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.