Returning to the USA to start the remainder of our Great Lakes tour stops

Our fourth day of the cruise meant we had finished all of our Canadian port stops and would now visit towns solely in the USA. Our first USA stop was the city of Detroit, Michigan and as a result of arriving from outside the country, everyone was required to visit the local customs office. If you weren't going on a Viking tour today, you were assigned the "independent group" which met at 9:15AM on the pier for a 9:20AM departure via shuttle bus to the US CBP office. Those who did book tours had the time built in to their excursion so that the same tour bus being used on the tour could take your group to the customs office first before heading straight on with the normal tour. This is one instance then in which you would need to carry your passport with you on the tour. 

For those who did not wish to book a tour, Viking Cruises also offered a complimentary shuttle bus service from the port to the Campus Martius Park and back again. The shuttle service ran from 9:15AM to 12:30PM as we had a 1PM ship departure. 

The two included tour options for today were The Henry Ford Museum of Innovation and The Ford Rouge Factory. We lamented about not being able to visit both since it was such a short port time. If you are visiting the city without being limited to a port schedule, you can check out the package option of booking both with a museum provided shuttle to get back and forth. The Henry Ford Museum of Innovation is listed as moderate and lasts four hours. The Ford Rouge Factory is also labeled as moderate and lasts three hours and thirty minutes. The paid options were Iridescent Art of Detroit's Landmarks and Edsel & Eleanor Ford House. The Henry Ford Museum of Innovation was definitely the most popular choice with 6 of today's 11 tour groups/buses allocated for it. All tours required the use of the QuietVox boxes. 

We chose to book The Henry Ford Museum of Innovation and had an 8:50AM meet up time. The customs process was very efficient with dedicated parking for tour buses and personnel keeping the flow of people organized preventing delays at the counters and only allowing small groups in at a time to keep people from standing in line too long. I was back on the bus waiting for the rest of our tour group to finish by 9:15AM. Now if only they could teach their wisdom and efficiency to the grocery checkout lines. 

Admission to the museum was included with the tour. Our tour guide was very informative, funny, and engaging with the group. She had tons of stories as we drove past some Detroit landmarks. Then she played a medley of her favorite motown hits for everyone to sing along. Our time in the museum under her guidance gave us a lot of great knowledge and stories as she escorted us to various exhibits. After covering much of the museum, she gave us the option to stick with her or explore on our own. We really appreciated having the choice when on excursions because there is always something that we are sad to have missed or wish to spend more time checking out. Several of the group chose to go off on their own so she gave us a time to meet back at the entrance. I was impressed with how I could still hear her commentary through the QuietVox even as we moved further from her to explore. This also came in handy when she encouraged everyone to stop and use the restrooms before she started our tour of the museum and I ended up hearing the first 10 minutes of the tour while waiting to clear the women's restroom line!

While at first thought, you might be inclined to pass on visiting The Henry Ford Museum of Innovation because you are not interested in cars, I highly suggest you visit the museum anyway. While a small portion is dedicated to the history of Ford and the progression to the cars you see on the road today, you could spend hours touring the various exhibits. While educational, it is also engaging and entertaining so your kids will be just as enthralled as you. There are several hands on exhibits to hold attention spans of all lengths and ages.

With our guide we viewed historic presidential limos, the evolution of steam engines, innovations in the use of electricity and more. On our own, we browsed the limited time exhibit dedicated to Julia Child's life and career (fascinating for any foodie like myself), the exhibit through the decades, and the room full of Hallmark Christmas ornaments.

The Sunshine Special presidential limo used by Franklin Roosevelt named because he liked to ride in it with the top down. It also featured a back that opened up so they could push in his wheelchair yet conceal it once in public.

Dad! Act like you're a superhero stopping a speeding train!

The origin of the "What in the Sam Hill?!" phrase:

What first class looked like on that first flight to Hawaii:

While our visit to Kitty Hawk, NC in 2019 enabled us to walk the true distance and location of the Wright Brothers' first flight, this museum had a line and plaque along the floor to show the same distance. 

The chair President Lincoln was sitting in when he was assassinated. Our guide told us that fibers were tested from the dark spot at the top to confirm that it is a blood stain.

My bologna has a first name:

I have a couple friends who love collecting the Hallmark ornaments every year. This was just one set of display cases. They were organized some by decades of release and others by category like all TV show themed or all toys themed.

The Julia Child: A Recipe For Life exhibit was great to walk through with many pictures, quotes, video clips, and an interactive TV set where you could pose and pretend like you were hosting a cooking show. The real video cameras displayed your image on the TV in front of the counter. A museum employee was on hand there to take pictures for everyone and encouraged us to get involved in using the props provided.

If you stood in front of this giant replica of Julia's cookbook long enough, the graphics would make it look like the pages were being flipped.

The cooking show set:

Any moment now The Food Network will be calling to offer us our own show. Our plastic fish was so fresh it flew out of the pan while we were pretending to cook it!

We discovered a simulator where you could mimic driving a racecar. It was a small extra cost but unfortunately the next available time slot was for 15 minutes after our meeting time. If this is something you'd like to try, bypass everything else and get signed up first before taking the time to browse the other exhibits.