Summary of our Trip

To summarize this trip would put it into two parts. The first part was the beauty of the southwest. Sedona, Arizona is a very unique and colorful place with its red canyons and red rocks and the only place in the world where the arches at McDonalds are not gold. A local ordinance prohibits gold from being used as a color in downtown Sedona so the arches there are a shade of violet. Tombstone is very campy but a lot of fun and the locals go out of their way to make sure you have a great time. Yosemite has always been one of our favorites and we sure weren’t let down upon our return. It was nice to go back to the Grand Tetons, Yellowstone and the Black Hills. The visits with kids and grandkids are always great. The new experiences included Door County, Upper Michigan and Frankenmuth. We loved Mackinac Island and were surprised at how many interesting things were available to see at the Henry Ford Museum. The Trip was great, I got to do it with my wife and best friend (both of them are Judy) and along with no car problems and using Jill (our GPS) a great time was had, and even though we have said that it will probably be our last long road trip, I guess I wouldn’t count on it.

Henry Ford Museum

We sure got a great tip about the Henry Ford Museum and the Greenfield Village in Dearborn. We were at the Museum when it opened at 9:30 and were completely impressed by the contents of the museum. Not only were there cars from every domestic manufacturer but huge steam engines, trains, exhibits of Lincoln, including the chair he was sitting in when he was shot. We seen presidential cars including the one that JFK was riding in when he was shot in Dallas. We saw a special exhibit of rock stars cars which was interesting. We saw the bus that Rosa Parks refused to get off of in 1955, and one of the largest steam locomotives ever built. This museum is a must see if a person is any where near Detroit. We spent several hours in the museum and then had a quick bite to eat and headed to the Greenfield Village which is a re-creation of early life in Greenfield. Henry Ford started this with his good friend Thomas Edison in the late twenties. There were lots of old cars that you could ride in, we opted for a long ride on a train with a working steam engine called the Edison. We visited some of the original laboratories of Thomas Edison that had been moved here from New Jersey. We visited the original home of Ford and his parents that was moved here from about three miles away. Lots of people dressed in period costumes made the whole thing extremely enjoyable. If anyone ever goes here be sure to check out the Museum website because the have partnerships with several area motels to offer a nights stay and tickets with a substantial savings. Well, now we will head for home with just one overnight stay and should be home by Friday afternoon.

Frankenmuth

Well today was a shopping day in Frankenmuth. First, Frankenmuth is a very unique and quaint Bavarian town. Most of the town buildings are what one would expect with a visit to a small town in Germany. One of the shops we visited was Bonners Christmas Store, billed as the largest Christmas store in the world. Well, we have not been to enough Christmas stores to make a decision about this one, however when you enter the store they give you a map so you don’t get lost. The place is huge and we roamed around in it for at least two hours. Then we went to a couple of other shops and of course I found an ice cream. Finally we were on our way to Dearborn and the Henry Ford Museum. Along the way we stopped and had lunch at a Panera Bread in honor of our Grandson Matt on his birthday (Matt works at one). We had visited the Henry Ford Museum website and found that they had agreements with several hotels to offer tickets with a stay and we wound up staying at a Comfort Inn and saved over thirty dollars on our entrance to the museum and village. Tomorrow we will have a long day at the museum and then head for home, hoping to be there on Friday.