Motor City and Baseball Park #17

Yes, I'm catching up again! Back in September 2018, Scott and I took a 3 day trip to Detroit, Michigan. And yes, the Cardinals happened to be in Detroit as well! However, what I did not expect was how much I liked visiting Motor City. For us, 3 days was plenty but full. Here's the run down...

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! 

Return to D.C. and Then Some

For now, I think I've seen almost everything that I want to see in Washington D.C. - almost, for now. Oh, I'd go back and re-see some things but the few things still on the list can wait. Yes, we visited in 2010 with both our daughters; and then again in 2016 with Kim. However, in between 2016 and the trip last year (May, 2018), DC added two new museums that we really wanted to see - the National Museum of African American History and the Museum of the Bible (both of which have made TripAdvisor's Top 10 DC Museums) and we learned that the FBI Building had a new tour - that was a surprise bonus during my planning. So, back we went - along with 3 days south to Williamsburg and some of its surrounding sites.

The first of the two new museums to see was the National Museum of African American History and Culture. While I enjoyed seeing so many accomplishments by African American, it was somewhat overwhelming because there was so much to see. However, it well worth seeing and I'm glad that we have added this to the list of Smithsonian museums.

Scott with Jesse Owens.

Chuck Berry's Cadillac - of course, I love his taste in colors.

In case you can't read these 1943 words from Langston Hughes from the picture below:

You tell me that hitler

Is a might bad man.

I guess he took lessons

from the ku klux klan...

Cause everthing that hitler

and mussolini do,

Negroes get the same

Treatment from you

I ask you this question

Cause I want to know

How long I got to fight

BOTH HITLER-AND JIM CROW.

Be sure to take in the DC view from the upper floor windows!

The other museum we wanted to visit was the Museum of the Bible. Scott really enjoyed this one (as did my mom, who visited last month). I liked it and was glad I got to go. Scott remarked about how amazing it is to actually be looking at artifacts that Martin Luther had owned. You also get a great history of our Bible. You will see history, artifacts, and biblical culture when you visit. We also did the Washington Revelations virtual tour - dizzying, but I liked it.

In case you can't tell, the signature is Martin Luther.

While there, we visited some of our favorite spots again. Arlington National Cemetery never gets old. This time we paid to take the guided bus tour and it was worth every penny of the price. We saw much more of this 624 acre cemetery than ever before and learned much more about it.

Each grave was getting an American Flag for Memorial Day weekend.

This was the 6th time that I've seen the changing of the guard and it never gets old. Photos and videos come no where near experiencing it. If you are ever in DC, go see this. I consider it the #1 thing to do in our nation's capital.

Headstones go on and on and on... over 400,000

The US Air Force Memorial as seen from Arlington Cemetery. It's relatively new to DC (2006).

Another favorite - the US Marine Corp Memorial. It's located across the Potomac River almost directly from the Lincoln Memorial and whenever I've been there, it's never crowded. Don't miss it!

Across the Tidal Basin from the Jefferson Memorial.

We parked at Costco everyday to take the subway into DC. There is a walkway to the Pentagon so we went to see the 911 Memorial there. There are tours available of the Pentagon but they have to be requested online 14-90 days ahead of time. I tried 90 days out and several more times to no avail. They fill up fast and groups tend to get them quickly.

In 2016, we were on a bus for a night tour of DC (click for a link) when it caught on fire outside of the WW2 Memorial. End of tour! This time, we had a rental car so I conducted my own night tour. I had been on one when I was a teenager and thought Scott really needed to experience this too. Of course, I love night tours so my motives may not have been purely altruist!

While in NYC in 2017, Scott looked and looked for a place that served Shawarma. We were never at the right place at the right time. This restaurant was right around the corner from our Airbnb so he finally got one.

After 3 days (more DC below - we went back for one last day), we went south, 153 miles and a forever drive (traffic is awful on the East coast), to Williamsburg, VA. On the way, we stopped at Yorktown. I love to read about the Revolutionary War and biographies of the Founding Fathers so this was very exciting to me. 

I tried hard to imagine George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, Marquis de Lafayette, and our troops "turning the world upside down"!

Hamilton and Lafayette seized redoubts 9 and 10 (below) and paved the way for the defeat of the British.

Below are pictures of Colonial Williamsburg, founded in 1699. Many of the buildings are from the 18th century. This description from Google Maps is sums it up well:

Williamsburg, a city in the U.S. state of Virginia, was capital of the Virginia Colony from 1699 to 1780 and played a significant role in the American Revolution. It forms the “Historic Triangle” together with Jamestown and Yorktown. Its heart is Colonial Williamsburg, a historic district and living-history museum where actors in period costume depict daily Colonial life in the streets, stores and workshops.

I enjoyed seeing old instruments at the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum. It also includes art, era toys and furniture.

Painting by George Gilbert

The USS George H.W. Bush at the naval base in Norfolk, VA. We don't have many pictures from the tour of the naval base since we had to remain on the bus but we did enjoy it.

Another highlight for me... this is from the 23 mile Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel. It's not a great picture because there's almost no way to really capture what is happening. You're driving along and it looks like you might crash into a ship when suddenly you descend into a tunnel. This happens twice. It's a bridge, tunnel, bridge, tunnel, bridge! I loved it! Many more "bridge thrills" on this post.

Cape Charles, VA - across the bay from Norfolk.

We returned to DC for one last day before an evening flight back. We were really glad we did because the FBI Experience is fantastic. You have to book several weeks in advance through your congress person. You don't actually go into the work area of the FBI building like you could before 911. It's a more museum like area. While leaving security/gathering area to cross over to the experience, you pass through a large courtyard (no pics allowed) where you see part of the outdoor exercise and training facility. Below are some pics with a reminder to take a picture of where you park in the garage, anywhere you go, especially as you get older!

Outside the building

We got to watch FBI police (that's just for the building itself, FBI agents are not police) shoot at their range. If you get there at the right time, you can watch as agents do their re-certification.

Picture of Quantico - FBI training facility

One of the interactive experiences - I'm looking at a painting, trying to find the hidden camera. Scott is on the other side taking a picture of the video of me not finding it. He eventually talked me to it.

Photo taken as one of the Twin Towers fell on 911.

I didn't know anyone. Better yet, I wasn't on there.

Boat where one of the Boston Marathon terrorist was found.

I'm not a foodie. I don't usually take pictures of my food. Sometimes there are exceptions, like when you have a spicy chicken sandwich on a doughnut. Then you take a picture! It was very good. I had a doughnut for dessert too.

This turned out to be much longer than I intended. If you made it this far - thank you!