When you really want to get to know a city, you visit it’s museum. So that’s just what we did. I spent the afternoon hanging out with my friends Kim, Kayla, Becca and Joani!
The Grand Rapids Museum is a blend of history and interactive games. It’s so cool!
Standing in the entrance to the exhibit, I imagined that I was standing in historic downtown Grand Rapids. Instead of the laughter of kids and flashes of cameras, I heard wagons rattling down the street, the sound of feet walking down the boarded sidewalk. The smell of dirt permeated the air. Wooden signs for the Apothocary & General store beckoned shoppers to their store….
The exhibits were so well done that It was like walking back into time. We sat “patiently” on wooden benches waiting for the train. Browsed the shops looking for the perfect fan, and tried out the newest invention- A bike.
When we left the Historic Grand Rapids, we made our way to the toy exhibit. Toys from the early 1900s up until present was displayed. It was fun to see the toys we grew up with!
Scattered throughout the museum were lifesize classic games that you could play! Games of Battleship. Yatzee. Connect 4. Tic Tac Toe. Lincoln Logs. SO much fun!!! Kim and Becca went head to head in a game of battleship. It was fun to watch them! I tried out the spinning chair. Whew! It felt like you were falling event though it was just going in circles. It wasn’t all just games and toys. They had a lifesize dinosaur skeleton named Finny hanging from ceiling and an interactive station to learn all about Finny. The exhibit of Egypt was fun as well.
Our final adventure was the Carousel and the Blue Bridge! The carousel was so much fun! It’s about 90 years old give or take and STILL in working order! Such beautiful craftmanship! If only the carved animals could talk, what amazing stories they would have. I imagine there will be tales of love, hope, loss, friendship and laughter…
The BLUE Bridge! – We declared it to be Famous for being blue. 🙂 But the history of it is that used to be a railroad bridge but was soon converted into a pedestrian bridge. The bridge crosses the Grand River.
For more information, you can click here: Grand Rapids Museum
I hope you enjoyed these highlights! There is so many more things to see and do at this museum. I recommend you come and check it out ! Kids and Adults will enjoy it! The entire afternoon was full of fun and laughter. I throughly enjoyed myself and I know that it will be a place I will bring my kids someday. It was the PERFECT way to spend my first day in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Reflections From My Bookshelves 
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