Michigan

We arrived in Michigan yesterday after driving a good part of the day. We stopped at the Michigan visitors bureau and found a brochure about our next campground. Boy, did it look great, with putt putt, a lake to swim in, video games, etc. Well... it's day two and the place is starting to grow on me, but let's just say that a slick brochure belies reality here. The photo of the putt putt course must have been taken about 10 years ago. It's a little run down, but the kids don't seem to care.

We spent most of today at the Henry Ford Museum, which was defnitely worth the trip. What an amazing collection of inventions of all sorts, as well as historical pieces collected by Mr. Ford himself. Of note: the rocker Lincoln was sitting in when he was assassinated, Kennedy's limo where he was assasinated, Rosa Park's bus, George Washington's camp cot... just a ton of cool stuff.

We enjoyed seeing a bevy of cars, of course... the very first car all the way through the concept cars, but we enjoyed most those that were the same as those owned by our family members -- a Corvair like the one that belonged to my dad and at least two or three like grandfather had owned. One was just like the car my granddad was driving when he "sailed" over an apple orchard, throwing the family all over the car. My grandmother claimed that her joint pain was derived from granddad pulling her through the passenger-side window that day.

Another car from the early 1900's was sure to be similar to the one my great-grandfather drove my other grandmother and her family from North Carolina to California around 1920. I think three kids and a pregnant dog rode in the back seat.

Finally, we really enjoyed a walk through time, where Cheryl and I came face-to-face with some old "friends." Maybe you remember these toys: Merlin, The Pet Rock, the Banana Phone, an LED hand-held football game, Simon, and of course the 1 mb Mac-in-a-box. My dad bought me one of those in 1989 for $2400, and it came with a dot-matrix printer. Bonus!

Anyway, we are back at camp tonight and will head back to the Ford Museum tomorrow to visit Greenfield Village. Please leave us a note in the comment section! We miss our friends!