May 29 -- Milwaukee to Dearborn, MI

Today was an early day. We were so concerned that we would miss the ferry this morning that we could hardly sleep last night. We got up at 4:00 am and was at the ferry by 4:45. It departed on time at 6:00 am and being high speed (about 40 mph) we made it to Muskegon, MI, in about 2 1/2 hours. From Muskegon, we went directly to Grand Rapids and the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum. His burial site is beside the museum. The first picture is of the Grand Rapids skyline from inside the museum. They did a good job representing his life, career and marriage in different areas making him grow as you proceeded through the museum. The three things that impressed us the most were: 1) the recreated Oval Office from his days in office. Betty decorated the office including designing the rug used. They also reproduced the cabinet room from his presidency. The three presidential portraits he included in the cabinet room were Eisenhower, Lincoln and Truman. 2) The second thing was that they had the ladder used at the Embassy in Saigon during its evacuation at the end of the Vietnam war. They included pictures that showed people climbing the ladder to reach the helicopters that kept landing on the roof. 3) The third was a poster from the mid '70's that could be used today. Although we've included a picture of it, it's not a good shot. The bubble says "Are we gonna let those morons kick sand in our faces?" "Would we really kill for oil?"

From Grand Rapids we drove to East Lansing and the campus of Michigan State University. The picture of the Spartan is from there. Joann's deceased brother, Harold, graduated from State and was always a big supporter of their athletic programs to the point that he did recruiting for them. When he died, he willed a portion of his estate to the University.

We then drove on to Ann Arbor and saw the University of Michigan campus. They are only about 60 miles apart, which adds to their rivalry. From there we drove on to Dearborn, MI, with plans to see the Henry Ford Estate here tomorrow before going on to Detroit, which is only a few miles down the road. Since we missed the nice Spring weather, we feel like we have jumped from Winter to Summer with these 80+ degree days.

May 28 -- Milwaukee

It was a sad day for Milwaukee Brewer's fans as they lost to the Braves 2-1. It was a great day for us, since we saw some new sites, enjoyed some beautiful weather and ate some wonderful food.

We started our day by stopping at Miller Park where they were preparing for the Brewer's game. The guard at the gate was very nice and let us park in the employees' parking lot and walk around the outside of the stadium. It gave us a great view of the inside with the roof open. After that we drove to the River Walk in downtown Milwaukee. A lot of the walk is being renovated and was closed, so our walk was short. We did walk around the part of Milwaukee referred to as the "Old World." The Old World was primarily Germany, so we were in our glory. Unfortunately, the two main stores we wanted to visit were closed. One was the Cheese Mart and the other was Usingers with its 70 varieties of sausage.

We then went to the Pabst Mansion for a tour. Like many of the old mansions, the original owners lived in them only a short period of time. The mansion was built in 1902 and Cpt. Pabst died in 1904 and Mrs. Pabst died in 1906. Their heirs sold the mansion to the Catholic Archdiocese in 1908 and it was lived in by the Archbishops for 67 years. They painted the fabulous wood paneled walls and did other devastating things to the house that almost ruined it. They even painted over some of the murals in the house. In 1975, the Holiday Inn next door bought the property with plans to tear it down and make a parking lot. In the meantime the Milwaukee Preservation Society raised enough money to save it from the wrecking ball and in the past 31 years they have worked to restore the interior to its original grandeur. The house cost $250,000 to build in 1902 (that's $10 million in today's dollars) and the ceiling in just one of the bedrooms cost $230,000 to restore. We estimate that they are about 70% complete with their restoration, so we saw a lot of it completed. We had planned on seeing 2 other mansions, but discovered they were both closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. So, now we have something to come back to see. We did get a view of one of the other mansion's gardens from the road and they were very impressive. By the way, if you drink a Pabst Blue Ribbon beer today, it is brewed by Miller in Chicago.

After our tour, we returned to the Old World part of Milwaukee to have lunch at the best German restaurant we have eaten in since leaving Germany. It has been in business since 1902 and with the same family. It's called Mader's after the family. The decor was outstanding and the food was near perfect. We had no idea and just lucked out. The hallway to the restrooms is lined with photos of famous people who have eaten there and with letters of "thank you" to the family. We were certainly in good company.

We then went to the Milwaukee Art Museum. Their new Quadracci Pavilion, the first Santiago Calatrava-designed building in the United States, features a 90-foot high glass-walled reception hall enclosed by the Burke Brise Soleil, a sunscreen that can be raised or lowered creating a unique moving sculpture. From the outside, it appeared to be a ship with wings.
After viewing all the wonderful art, we went out to see the ending of the Memorial Day Parade. They then had a member of each service--including the Coast Guard, Jeanine--lay a wreath in the water of the reflecting pool at the Milwaukee County War Memorial built above the Art Museum.

We then decided it would be a good idea to find the Ferry we are taking tomorrow for Michigan. It was not as easy as we thought, since the highways are so torn up. But we did find it and made reservations for the 6:00 am sailing. That means we'll be getting up around 4:00 am to get there on time. On time is 5:15 am--not 6:00 am. When we arrive in Muskegon, MI, around 9:30 am, we'll be back in Eastern Daylight Time.

May 26 -- Minneapolis to Milwaukee via Madison

The day was beautiful--clear blue skies and 75 degrees. We enjoyed our drive very much, but we were surprised by the terrain in Wisconsin. Expecting lots of flat land with grain fields and dairy cows, we were surprised to see rolling hills with lots of woods. We had driven over 100 miles into Wisconsin before seeing our first dairy farm. In Madison, we had lunch near the University and had a good view of the Capitol. The picture of the Capitol was taken from our outdoor table as was the picture of the two of us. It seemed like the Capitol, which our travel guide says is the largest outside of the Nation's Capitol, was part of the University. Driving on to Milwaukee we saw more dairy farms, but not many. It makes us question their title "America's Dairyland." The number of dairy farms is declining due to the high costs.

After checking into the hotel, we turned on the TV to the weather channel and discovered that Northern Virginia was having severe thunderstorms, so we called Jenn and Terry to see how things were. Apparently, it wasn't really storming yet and Terry said they really didn't notice the weather because they never get outside--too busy finishing the painting in the nursery and putting together the baby's furniture. We would feel sorry for them, except we are too excited about becoming grandparents.

After a short rest, we headed for downtown Milwaukee. On the way we passed Miller Park where the Brewers play. It looked a lot like the outside of Camden Yards, except for the retractable dome. Next, we discovered that they are building a new interstate through downtown Milwaukee and our navigation system doesn't deal well with detours. We drove out to Lake Michigan and took a walk on the beach. On the way back to the hotel we drove through a small park that reminded us of Rock Creek Parkway in D.C. and then we drove by some beautiful mansions just about a block from the Lake. On Memorial Day we hope to tour Milwaukee and some of their beautiful old homes like the Pabst Mansion.