Greenfield Village

We spent the day at the Greenfield Village at the Henry Ford. Henry had the foresight to purchase and move some historical buildings to this 80 acre site. Some notable buildings belonged to Thomas Edison, George Washington Carver, Noah Webster, Luther Burbank and the Wright brothers. We spent about 6 hours at the village and now we're at the trailer and exhausted. Here's some memories from today.

The first thing we did upon arrival was to take a ride in a model T. We toured the park and got lots of information from our driver.

Later in the afternoon we took a ride around the park on this  1890 vintage steam engine. About a three mile loop took a half hour.

This is the bicycle shop and workshop of Orville and Wilbur Wright. It's not a replica but the actual building that Henry Ford moved here.

We finished the day with a ride on a 100 year old carousel. I hadn't done that in a long long time and it was a blast.



So... two days of fun in Dearborn and tomorrow it's down the road to Niagara Falls on the Canadian side. We'll be in Canada for three weeks if all goes according to plan. I'll blog as best I can with the campground Wi Fi. So.... Off we go to Canada eh!

The Henry Ford

We spent the day today at the Henry Ford museum in Dearborn. It's a great place and we spent about 5 hours walking and looking.

The Henry Ford looks more like a university than a museum. It's extremely well done and elegant both inside and out. Lots of great stuff like Lincoln's chair from the Ford Theater, Kennedys limo in which he was shot, The Rosa Parks bus and lots of other interesting stuff.

Walking in we were met by this train from the 1800s. We were amazed at the restoration and quality of all the exhibits.

 This is for Heber..... kinda looks like Ole Stinky to me.

This one is for Don.... how about planting corn with this two row horse drawn planter?

And, last but not least, this one is for James....... how about the wiener mobile?

This is our home at Camp Dearborn. Lots of leg room and close to the quaint little town of Milford. Tomorrow it's off to the village at the Henry Ford and then on to Canada. More tomorrow.

Mackinac City

Today (Tuesday) we spent in Mackinac (pronounced macinaw) City visiting Fort Michlinmacknac and the lighthouse.

Outside the fort a guard fired a 6 pound cannon for us. He did a great job describing the process and gave us lots of  information on the cannon and it's use. When properly armed it will send a 6 pound cannon ball one mile.It's accurate at a distance of 500 yards.

Inside the fort there were buildings that had been restored from data collected from the archaeological efforts over the years. The buildings housed exhibits of life in the late 18oo's at the fort. This fort was essentially a trading depot exchanging goods from the East (Montreal) for furs from the West. It acted as a trade hub for about 50  years.

There were young folks in costume in various areas to describe life at the fort. Here a young lady tells us about baking bread, cake and pies for the 200 forks that called the fort home. She was actually baking bread in the oven to the right.

From the fort it was a  short walk to the lighthouse and a tour of the facility. Lots of information on shipwrecks in the strait over the years. Then it was time to do some errands and back to the trailer to rest for the trip tomorrow. We head to Dearborn tomorrow morning and will visit the Henry Ford on Thursday. More from there.

Mackinac Island

After a restful night in the biggest RV park I have ever seen (about two miles around the perimeter) the day dawned clear and we headed to the ferry dock to catch the 9:00am ferry to Mackinac Island.

The ferry's run every half hour and it takes 20 minutes to complete the trip. The Star line uses these hydro drive boats and they use the plume of water as a marketing gimmick to set themselves apart from the others.

On the island the little town was alive with tourists like us who came for the day. Since no cars are allowed on the island the mode of transportation is bicycle, feet or horse drawn carriages.

We took the required ride behind the horses. The island tour lasted about two hours and covered the area around the town and the state park which is a large part of the island.

I have been advised to refrain from any wise comments about Sharleen and the horses so for those who know me well just think of what I would say here given the chance. These were three of our horses. They did all the required things like pulling the trailer and making road apples.

There are about 600 horses on the island and all deliveries are made by horse and wagon or bicycle.
This is for Don.... farming the hard way!

One last look at the Grand Hotel as we headed for Mackinac City and the shelter of the trailer. Once again the fun meter was in the red and we were exhausted.

Munising to Grand Marais

We spent today (Saturday) driving and hiking the Pictured Rocks National Seashore from Munising to Grand Marais, a total of about 50 miles.

We started the day at the Au Sable lighthouse trail head. It's a 4 mile round trip hike and  it took us through some great flora and fauna. The vegetation we passed was ever changing and we kept stopping to gaze at something new at every turn. This is the most colorful mushroom I have ever seen.

This stretch of beach is spectacular and it's also deadly. There have been many shipwrecks along this area over the  years and that prompted the construction of the Au Sable lighthouse.

At the end of our hike we were treated to this view of  the Au Sable light house. The light was put into service on August 19,1874 and remains in service today although the lamp oil light has been replaced with a solar powered modern light. The tower is 86 feet tall and when oil was used to fire the lamp it could be seen 17 miles into Lake Superior.

From there we headed to Sable falls in the same area and found this pretty falls at the end of a short hike. Do we look happy? I hope so... our fun meter is pegged!
From there it was off to Grand Marais and lunch at Lake Superior brewing company and a look around town. Back at the trailer at 4:00pm tired and ready to put our feet up. Tomorrow we head to Mackinaw City for a couple of days of looking around there.

Grand Island

We spent the day today on Grand Island just a short boat ride from Munising. The island is about 8 miles long by 4 miles wide and is about a mile from the mainland.

We took a three and a half hour bus ride around the island with lots of stops. The views were just wonderful and this is just one example. The roads were one land dirt so travel was slow and relaxed so we were in no hurry.
The island has a  long and varied history from the earliest Indian inhabitants to the forest service which owns it today.

Along the way we ran into the Indiana State University archaeological team who were just finishing a two month dig on the island. We asked lots of questions and got lots of information in return. They have found over 5000 artifacts from the Chippewa Indians at just this one dig. What a bonus!

We chased one more water falls. Here is Wagner falls early in the morning with the sun streaming through the trees. I've never seen so many water falls in one place. Tomorrow we explore the Pictured Rocks national seashore up to Grand Marais then off to the East on Sunday.

Thursday in Munising Michigan

The day dawned bright and clear so we headed to the harbor and caught the noon tour to pictured rocks.

The shoreline of the Pictured Rocks national shoreline is spectacular to say the least. Dolomite rock in a layer on top of Sandstone makes up the formations. The Dolomite is hard and resists erosion and the Sandstone is soft hence the holes and formation seen here.

This is a formation they called the Indian head. If you use your imagination you can see the Indian's nose and mouth. The formations went on for miles.

We did some falls chasing and found Munising falls a short walk from the road. With a good storm yesterday the falls were running strong and provided a pretty sight.

Some fun Lake Superior facts:
The lake is 160 miles wide and 350 miles long.
It has nearly 32,000 square miles of surface area making it the largest fresh water lake in the world.
It's the third largest lake in the world by volume. It holds 10 percent of the worlds fresh water. It's1300 feet deep at it's deepest point and holds enough water to cover the South and North American land mass to a depth of one foot. Besides it's just plain gorgeous!