But wait... before the run down, one quick adventure that we never want to have again. At Illinois Toll Booth 43, we had one car ahead of us and no one behind us. There were 4 booths and we were the 3rd one over. Most vehicles, especially semi-trucks, have the I-Pass and can go straight through on the interstate. I looked up in the rear view mirror in time to see a semi coming off the interstate at full speed and only about a 150 feet away (at the most). I gasped. Scott turned around and we heard the air brakes of his truck and looked to see him jack knife and hit the 3 foot concrete barrier between booth 2 and 3 and also clip the car in lane 2. The back end of the car was crushed - that's what happens when a semi clips a car - but the people seemed to be ok. Concrete from the barrier was flying and my window was down - for a split second I flinched thinking it was headed into our car. Close, but it didn't. The lady at our booth had us go on through rather than checking on everyone. I regret not pulling over and getting out, but there really wasn't anywhere safe to do so. We stopped about 30 minutes later after we realized that some of the concrete may have hit the car. It didn't. God was very gracious that day.
Now the run down... First stop, somewhere along the east side of Lake Michigan. So much for always remembering! It was a nice stop and a beautiful view - I do remember that.
The next day, we visited The Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation. As you might guess, there were many cars from generations past along with other modes of transportation and farm equipment. If you ever go to Detroit, make this one of your stops.
I particularly liked the presidential cars.
JFK
Ike
FDR
Teddy Roosevelt's Carriage
If you grew up in the 60's and 70's, this was VERY familiar:
Replica of the 1903 Wright Brother's Plane
We also went to Greenfield Village, an outdoor living history museum. Nearly 100 buildings were brought in to create a village that displays how America lived and work from the 17th century to the present. This is the Wright Brother's bicycle shop from Dayton, OH. We were both very interested in this because we each had read David McCullough's biography (recommended reading) of them.
We got to ride in this 1931 bus. If I remember correctly, it's the only one still running. It's a far cry from today's buses - very cramped! I was glad to get off.
Model T ride
This is the Ford Rogue Factory and this is all I can show you of it. I was fascinated with the tour and how trucks and vans are assembled, but no pictures were allowed. I could have skipped Greenfield Village but not this!
Crossing over to Windsor, Ontario, Canada for a quick visit. Border security is serious business. When they asked why we were visiting Detroit, I said, "For fun." He replied, as deadpan as could be, "In Detroit?" He did accept my response when I said I was in for a Cardinal game.
Some things just amuse me. Canada's signs may be more simple, but I think I like having the words on them more.
Yes. This is a picture of trash cans. It's hard to tell, but they were very small. I was surprised at how little trash there was at each house. Just a little bit of odd culture difference - I guess.
When in Canada...
I know you can find Tim Hortons in the US, but I had never been to one. Maybe a Canadian company should be first visited in Canada.
Less than an hour later, back across the Ambassador Bridge (if you've read about any other trips, you knew there had to be a bridge) to the good ole USA. I was getting homesick.
The Detroit Institute of Arts was kind of an add-on stop - one that I absolutely do NOT regret. We arrived during their Star Wars and the Power of Costume special exhibit. I like Star Wars but I'm not a super-fan. I've only seen the first 3 - meaning 1977, 1980, and 1983. This was a fun exhibit, though. However, without Star Wars, DIA is still a top notch art museum. A quick search finds it on several "Top" lists for the US.
My favorites from Star Wars: the Ewoks, Chewy, and Hans Solo
St. Joseph and the Christ Child (1767-1769) by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo
I don't remember ever seeing a painting of just Joseph as the father of Jesus. I like the look of tenderness in Joseph while also showing the masculinity of father who was a carpenter. One thing that I'm learning about art is that it makes me think about the everydayness (I know, not a word) of real people.
The Return of the Prodigal (1724) by Antonio Montauti is beautiful. A picture of a sculpture is always severely lacking.
In the book, Reading the Bible Supernaturally, John Piper mentions an article by Jennifer Roberts (Professor of the Humanities at Harvard) titled, The Power of Patience. In it, she describes observing one painting for 3 hours and how much more students learned from observation of the painting rather than simply reading about it. Piper is obviously wanting us to slow down and patiently read the Bible with the same attention to detail but also with the leading of the Holy Spirit. This really made me think not only about reading the Bible, but enjoying art. At the DIA, several paintings have these explanations of what to look for in the picture. Since we didn't have 3 hours and weren't practicing patience at the time, I found this very helpful and enjoyable. Here's an example from the story of David and Abigail:
A little bit of time to check out the city on the Detroit People Mover before going to the game. Every city should have one! You can see the track in the forefront of the picture below. It's a 3 mile loop with 13 on and off stops around the city. It's 75 cents each time you get or you can get a pass. We only got off a couple of times so it didn't cost much. It's a great way to see Detroit. Notice the whale mural in the background.
Don't know him but he let me read his paper.
Detroit River front
Some fun, cool stuff inside one of these building - I don't remember which one!
YMCA Building
Team Park #17 - loved the Tigers all around the outside of Comerica Park. I'm still hoping to do a ballpark post one day - more pictures when I do.
We went home via a different route. St. Louis to Detroit is about the same whether you go south of Chicago and up by Lake Michigan or along Lake Erie and through Ohio. Before crossing into Ohio, we stopped to see Lake Erie from Luna Pier. Not my hair style - it was a bit windy!
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