic ties to the Havilah-Los Angeles Road and Stockton-Los Angeles Road due to the once reliable presence of water at Willow Springs. Part 1; the history of Tehachapi-Willow Springs Road Oak Creek Pass and Willow Springs were known to the local tribes of the Tehachapi Mountains for generations.  The first documented European crossing of Oak Creek Pass was during 1776 as part of an expedition by Francisco Garces.  Oak Creek Pass is as used again by John C. Fremont during an 1844-1845 expedition to e