The Motor City

Tuesday, September 23

Beautiful blue skies, sunshine, warmth all helped make this a fantastic day to show off Detroit and just some of the things it has to offer.

After showing our friends the beautiful suburbs of Huntington Woods and Pleasant Ridge just a short distance from the northern border of Detroit we stopped for a bagel at the best shop in the world - New York Bagel in Ferndale before crossing over into the big D.  Since Judy is Polish she wanted to check out the Art Center in Hamtramck but alas it was closed when we arrived but they discovered even that town was not as bad as expected.  Oh what poor publicity is out there about Detroit.

Our next stop was in the New Center area just to see the inside of the Fisher Building.  Alas no tours are available of the theater but they could at least see the beauty of some of our buildings.  Judy said she felt like she was suddenly in Europe.

Our next stop was at the Historical Museum on Woodward

where they really enjoyed the old streets of Detroit,

the Glancy trains,

the simulated assembly line body drop (the Rouge is in changeover so that visit was out),

and the history of the first French fur traders coming into the area traveling the long Great Lakes pathway.

Ken and I even took a "ride" in an old car down the streets

From there we strolled over to the Main Library

so they could see the inside of that beautiful building and discover how many wonderful treasures a big city library can hold.  The ceiling in the entry is enough to enthrall.

The beautiful stain glass windows too

 By then are stomachs were rumbling and the thought of lunch in the cafe at the Art Institute

across the street sounded wonderful so we made a quick stop to admire "The Thinker" at the front entrance

and then enjoyed a great lunch before checking out some of the exhibits which much to Gary's surprise were varied and interesting. Like the full room of wall murals by Diego Rivera

The beautiful examples of furniture down through the ages

the armor in cases lining the entry hallway

the stained glass 

simulated rooms 

Egyptian mummies, Paul Revere silver, statues of all kinds, and of course paintings both small and huge

By then we were physically tired so we climbed back into the car and drove down past the Wayne State buildings, medical center area, and into downtown passed the Lions and Tigers stadiums that are next to each other, past the beautiful Fox Theater, Cobo Hall and Convention Center, the Hart Plaza and then along Jefferson Avenue that parallels the Detroit River peeking through at various points to views of it.  It was too late to actually park and wander the River Walk and spend time in that area.  We continued down to the bridge that took us across the Detroit River to Belle Isle - Detroit's premier park which is now a State Park and provides all kinds of special beauty like the Scott Fountain

the carillon

the boat club

Lots of grass, trees, flowers, and beautiful views of Detroit's skyline and Windsor, Canada's skyline as well as plenty of beach.

The day was rapidly coming to an end so we headed back to our "homes" at the Haas Lake Campground

relaxed, watched the sunset

and played a few games of Sequence together before calling it a night.

Our travels together have come to an end.  Tomorrow Gary and Judy will tour Greenfield Village on their own while we visit with friends here in the area.  Then they will head back to Pennsylvania.  We'll have a few days to visit with our daughter and her family as well as other friends and attend our home church before moving on.

The Gilmore Car Museum

Sunday, September 21

What a beautiful day!!  Not weather wise particularly but because of all we were able to do today. After taking Judy to a local Catholic church so she could attend worship, Gary, Ken and I attended Christ PCA Church. It was such a joy to see so many young families coming in to worship.  It gives such great hope for the upcoming generation.

Following an early lunch we then all set off for the Kalamazoo area cawhere we visited the Gilmore Car Museum.  Winds drove the rain right into us as we ran in turning my umbrella inside out but the dampness certainly didn't stop us.  WOW! What a fantastic museum. Not only were there huge collections of cars from the past BUT also other historical items setting the scene including clothing, toys, photos, and other such memorabilia to set the scene for life at the time these automobiles were on our roads.

After watching a short film about the creation of this multi-building campus of displays, we stepped into the museum itself and found the very first automobile ever created and driven.  It was built in 1885 in Germany!!   And we like to think of the U.S. as being the creators.

