Greenfield Village

Anyone who loves reenacting and authentic reproductions of historical places has a wonderful time in Greenfield Village near Dearborn, Michigan. The only problem is that we had only one day to see this amazing place. We had to hurry!

Now the problem is which of the over 400 photos should I use to tell about the day.

We love windmills, covered bridges, and water wheels. Superb enactors portrayed everyone from Huckleberry Finn to Mrs. Cohen showing me her favorite hat from her millinery store.

We walked into homes of such notable people as Robert Frost who wrote “The Road Not Taken” and Noah Webster who wrote the first American dictionary. We entered the workshop in Thomas Edison’s Menlo Park complex and visited the Wright Brothers Cycle shop.

We ate soup and rolls and drank tea at the Eagle Tavern. The waitress explained to Terry that one takes salt from the Salter from the tip of your knife, not by pinching it. She gave Terry a disdainful glance when Terry asked her if he could pinch her.

Since Henry Ford is into transportation, there were many modes of transportation if you got tired but they were $4 a ride. As seniors, we paid a total of $42 just for admission. Then I discovered that the green omnibus was only 50 cents and insisted that I ride it. It was the best 50 cents that I’ve spent in a long time.

Crossroads Village and Huckleberry Railroad

I love to experience history by visiting villages where reenactments take place. Terry and I spent about six hours at Crossroads Village near Flint, Michigan on June 13. No, I didn’t get to ride in the stagecoach but did ride the Huckleberry Railroad. It was fun to see the engine as it rounded the curve. We even got to see Abraham Lincoln make a campaign speech from the caboose and later walked the boardwalks to chat with him and his lady in their tent.

The sounds of village life were great with steam whistles from the trains, the Genesee Belle Paddleboat and sawmills, music from the fiddler and the carousel and the sounds of cows and sheep. We smelled the apples as they were pressed in the Master’s Cider Mill, and the delicious cookies and bread that the sheriff’s wife made. I know they were delicious because we got to sample them too.

Gerald Ford Museum

We visited the life and times of President Gerald Ford while we were in Grand Rapids, Michigan. According to information at the museum, “Gerald Ford was born Leslie Lynch King Jr. … Shortly after the birth of her son, Dorothy Gardner King left her physically abusive husband and moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan – described by one historian as ‘America at it’s best, a community of great expectations.’ Settled by thrifty Dutch and Eastern European immigrants, the town boasted 70 furniture factories, 134 churches and the second highest rate of home ownership in the nation.”

I was born in Grand Rapids and spent the first fourteen years of my life near there.

The documents and photos show the presidency from 1974-1977. These were the times of the hippies, the Beatles, Vietnamese refugees, the energy crisis, the bicentennial, the Nixon pardon and the invention of the Polaroid camera.

I was impressed with the replica of the oval office, as it appeared when Gerald Ford was president.

Another plaque reads “ On December 26, 2006, Gerald Ford passed away. . . At sunset on January 3, 2007, his body was laid to rest on the grounds of his museum, in the city of his youth.”

Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park

Terry and I took each other's photo on June 9, as we strolled in the botanical center, which holds live butterflies in the spring. Now there were magnificent tropical flowers here. Another indoor conservatory was filled with desert foliage.

Our favorite outdoor flowers were at the beautiful waterfalls. The replica of Lena Meijer’s childhood home had the typical flowers found at her old farmstead.

We didn’t spend much time in the sensory rich children’s area. Since we decided that to walk the 132 acres of flowers and sculpture was too much, we hurried to catch the tram. The docent onboard the tram didn’t consult any notes as she explained each sculpture and named the artist and their feelings about each piece during the forty-minute ride. My favorite was the horse designed by Leonardo De Vinci. The only other copy of this sculpture is in Italy.

Michigan Aunts and Uncles

One of my goals for this year is to see my aunts and uncles. My father is of a family of ten children who survived to become adults. All but Ella are alive. The Michigan group met at the Country Kitchen near Byron Center for a mini- reunion. We laughed and joked and had a great time.

Bill and Donna, in the second picture, left before the outdoor pictures were taken. In the picture of me with Dad’s three sisters, l to r are Etta, Jean and Anne. Ray and Bern are in the foreground and cousin Martin is in the background of the men’s picture. I spoke with Aunt Bernice, from Montana, when she phoned Aunt Jean. Bernice walked five miles with her friends last week and then the group went out for ice cream. She is eighty years young. Aren’t I lucky to have such relatives?

Down Memory Lane

Iwent on a trip down memory lane to the place where I spent my childhood in Michigan. The school was painted white when I attended this one room country grammar school. The house I lived in has been torn down and another one built in it’s place but the red brick octagon house that my grandparents lived in, is still a home. It was three stories when my grandparents lived there but my Uncle Sierd and Aunt Mae bought it, removed the top story and replaced the roof. I remember my Great Grandmother Maggie sitting in her rocking chair in this house. She was served tea at precisely three o’clock everyday. Us children were only allowed tea, which was half milk and half tea, when we drank it with her.

Terry and I went to my Aunt Margie’s house and drank tea with her.

We returned to our RV where we are parked by Aunt Jean and Uncle Bern’s house. Aunt Jean taught me to sew so I could make skirts, when I reached the gangly age of 13 and had problems fitting into the dresses I owned. When I moved back to Michigan after my marriage, I made Barbie doll clothes for Jean’s daughter Laura. Laura visited with us and showed me the doll clothes that I made forty + years ago.

1929 Ford Tri-Motor

We spent the first week of June in Illinois visiting Terry’s friend Wayne, Pat and their son Tim. (The men have known each other since grammar school.) It’s great to be able to be able to park in their yard and visit, yet have our own living space.

On Thursday, June 4, Tim decided that he wanted to go for a ride in the 1929 Ford Tri-Motor promotion sponsored by the EAA Aviation Foundation. This plane has seen active service barnstorming, crop dusting and as a borate bomber in aerial fire fighting. It was in the Jerry Lewis movie called “The Family Jewels” and will be in the upcoming Johnny Depp/Christian Bale movie called “Public Enemies.”

Tim’s comment on the ride was that it was “too short.”