Detroit

Saturday, August 03, 2013
Detroit, Michigan, United States
The family was tired from yesterdays travels, so we slept in a bit before going for breakfast.
Looking out our window we saw a movie production back lot . Trailers for actors and a dinning truck for meals. Did a quick search and found that "Transformers 4" is currently filming in downtown Detroit.

In the car we are headed for Dearborn Michigan, world headquarters for Ford Motor Company and The Henry Ford museum. Only about 20 minutes from downtown. No traffic this morning but the highway shoulders are littered with trash, traffic cones, and blown tire shrapnel.

We arrived at the museum and quickly learned there was way more to see and do than we could do in one day. We elected to see the museum and the Greenfield Village. We started in the museum and were quickly amazed at the quality of items they have in their collection. Several presidential limos including the one JFK was riding in when he was killed, the one Reagan used during his presidency and some older ones too. Planes, Trains and Automobiles - and all in beautiful condition. The museum also has extensive displays on American made furniture, power generators, how the assembly line works and the bus that Rosa Parks was sitting on when she was arrested . Grace loved the interactive displays, Jack was snapping pictures faster than the Japanese tourists.

Next we exited the museum and entered the Greenfield Village grounds. The Greenfield Village is a historical village of old homes rebuilt on site. The village has streets and businesses just like back in the early 1900's. Model T cars are driving all around the village. There is an old train that takes visitors on rides around the grounds. Greenfield Village features special areas dedicated to Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, Harvey Firestone, and the Wright brothers. Each area showcases their innovations and workshops or laboratories. They often have interactive events going on throughout the day in different areas of the village. Today they had Historic Baseball at the ball field. The players had no baseball mitts, the announcer was referring to the players by their nicknames, a live band was playing music between innings, and they had old fashioned popcorn and peanuts being popped and roasted right at the game . We took a ride in a 1914 Ford Model T. The car motored right along, top speed is 40 mph, but usually owners only drove about 20 due to the rough roads. The village has 14 Model T cars that they maintain and drive around. 1914 was the first year the Model T was built on the moving assembly line. With the efficiencies of the assembly line, Ford was able to reduce the price of a Model T from $850 to $500. Of course you could have any color you wanted, as long as it was black.

By now we had walked several miles and were needing to give our feet a break. We got back in our car and headed for Belle Isle Park. When we arrived the place was packed with people. Cars filled the parking spots and big groups of people were having picnics everywhere. We circled around and found a parking spot. Jack and I took some pictures and then we headed a little further into the park. Belle Isle Park is the largest island park in the US. It is about 880 acres. There is a large bridge that takes you from Detroit onto the island . The island has a fountain, arboretum, playgrounds, picnic spots, ball fields and more. The family reunions were huge, featuring custom tee shirts and signs to direct family members where to find them.

We headed back to downtown Detroit to find some dinner. This proved problematic as a Tigers baseball game was about to start and all of the restaurants were full. We drove the downtown streets finding the Transformers 4 movie set while they were filming, and also finding numerous vacant buildings. We ended up back at our hotel in the GM RenCen. Fortunately they had a casual restaurant that met our needs quite well. We wandered back through the GM RenCen and found some ice cream and chocolate for dessert. We viewed Canada from across the river before retiring to our room. Time to rest up, tomorrow we drive across Michigan .

Good night.

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