This past week, I gleefully added number 26 to my list of states visited. A piddly number, I know, and I still have much traveling to do. But...I've averaged one state per each year of life, so I think I can feel pretty good about that. Grace's current average is much better than mine, but honestly, she's only one. And Spencer cheats, so we won't go into his ("I'm pretty sure I drove through that state on the way to Canada once..."). Puh. :)
Anyway, this week's state of choice was...drum roll please...Michigan! Ohio, somehow, manages to be close to everything (except Utah...), and so we were able to hop on over to Windsor, Ontario, Canada, while there, too. I'd like to count that as another state visited, but I know most Canadians would frown upon that. :)
Monday's Impressions: Detroit is a dirty, ugly city and we hate it. Should you find yourself in Detroit, quickly take the underground tunnel (hooray!) over to Windsor and everything will feel better.
Tuesday's Impressions: Alright, alright, it's not fair to base judgment of an entire city on one cold, rainy day. Detroit has a couple nice streets. :) And a very interesting statue of a forearm.
The main reason we chose Michigan (besides it being an integral part of the visit-every-state-plan and only 3 and half hours away) was to visit the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, about 10 minutes outside of downtown Detroit. I had heard great things about it, and am always up for a good museum, especially when American history is involved. And the Henry Ford did not disappoint.
Far from being a museum devoted only to the history of the automobile industry, it was more a museum dedicated to the history of all technological and social innovation in the United States. We were there all day on Tuesday and could have spent more time had we not been overwhelmingly exhausted and had a toddler to cart around. Some of the things we especially liked were:
Sitting in a Model T--surprisingly cozy. But...we weren't driving down
a dirt road. :) Sorry about the bad picture quality.
All the crazy carriages. I'm pretty sure this
one was a pumpkin not too long ago. :)
The father and son team that drove this car a total of 22,000 miles from Punta Arenas, Chile, (the very southern tip), to Detroit, Michigan. Mostly I liked the Chile part. :)
The "build-and-race-your-own-car" portion.
Spencer and Grace were a winning combination.
And the "Tucker." Spencer loves Preston Tucker. He was an innovator
who was way ahead of his time. Spencer just laps that stuff right up. Okay, all these pictures are of cars, but I promise there was so much more to see, too. :) I was just more camera happy at the beginning.
On Monday, the first thing we did (after a brief visit to Ann Arbor for some ice cream...), was head to the John F. King Used and Rare Books Store in Detroit. One of the travel sites I had checked out said that this was a must see, so we decided to check it out. After a rainy drive, we pulled up to this warehouse-looking building:
Needless to say, we were a little under impressed with its facade (and feared just a little for our lives as we parked in an alleyway...) and wondered how such a ridiculously ugly and worn down building had made it onto a "must see" list. But...we loved it. The place had like five levels worth of wonderfully old, dusty books packed from floor to ceiling. Amazing. By the end, I found the building quite fitting and appropriate. I wouldn't have had it any other way. It was like walking through the book catacombs, or...a very, very old and cluttered man's personal library. :)
Grace receiving a much needed (but kind of awkward) "time-out" for
trying to attack the ancient books...
As mentioned earlier, while in Detroit, we decided to head over and check out Ontario, just because we could. We had brought our passports (and Grace's birth certificate) just in case this very opportunity arose. It was funny how different the border controls were. At the Canadian border, the lady just chatted happily with us, glanced at our passports, completely overlooked Grace, and sent us through. On the way back, the U.S. guy practically accused us of drug-trafficking ("What do you mean you're here in Detroit on vacation? Nobody comes to Detroit on vacation!") and held onto our passports (and Grace's birth certificate) for a long time. Luckily, he and Spencer were able to bond over satellite/cable providers (men...), and he decided we were trustworthy. Silly...
Me in Ontario with a view of the Detroit skyline.
Because Tuesday was such a nicer day weather-wise, we decided to give downtown Detroit another try. It was successful.
In Detroit with the Windsor, Ontario, skyline in the background.
And lastly, just some current pictures of Grace that I like. :)
All in all, the trip was quite successful and I'm looking forward to adding more and more states to my list in the future. How many states have you visited?
