Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation- June 20

Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation- June 20

Today we spent the cold rainy day inside at The Henry Ford. The Henry Ford is a large complex that features the Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation, which is where we spent the entire day. https://www.thehenryford.org/visit/henry-ford-museum/

There is also Greenfield Village, Ford Rouge Factory Tour and a Giant Screen Experience. We could have used another day here to see the rest, but the Village is mainly outdoors and with the mostly all day rain and in the 60’s, it would not have been pleasant. 

It was a fantastic museum and had a lot of actual cars used by presidents (some attempted or assassinated in them). It also houses the actual bus that Rosa Parks made her mark on history. There were interesting trains, power generators, cars old and new, airplanes, farm machinery, a glass museum and a clock museum. Even a Star Trek exhibit? Lots to see here for sure. We saw things we never knew existed and many things existed many years before you would have thought possible. (when was the first electric car?) It featured a lot of Ford inventions and also anyone that made major contributions to making life easier or more fun. It had areas that featured how homes and furniture and appliances changed over the years. We took a break for lunch at the Michigan Café where we split a blow of loaded potato soup and a Michigan Miner’s Pasty of beef, potatoes and root vegetables served with a side of beef gravy.

Later in the afternoon we took another break at Lamy’s Diner where Greg had a chocolate sundae and I had mixed berry pie. There was no diet soda served there as the waitress explained, back in the diner days there wasn’t such a thing. OK, that might be carrying the theme just a bit too far…..IMHO.

 in the entryway

 actual Reagan Car where the assassination was attempted

 secret service stands on the back

 actual Kennedy Car he was assassinated in

 in the clock display area

 Dwight D. Eisenhower's Bubbletop

 Franklin Delano Roosevelt's Sunshine Special 1939 Lincoln

Teddy Roosevelt's 1902 Brougham

 Teddy Roosevelt's 1902 Brougham

 1831 De Witt Clinton Stagecoach Train

 1831 De Witt Clinton Stagecoach Train

 1941 Allegheny Locomotive

 1829 Stephenson "Rocket"

 1858 Rogers

 1923 Canadian Pacific Snowplow on the left

Bugatti 

 1899 Duryea trap

 "JB-Rocket" Cyclecars - Detroit

 Charles Kuralt's motorhome

 Chariot made by William Ross

 Holiday Inn display

VW bus - first RV

 1965 Lotus-Ford oval track racing

 broke speed records for 25 years

1896 Ford Quadricycle runabout

1963 Chrysler gas turbine sedan

 1951 Studebaker Champion Starlight coupe

 1926 Ford Flivver

 manure spreader

 the building of the Model T

 bus model TDH-3610 1948 GM - the actual bus from Montgomery, AL where Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat for a white man

 Ford Trimotor 1928 

 Ford Trimotor 1928 (inside the cabin)

Ford Trimotor 1928

  Wright Brother's plane

Anyway, we had a great day there. Tomorrow we leave for Cumberland, Maryland. We really cut this part of the trip short as we had planned to hit the Upper Peninsula and up into Canada to get to Niagara Falls, but instead we are heading east and back south so we can be closer when we get the nod from the builder when our pre-drywall walk-through is. (we are estimating around the 7^th of July at this point.) We are kind of winging all of this at this point. If we find we have more time, we can add in some days in some of the Southern States we skipped to get north faster. (none of those states are new, but there are things we can visit in other parts of the State.) In this part of the road trip Ohio and Michigan were new for me and none are new for Greg. 

If there is interest, Greg took  photos of some of the signs giving the background or stats on some of the vehicles. I really got a kick out of the account of the passengers in the Ford Trimotor 1928.

online photo album https://photos.app.goo.gl/eseqyY899Kn5vY9m7