Part 17 - Michigan

States & Provinces visited on this segment: Ohio, Michigan

Dates: Tuesday, August 14 to Thursday, August 16

Miles Driven: 189 (10,039 total to date)


Summary: On Tuesday morning we said goodbye to Aunt Julia, Uncle Bill, and Rudy and headed up to Michigan to visit my aunt and uncle in Tecumseh. We left Columbus after lunch, and arrived in Tecumseh in late afternoon. We spent the next 3 nights camped in the driveway of my Aunt Ruth and Uncle Bill’s house. After arriving the kids and I had a squirt gun fight outside to cool off before dinner. That night my two cousins who live in Michigan came over for dinner along with some of their family. I had not seen my cousins in several years so it was good to see them and talk to them that evening.

On Wednesday we went with my aunt and uncle to Hidden Lake Gardens which is a few miles west of Tecumseh. Hidden Lake Gardens is comprised of several hundred acres of natural woodlands and open meadows along with a managed arboretum and other outdoor displays of shrubs and flowers. There is also a tropical conservatory as well as ponds and lakes. We all enjoyed seeing the displays of plants, especially the unique flowering plants in the conservatory. The kids really enjoyed feeding the fish, turtles, and swans. Wednesday afternoon we rested and got caught up on laundry.

On Thursday Ruth and Bill took us to The Henry Ford in Dearborn. The Henry Ford includes the Ford museum and Greenfield Village. The museum has an extensive collection of automobiles from early steam powered vehicles to modern day cars. The museum also has extensive collections of many other things – old farm equipment, stoves, appliances, etc. as well as a number of items of historical significance that Henry Ford collected, such as the chair President Lincoln was sitting in when he was assassinated. Greenfield village is a collection of restored buildings that have been moved to the site including the building where Ford was born, Thomas Edison’s laboratory, and many more of historical significance. We were only able to see a very small fraction of the items at the museum and Greenfield Village. You could spend days there and not see everything. At the end of the day we took a tour of the Ford Rouge factory. The highlight of the tour was watching the assembly line where F-150 trucks are built. You can walk overhead on catwalks around the factory and see workers performing most of the different steps in assembling the vehicles. It was very interesting to see first hand how a modern automobile factory operates.

Thanks Ruth and Bill for your great hospitality! You always make us feel so welcome.

Photos: http://picasaweb.google.com/bryan.vacation/Part17Michigan

Next up: Chicago