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Thursday, July 21, 2022
The drive to Ann Arbor was just over three hours. The further we go East the better the gas mileage we get. Why? Because of the lower speed limits and the increased traffic it’s impossible to go as fast as we did previously. There is a silver lining: we’re saving money on gas. Going slower isn’t too much of a deal for us because all of our destinations East of Milwaukee are much closer together.
We lost an hour during the drive. We’re finally back in East Coast time. It feels wonderful. We arrived in town too early to check into our hotel so we found an interesting place to have a leisurely lunch. We chose someplace we’d never been before: Mr. Kabob Xpress.
It’s a small chain of Mediterranean style restaurants that only seems to exist in this area. Anyone who’s ever been to a Chipotle would feel comfortable there. You walk beside a long counter and at each station they offer you several different options. We both got their “bowls”. The choices were for several kinds of humus, many different kinds of vegetables, grilled chicken or falafel balls, and some sort of dressing. We had fun choosing what to put in and we got exactly what we wanted. The result was great: it was very enjoyable. All together we got two bowls and one soda. When I saw them total it up to $30.00 I was more than a little shocked.
A couple of doors down there was a donut shop. We poked our heads in. They were serving Illy brand coffee, one of our favorites. Deborah got a latte. Some of the donuts looked interesting but with prices ranging from $3.50 to $4.50 per donut I declined to try any.
When we drove into our hotel we noticed a White Castle within walking distance. We hadn’t seen one of those in a very long time. Guess where we had dinner?
Friday, July 22, 2022
This morning we went to the Gerald R Ford Presidential Library and Museum. It’s located on the campus of the University of Michigan. The library is split between this site and the one in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where Ford was raised. This site is the smaller of the two. Admission was free.
The public portion of this site is really limited to displays presented in one large room. The room contained information on his boyhood, college education, law career, political adventures, and post presidential activities. We learned a few interesting things…
- Gerald R Ford was born Leslie Lynch King, Jr. He was renamed by his stepfather. Many years later he honored his step father by legally changing his name.
- He was a star high school and college football player.
- After graduating from the University of Michigan Ford wanted to attend Law School at Yale but was rejected. He was subsequently hired as the Yale assistant football coach and convinced the administration that he could coach and attend law school simultaneously. He graduated in 1937.
- He was recruited as a professional football player by The Green Bay Packers in 1935.
- He was a member of the seven member Warren Commission that investigated the death of JFK.
After the museum we went downtown to get some lunch at a well know local hotspot called Krazy Jim’s Blimpy Burger. Based on the posters on the wall it would appear that the restaurant has appeared on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives as well as Man vs. Food. As we waited in line we saw a poster espousing the proper way to order these burgers. It reminded us of the Seinfeld episode: The Soup Nazi.
Ordering was a little difficult because there is no formal menu. We listened carefully to what and how others ordered and figured out most of what was available. According to the instructions you must specify how many patties you want; each patty weighs 1.6 ounces and the minimum number you can order is two. We both got two patties, dressed with cheese and vegetables, and shared an order of onion rings. The burgers were pretty good but with all of the stuff on it we had trouble tasting the meat. If we were to go back we’d order at least three patties. The onion rings were home made and absolutely delicious. We washed it all down with Stewarts Key Lime soda. We’d never seen that before. It doesn’t actually contain any lime juice but it still tasted great.
Afterwards we walked around the downtown area. They were having an art fair. A large, multi-street area, was blocked off from traffic and booths were setup on both sides of the road. The fair extended for many blocks in several directions. We walked around for about 45 minutes before succumbing to the heat of the day.
Michigan is known for it Montmorency Cherries. These are tart cherries that were originally grown in France but are now grown all over the world – and especially Michigan. While strolling through the fair we stopped at a Cherry Republic store and checked out their wares. They had all kinds of cherry infused products and plenty of free samples. We walked out of the store with a bag of milk chocolate covered cherries. Yum!
Saturday, July 23, 2022
This morning we went to the University of Michigan Art Museum. It’s located on the campus of The University of Michigan downtown. Entry was free. The museum has a fairly nice collection on three floors that spans the Medieval period to the present day.
We found a few works from well known artists such as Picasso, Rodin, and Monet but most of the works were from minor artists or were unattributed. One room contained a few eclectic pieces that really appealed to us. There were two 19th century renaissance style marble statues, a portrait by Kehinde Wiley (he painted President Obama’s official portrait), and a minimalist piece by Jonathan Monk which just showed the letter “O” in a sentence where all of the other letters had been removed.
For lunch we drove to the suburbs to a restaurant called Grand Traverse Pies. They serve food but are known for the cherry pies. When we got there we noticed an interesting looking restaurant called Metzger’s German Restaurant. We checked out the menu and decided to go inside. We ordered a bratwurst plate, some cheese spaetzel, and a bowl of beer infused cheese soup. We enjoyed it immensely. Instead of getting dessert there we went next door and got a piece of cherry pie with crumb topping. The pie was very good but we thought that the cherry was a bit obscured. We bought a piece of plain cherry pie and a cherry/peach pie with crumb topping to take home.
