Saturday, May 18 -19 PA Family

 Saturday, May 18

We sleep in and enjoy a leisurely breakfast before heading to Garden Spot Village in New Holland where Greg's Mom is in an assisted living part of a huge retirement community.    The Northeast is so far ahead of Texas in these kinds of facilities!  It is about a 45 minute drive.

We visit, chat and go to lunch at the Harvest Table, which is a large cafeteria type place with lots of choices of foods.  We stop by to check on the Pool, which is undergoing some repairs.  Mom enjoys using it 5 days a week so it is hard being without.

Gwynne fills some bird feeders that are visible from Mom's windows and some appreciative cardinals wrens and finches soon appear.

We head back to Gwynne's mid-afternoon to help with a few chores,  and enjoy Philly Cheese Steaks from Sabatino's a local restaurant we've visited before. YUM!

Sunday, May 19

Greg and I go back to Mom's in the morning. We attend Church services there and meet a few of her friends.  Gwynne arrives later and we head back to Harvest Table for lunch.  

Gwynne introduces us to a new game called "Just One", which we play for a while.  Visit and chat, catching up on life at Garden Spot.  It is a beautiful day today, so we go for a long walk, with Mom in a wheelchair.   Lovely grounds are always well kept.  We visit the red maple tree that was planted in honor of Mom and Dad and ask a man who is working in the communal garden nearby to take a photo. Voila!

There is a pond nearby where Mom used to always say she would walk and talk to the frogs.  She often heard them but didn't see them, but they are on full display today soaking up the sunshine.

Back to her apartment and then to dinner before we head back to Gwynne's.  Great to be together!

Friday, May 17 PA Scenery, Family in PA, Philly Cheese Steaks

 Friday, May 17

We cross I80 to 322 all of which is pretty rural.   Thousands of trees, rolling hills and occasional small towns. It is cloudy with low clouds filling hollows early on, but it clears nicely as we continue on.   The old USA still exists here, with A&W Rootbeer drive-ins,  drive-in movies and farm stands.

When we get near to Penn State in State College the road is improved.  At a couple of spots it is painted with spaced out white dots about the size of a dinner plate.  We discover that these dots are guides to how far you should leave between vehicles.  Tailgating causes accidents and signs advise drivers to leave two dots between vehicles.  We've seen this somewhere once before and it must have been in Pennsylvania (because Google says so).  Wanted to get a picture, but of course we didn't see it again.

This really wasn't a bad route and only a tad slower than the turnpike (which isn't a particularly great road).  We arrive at Greg's sister's near West Chester, PA mid-afternoon and make ourselves at home - thanks, Gwynne!  Greg does a quick wash of the Trek, which REALLY needs it.  Beth does some laundry and we shower and get cleaned up before Gwynne gets home from work. 

Her house looks great, with beautiful flowers - iris, peony, bleeding hearts, potted plants.  And gorgeous rhododendrons all over the neighborhood.  Guess we've never been here at this time of year!  We admire her back yard where storm and fallen trees wreaked havoc - all cleaned up, new shed, repaired fence and things look great.  Greg helps drain the water from her pool cover and we enjoy getting caught up!

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We talk to Mom by phone and will go visit her tomorrow.

Thursday, May 16, 2024 Ford Museum, Greenfield Village

 Thursday, May 16

Warmer today 62 degrees at 8:15.  After breakfast, we head to the Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation and adjacent Greenfield Village in Dearborn. We are there shortly after the 9:30 opening.

We purchase tickets for the Museum and Greenfield Village, and pass on the factory tour.  Since the weather is nice, we opt to do the outdoor Greenfield Village first.

 When Henry Ford saw something he was impressed with, he often purchased it and brought it to Dearborn.  An admirer of innovation and creativity, he he dismantled original buildings and brought them with their furnishings here to Dearborn.  The Village is his collection.

We first stopped at his original home,

Then the Wright Brothers Bicycle Shop 

Thomas Edison's Menlo Park Complex

  A Post Office, A Millinery Shop,  General Store, Boarding House, Farms,  Robert Frost's home,  Noah Webster's home and many of his books, a courthouse in which Abraham Lincoln practiced law,  a sawmill, a log cabin where  George Washington Carver stayed, and many other shops, homes and craftsmen demonstrations.

A full roundhouse with many steam engines, all in working condition, was interesting.  A man with a large illuminated illustration explained how steam engines worked.

 Each building had at least one person who told you about the people who occupied it and pointed out interesting articles which were from the original building.  I asked someone how many people were employed here and he said it was 800 before COVID, probably a bit less now.

Noah Webster's Home

George Washington Carver's Cabin

Robert Frost's Home

Boarding House for Edison's Workers

An early Ford Factory

Quite impressive!   After we walked around and saw much of the village, we went for a ride in a 1927 model T with driver Mike as our guide.  

The car was a 4-cylinder, with top speed of 40mph.  They have a whole fleet of original vehicles and Mike says their maintenance is quite a job.  Didn't realize that 15 MILLION model T's were built over 19 years!