 Read this short story behind it and learn along with us about the very beginnings of auto history.

Various rooms and buildings are devoted to specific brands while others have a mix all depending on the theme.  Pierce-Arrow, Franklin, Cadillac, Lincoln, and Model As all have their own historical sections while others are have small areas telling of their history including the story of the people behind their creation such as this room of Franklins and their air cooled engines.

There was an area devoted to the 1930's and all that was going on at the time including the depression and the great dust bowl and migration of people from those farm areas to the West coast in hopes of finding a new life.  Of course, the needs and desires of the time fed that which was created.  This display of migrants showed how the older type of car fit the needs of those people because of its dependability

Yet there was always the rich and famous who wanted the expensive, beautiful and most up to date comforts.  I fell in love with this Duesenberg - maybe because of its color?  I do love this shade of blue :-)

Then after Lindbergh flew across the Atlantic there was the dream of everyone owning their own plane and a man, Bernard Pietenpol, took the Model A motor and created this plane that he said could be easily built by anyone who desired to do so.  There was even publicity about how highways would be created in the sky using lights and suggestions on where to build your home and garage so you'd have space to get into the air and store you plane when home.

The whole story of the Model A and the changes that took place when they were created is housed in its own building

that contains not only samples of many Model As but a sample parts store

and even some gasoline pumps of the time.

Nearby is this old service station complete with a work bay and the old hose that stretched across the drive so when you went over it a chime went off in the station to let them know you needed service.  Remember the old days when they not only put gas in your tank but washed your windshield and checked your oil?

As you can see from the puddles above we were ducking in and out of strong winds and rain as we moved about the area going in and out of buildings, some with more than one floor of vehicles and displays 

One of the special and unexpected things we got to see were several early house trailers like this one 

pulled of course by a matching vehicle created by the same company. Talk about luxury of the times!

We came upon this gorgeous old ice box from the 1800s and wondered why it would be on display

Here is why

Interesting, eh?  Gary and Judy found the car they use to own and love

and Ken found a pedal plane like he use to ride around the neighborhood as a kid (yes there was a whole building filled with kids pedal cars and other pedal vehicles)

and were all intrigued with this huge car interior that Disney built for scenes in the Gnome Mobile movie

Being a major Lionel model train collector, Gary was eager to see what was in this train station

It was filled with glass cases of a wide variety of hood ornaments.  We'd already seen a mind boggling display of them in another building besides.  It was amazing to see the variety from bull dogs to golfers in mid swing to ballerinas, to eagles and much much more.  Some made of crystal, one was ceramic and many of course in shiny metal.

It was time to sit and enjoy a drink so we stopped in at this old working cafe

Then it was time to treat Judy, a miniatures collector, to a trip to the miniature museum on the same campus

And what a treat it was for all of us!!! The variety of dollhouses and miniature furniture and dolls was positively amazing.  There was even a Waterford Crystal Shop filled with shelves of miniature Waterford crystal

two filled toy stores created by a woman going through chemo and radiation and desiring to continue to create while going through this difficult process.  Some of the toys were even motorized

A quilt shop with shelves filled with material and all kinds of quilts on display was just amazing.  All of the material and quilts were created using paper towels so that they had an imprinting that made them look more real

This grocery store was filled with meats, canned and boxed goods on shelving.  Each of them was a separate piece

And this is a model of Vincent Van Goghs "home" connected to a green grocer furnished based on paintings he had done of those rooms

A local man who now is in his 90s and still creating buildings carved this whole village of period homes using only 6 different handle tools The long mirror behind the display shows the backsides

For those into fantasy there was this cute tree house

We were overwhelmed by all we'd seen and agreed it is truly a place to return to often if you are to truly appreciate all that is offered.  For those interested next weekend will be the grand opening of this Cadillac building.  We could only peek in windows

We found a Cracker Barrel on the way home and stopped to enjoy dinner and of course a bit of shopping before returning to our motor homes and calling it a night. 

Tomorrow we are off to the Detroit area