Back downtown we went to the Kelsey Museum of Archeology, which was just down the street from the Art Museum. It, too, was free. When we entered we were told that the upstairs was closed for renovation. The downstairs area was really just one large room with artifacts mostly from ancient Mesopotamia, Parthia (Iran), Greece, and Egypt. Quite a few of the pieces from the Mesopotamian and Parthian displays were replicas of pieces from the British Museum. One or two of the pieces from each area were particularly interesting but most were just fairly small or fragments.
Back in our hotel we split the two pieces of pie for dinner. We found that the crumb topping really obscured the fruit flavor. The plain cherry pie was much more fruit forward.
Sunday, July 24, 2022
It was a rainy and overcast day. We decided to take the day off. Mostly we just hung out in our hotel room.
For dinner we went out to Genova Pizzeria. We could have gotten our usual pepperoni and onion for $14.00 or a pepperoni, sausage, and prosciutto for $13.25, so we went for the latter. It was pretty good, too. It was the closest thing we’ve had to New York pizza since we left Vegas.
Next door was Luca Pastry, an Italian style bakery with some really interesting stuff. We went home with a chocolate eclair and a half dozen rainbow cookies. The eclair was pretty good but really needed more vanilla. The cookies had a nice marzipan aftertaste but really needed more preserves. In spite of those issues we managed to finish them off.
Monday, July 25, 2022
This morning we went to Dearborn to the Henry Ford Museum complex. There were three options: The Museum, The Factory Tour, and Greenfield Village. We opted for the Museum and the Tour. The cost for the two was $95.00 including $9.00 for parking (are you freaking kidding me?).
One of the docents told us that Henry Ford liked to collect all sorts of things. One day his wife told him that he needed to get all that stuff out of the house – and that was the genesis of the museum. It really held one of the most eclectic collations we’ve ever seen.
The museum has a lot of different sections all containing lots of interesting artifacts. In addition to classic cars the sections included several presidential limousines, a collection of racing memorabilia, numerous planes from aerospace pioneers, Abraham Lincoln, Civil Rights, stage coaches and early railroad stock, home furnishings, old tractors, art glass, steam engines, and costumes from Disney movies. Here is a brief list of some of the most interesting…
- The chair that Abraham Lincoln was sitting in when he was shot.
- The bus where Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat.
- A travel trailer used by Charles Lindbergh. It was a gift from Henry Ford.
- The motorhome used by Charles Kuralt in the series, “On The Road”.
- The Ford Trimotor Airplane that Admiral Byrd used on his Antarctic expedition.
We took a break from the museum around 1:00 pm to eat lunch at the museum’s cafeteria so we could be ready to board a bus to the factory at 1:50 pm.
The bus took us about 20 minutes away to the Ford Rouge Factory, so called because it was built alongside the Rouge River. The factory, built between 1917 and 1928, was one of Ford’s grand ideas. He wanted a single place where he could take in raw materials, fabricate all of the parts needed, and assemble his cars.
Our tour started with a film about the history of the plant. Next we were treated to a high tech presentation on how cars are assembled. Afterwards we went up to an observation platform where we could see the entirety of the huge complex. Next we got to see cars being assembled on the actual factory floor.
We walked on a raised platform that took us around an active assembly line where Ford F-150 Trucks were being assembled. Initially we watched workers install trim pieces and center consoles. Further down the line we watched a robot install the rear window glass. It was fun to watch how it positioned the window using its laser beams. Further down the line we watched them install headlights, assemble doors, install tailgates, and perform final checks on the finished product.
The last stop was a small display with about a dozen classic cars including a 1954 Thunderbird and a 1965 Mustang.
We got back to the museum about an hour before closing time. We rushed about to see the few displays we hadn’t seen before.
Tuesday, July 26, 2022
We went back to Dearborn to see the Greenfield Village. Like everything Ford did it is larger than expected and contains an odd collection of things. The village is divided into several sections: Liberty Craftworks, Main Street, Edison at Work, and Porches and Parlors. There’s also a steam engine that circumnavigates the village, Model Ts you can ride in, and small vintage busses to take you around the village all at extra cost. The cost of entry for us was $79.00 including $9.00 for parking(!). We took in the entire village section by section.
We started out on Main Street. It contains a number of historic buildings that have been moved to the village. The most interesting ones were the Wright Cycle Shop and the Wright Home. Both belonged to the Wright Brothers and were moved from Dayton, OH. The cycle shop was setup just like it would have been and in the back was a workshop where the brothers built their airplanes.
Porches and Parlors also contains historic buildings. One of the buildings was the home of one of Ford’s favorite teachers. Another was an old tollhouse. The most interesting included houses belonging to Robert Frost and to Noah Webster.
Edison at work was basically a reproduction of a number of buildings from Menlo Park, NJ. In 1891 Henry Ford was employed by The Edison Illuminating Company of Detroit. The two men maintained a close working relationship and personal friendship throughout the rest of their lives. At one time Ford even hired Edison to do research on ways to make natural rubber.
Liberty Craftworks contains a number of old saw mills and cloth manufacturing mills. Most of these are reproductions of old New England mills. There’s even a working printing press. There’s also a number of craft houses that produce works that are sold in the stores. These include ceramics, and glass blowing. You can watch artisans create these pieces before your very eyes.