From here, we headed to the Indoor Museum which was equally impressive.  From neon, to Rosa Park's bus, some Presidential vehicles including the one in which JFK was assassinated.   Many race cars, a few airplanes, furniture - including the chair in which Lincoln sat at Ford Theatre.  Since Ford died in 1947, some of the more recent displays have been acquired by the museum curators.

Lincoln's Ford Theatre seat

Rosa Park's Bus

Original Howard Johnson's sign

Kennedy's Dallas ride

We spent hours here and could easily have spent another day if we had the time and stamina! In a way it was almost obscene how wealthy Ford was, but is also good that he preserved so much history which otherwise may have disappeared.

From here we drop down to Ohio and take the Ohio turnpike ($24) across the state to Pennsylvania.  The PA Turnpike is one of the most expensive roads in the country - would have been over $100 - so we stay north and take route 80, stopping at Wally World in Grove City, PA.  80 is a nice road which really highlights the SYLVAN in Pennsylvania!

Wednesday, May 15 Lake Huron, Lighthouses, Hotel

 Wednesday, May 15

We wake to 37 degrees at 7:00AM.  Brrrr.  We head east this morning on Route 28 before cutting south to Route 2 and back across the Mackinac Bridge.   Very few billboards along these highways, we  are pleased to observe.  

One thing I enjoy as we travel the byways and backroads all over the country is the entrepreneurial spirit of folks.  We see home made signs advertising whatever folks have to sell.  This trip we have seen signs for asparagus, rhubarb, eggs (many of these), rag rugs, flowers, quilts, smoked fish, vehicles, and firewood. I am also a fan of the U-pick it places, but we are a bit early in the season for that.

We cross the Mackinac Bridge again and then veer east, along Lake Huron.  The shore here is similar to Lake Michigan but without the dunes.  Lake Huron is the second largest of the Great Lakes (Superior is #1) and has 3800 miles of coastline.  We'll hop along from Lighthouse to Lighthouse for a while then drop down to Dearborn for the Henry Ford Museums.

Violent storms, heavy fog, shifting sand bars, rocky reefs and outcroppings and heavy vessel traffic claimed scores of ships in the Great Lakes.  

First stop is 40-mile Point Lighthouse. A square white lighthouse built in 1896.  Nice grounds and the mostly buried remains of a shipwreck from a notorious storm called The Big Blow in 1905.  Named for its location between Thunder Bay and Mackinaw City, 40-mile was one of a network of lighthouses meant to protect the shipping of grain, iron ore and other commodities.

Next is Presque Isle, which features two lighthouses, though the road to the old one was closed. The new one was built in 1870 and has several outbuildings including a carriage house.  Most of the lighthouses also include oil houses where fuel was stored and many have fog horn houses.  This one was automated in 1970.

We stopped at a marina closer to town to try to get a vantage point for a picture of the old lighthouse, but could only see a bit of it.  

  Talked with a local who was there walking her dog and she suggested a drive to a place with a view. ( We tried her directions but after a few attempts including walking a private road, gave up.)  Did find a cool piece of rock with coral attached - Anita says it is a petoskey stone in the making, lol.

Sturgeon Point is the next stop.  Built in 1869 and still operational.  There is a 1 1/2 mile reef extending out from Sturgeon Point.  There was also a life-saving station here, which has been destroyed.

The Bailey School, a 1907 one room log schoolhouse, is close by.  Built for the children of logging crews, it was disassembled and moved to this location in 1998.

Then Tawas Point Lighthouse is next.  It is in Tawas Point State Park, which is also a big birdwatching site and many birders with binoculars at hand were there.

I spoke with a women in a fishing outfit and asked what she was hoping to catch, and she responded "A dumb fish."  Along with another woman, we talked about birds and the fisherwoman was very knowledgeable and reeled off (haha)quite a list of birds she'd seen here.  Made me wish we had more time for some leisurely exploration of the surrounding park!

Looking ahead to our visit to Greg's Mom and Sister, we decide we'll have to skip the rest of Lake Huron's coast in order to see Henry Ford's Museum and Greenfield Village in Dearborn and get to PA by the weekend.  So Beth reserves a room at a Wingate Hotel in Brighton, less than an hour from the museums and situated such that we won't have to drive through Detroit. Back to "civilization" and traffic.

We are basically in the suburbs of Detroit, with all the stores, hotels, restaurants, etc. you could ask for.  We luxuriate in the hot shower and then walk a few blocks to Leo's Coney Island which does sell hot dogs, but also Greek food and other things.  We place our order "to go" - a delicious hummus appetizer, Greg has a Chicago and a New York hot dog (with all sorts of toppings), while Beth enjoys a yummy Michigan Salad which apparently is a thing up here.  It consists of mixed greens with mandarin oranges, walnuts, lots of dried cherries, and feta cheese with a raspberry vinaigrette. YUM.

A little TV and lights out!