Henry Ford Museum

My friend, Jenny, took us to The Henry Ford Museum two weekends ago with her summer pass. Boy, this place is amazing! It just kept going and going. First we saw all the presidential cars and read the plaques about the special features built into them, and then there were a whole bunch of real trains exhibited. There was one called the Allegheny, and it was massive. Benjamin and I are standing in front of it - and you can make out the monstrous wheels behind us. That's just the wheels, and it goes UP from there - the train was enormous! There's also a picture of Benjamin standing by a train with a snow plow at the front. Isn't it huge? After the trains, there were lots of carriages, and then we saw a whole exhibit about airplanes, and the history of flying. There was tons of information on the plaques - and it was all interesting. It killed me that we had to move along so fast - you could spend days here. And then there was a display about the progressive changes in America in locomotion and inventions. Every now and then they had kid-friendly play centers that related to the exhibit - and at this one they had building blocks for making cars, and then they had ramps to race them down. I'm not describing it well at all, just check out the picture. :)

Let's see, then there was an incredible section of the museum dedicated to the history of The Unites States of America - including the Revolutionary War and the founding fathers, the slave trade, the KKK, the African American fight for equal rights. They even had the actual bus exhibited (and you could sit in it and listen to an audio recording about the events that transpired on it) that Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white passenger. Then the history continued on, and then there was a section on the different generations. First there was the "War Generation", then the "Baby Boomers" (and it gave the years that included each generation), "Generation X", and "The Next Generation." It said on the Baby Boomer plaque that "You know you are a baby boomer if... you knew someone who left mainstream society to join a commune" - I've been meaning to ask my mom if she had an interesting story to tell me about this! "Generation X" was the most fun - the last year included was '79 so I didn't really connect with some of the stuff they had on exhibit, but part of it was totally 80s - they had a typical teenager bedroom exhibit, and there was a big "Depeche Mode" poster on the wall, and a clear telephone (where you can see blinking lights and neon wires - my sister and I had one of those - our brother Matt gave it to us! I remember thinking I was SO COOL), tons of 80s-ish clothes in the closet, and a miniscule Macintosh computer on the desk. There was a TV playing 80ish music videos and you could dance along with it and see yourself IN the music video too. The "next generation" which is me, was kind of dissappointing - they said in essence "what will you make it?" Bummer - I wanted to see all the things that I grew up with! We didn't have any more time to explore the museum, but there were exhibits on firearms, and the progression of steam engines (they were ENORMOUS, but they were still able to display them all under one roof). Oh man, I could go on and on. This museum was so cool! Next time either of our parents come visit us, we're taking them to see it. I just know my parents would like it. Even my dad!
ANYWAY, after the museum we had a little picnic on the grounds. This place is beautiful. There were tons of geese on the lawns and it was fun to watch them. Then we went to Greenfield Village, which I've blogged about already. We saw a ton of new stuff this time, and we stayed for quite awhile even though we were only planning on taking a stroll. We got a ride in a Model T car. The driver was so cute to the two boys, who got to sit next to him.

Benjamin's hand is on the driver's knee. Isn't that cute? And you can't really see Eliza in the picture, but she looks so sweet. (You can click on it to see it big, and then hit the browser's back button after - don't "x" out of the screen.) She isn't respresented very well in the pictures from any of our excursions - she just sits happily and serenly in her infant carrier in the stroller. She's a good little companion.

There is a big lake in the corner of Greenfield Village (the place is huge - like a real village!) that had tons of geese and some ducks in it. They were pretty tame, and Benjamin was trying to touch them.... :) Oh, so close!

Anyway, we had such a fun day. I can say for myself that I was absolutely EXHAUSTED by the time we got home! The Henry Ford is a really neat place.