OK, once again, we got a few days behind! When you're vacationing, time passes differently. Although I don't leave all my concerns behind, I find this a very carefree lifestyle - with the only pressure is to make it to the breakfast room of the hotel in time for the free breakfast, or to get to the tourist spot with the most adventageous time strategy.
Monday, July 12, 2010 Henry Ford Museum
Russ woke up feeling a bit under-the-weather ("ill "for my French friends) so we didn't really get out of the hotel until after 12:00. We got some starkly discounted vouchers from the hotel for the 2 attractions we came here for: Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Villiage". So, bing advised that we could see the Museum in around 3 hours, and it was all indoors, we chose that to go to today.
I had expected to see a warehouse style museum with mainly cars - through the ages in this museum. Wow, what we got was so much more! There were some cars ... but I think that museum was at the Ford Rouge Factory Tour ... but there were collections of American Life here. I learned that Henry Ford liked to collect items, furniture, cars, and memorabilia that belonged to famous Americans. Those who were part of our history, and those who impacted our lives today.
So among the highlights for us were; the Weinermobile, Abraham Lincoln's rocking chair in which he was shot as he watched the play at Ford's Theatre, Reagan's Presidental Car, Eisenhower's Presidental Car, and THE bus that Rosa Parks sat on before she got arrested.. There were long showcases of memorablia that showed items from the ages - it was fun to see the items that we, the adults had. Pong anyone? 45's, record player in a box, Simon, the first personal computers and chairs that I had in school. The boys even enjoyed seeing things from their childhood, which started 10 years ago! Among them; a Gameboy and games.
There was a 50's livingroom playing "War of the Worlds" on the radio, and small theatres playing films/movies from the various eras.
The museum closes at 5:30, but we found that we still could have used more time to view every thing. We missed some important items like Mark Twain's desk, and . Perhaps the next time we come here?
I can only load up a few pictures here, so the rest will be on my facebook photos.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010 Greenfield Villiage
We heard that we should give ourselves a lot of time to walk around Greenfield Villiage as it is full of remarkable buildings. Not only did Henry Ford collect items that belonged to famous people, but also homes, and factories, and inns, and other buildings! He would have them, the actual building transported to this place to make as a museum. Although Henry Ford died in 1948, he thought ahead to leave this museum for future generations to learn about and to have to enjoy. so with that said, we was house that belonged to Ford himself, to Thomas Edison, to Daniel Webster (the dictionary guy), a farm that belonged to Harvey S. Firestone (the tire guy), and plantation owners homes, as well as slave cabins. (Just a side note - Firestone, Edison, and Ford were friends. I can see that their friendship works together with their invention) This place is considered living history, which means that the people in period costumes live the way they did back in that time. There were people cooking in the homes, and eating what they cooked. They farmed the way they farmed before all the machinery, and the vehicles were running all around these towns as they did in those days. We opted to walk all around, rather than ride one of the old time vehicles since the cost was a bit steep for us, but it did add to the ambiance of the place.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010, evening Ford Drive-in Theatre
Monday, July 12, 2010 Henry Ford Museum
Russ woke up feeling a bit under-the-weather ("ill "for my French friends) so we didn't really get out of the hotel until after 12:00. We got some starkly discounted vouchers from the hotel for the 2 attractions we came here for: Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Villiage". So, bing advised that we could see the Museum in around 3 hours, and it was all indoors, we chose that to go to today.
I had expected to see a warehouse style museum with mainly cars - through the ages in this museum. Wow, what we got was so much more! There were some cars ... but I think that museum was at the Ford Rouge Factory Tour ... but there were collections of American Life here. I learned that Henry Ford liked to collect items, furniture, cars, and memorabilia that belonged to famous Americans. Those who were part of our history, and those who impacted our lives today.
So among the highlights for us were; the Weinermobile, Abraham Lincoln's rocking chair in which he was shot as he watched the play at Ford's Theatre, Reagan's Presidental Car, Eisenhower's Presidental Car, and THE bus that Rosa Parks sat on before she got arrested.. There were long showcases of memorablia that showed items from the ages - it was fun to see the items that we, the adults had. Pong anyone? 45's, record player in a box, Simon, the first personal computers and chairs that I had in school. The boys even enjoyed seeing things from their childhood, which started 10 years ago! Among them; a Gameboy and games.
There was a 50's livingroom playing "War of the Worlds" on the radio, and small theatres playing films/movies from the various eras.
The museum closes at 5:30, but we found that we still could have used more time to view every thing. We missed some important items like Mark Twain's desk, and . Perhaps the next time we come here?
I can only load up a few pictures here, so the rest will be on my facebook photos.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010 Greenfield Villiage
We heard that we should give ourselves a lot of time to walk around Greenfield Villiage as it is full of remarkable buildings. Not only did Henry Ford collect items that belonged to famous people, but also homes, and factories, and inns, and other buildings! He would have them, the actual building transported to this place to make as a museum. Although Henry Ford died in 1948, he thought ahead to leave this museum for future generations to learn about and to have to enjoy. so with that said, we was house that belonged to Ford himself, to Thomas Edison, to Daniel Webster (the dictionary guy), a farm that belonged to Harvey S. Firestone (the tire guy), and plantation owners homes, as well as slave cabins. (Just a side note - Firestone, Edison, and Ford were friends. I can see that their friendship works together with their invention) This place is considered living history, which means that the people in period costumes live the way they did back in that time. There were people cooking in the homes, and eating what they cooked. They farmed the way they farmed before all the machinery, and the vehicles were running all around these towns as they did in those days. We opted to walk all around, rather than ride one of the old time vehicles since the cost was a bit steep for us, but it did add to the ambiance of the place.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010, evening Ford Drive-in Theatre
Russ discovered that the drive-in theater here, which boasts as the largest in the world, was playing the movie the boys wanted to see, "Despicable Me". So we thought it would be fun to take them to their first drive in experience. I thought this was a dying thing - drive ins, but apparently, they're still alive and well, just not as plentiful. At this place, each movie was a double feature. And because we're so far north, it doesn't get dark until 9:3o, which is when the movie started. When we arrived at 9:00, we found our lot quite empty, but it filled up to about 1/3 full about the time the movie got going. Because the "bumps" that I normally would expect to find here, that tilts your car upward were worn down, we tried to find the best way for all of us to see the screen. What worked best was for the boys to sit up front, and Russ and me to sit in the back seat, so we can see over the head rests. It was fine with us, as we could hold hands and cuddle a bit more! The best coming attraction was the REAL fireflies that went by just as the movie was starting. I remember these from my childhood in NY, and how we would catch them in jars thinking we came up with the idea of a lantern. Unfortunely we had no jar, and there wasn't a sky full of them.
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