On the Trail to Topeka with Twain & Truman - 13th update from Chrisandra’s Road Trip

Aloha all,

if you like to keep up with our travels, but don’t have time to read a whole novel every week, this is your lucky day: We are taking a few days off from our road trip for a quick trip via Iceland to visit our family in Germany. That does not leave much time to write a long update, so I’ll just quickly tell you how we spent the last week meeting Mark Twain and spending a night with President Harry Truman…

Mark Twain is as omnipresent in and around Hannibal, Missouri as Lincoln is in Springfield. The cottage he was born in was moved to a ‘’shrine’ in his own Mark Twain State Park outside of Hannibal. We stayed at the Mark Twain campground at the Mark Twain Cave. Of course there is the home where Mark Twain grew up, but they also preserved the homes of people he knew and might have based the characters in his books on, such as Huckleberry Finn. And if a building had nothing to do with him, they put a Mark Twain museum or a Mark Twain souvenir shop in it. To be honest, I am not sure Hannibal would still be a town, if it weren’t for Mark Twain…or if it weren’t for the levies that protect it from the rising waters of the Mississippi:

Levy protecting Hannibal from the Mississippi

After all that hype, we got really excited to see that Mark Twain himself was performing at the local theater the same night we were there. The whole performance was based on Mark Twain’s own words, which made it even more surprising that it all seemed so relevant in today’s world. I guess true wisdom and witty humor is timeless. Only in one aspect he was way off: About politicians, he said that the most important part is being honest. Well, either he was being funny or he did not foresee a future in which this quality is not needed at all to reach the highest office in the land. 

We thoroughly enjoyed the performance and chatting with the Mark Twain impersonator afterwards. He always stayed in character, which confused me a little bit. When I told him that we lived in the Sandwich Islands, he said that he was heading there again next year. I thought he was planing a trip for 2019, but Mark Twain went there in 1895. Mark Twain continues to be my favorite author I never read.

Mark Twain and the Sandwich Islanders

A few days later, we got a little extra Mark Twain without even trying: We went to another little local theater that was putting on such an obscure play, that we could not even google it. It was called “In regard to Flight”. Actually, Sandra and I both found a play by that name, but they were totally different. And as it turned out, the actual play we saw was very different yet again from what either one of us had read online. We were very glad that we went anyway. Just like in old Maui days, there were only a dozen people in the audience, but the play was riveting. It imagined Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn meeting again when they were old men. Huck Finn is still telling tall tales and might or might not have spent a summer with Peter Pan in Neverland. We loved it.

Before we started our trip, I had bought a large US map and marked places I wanted to see with stars. However, for the star in Columbia, Missouri, I failed to write down why. But it turned out great, we went to a really fun concert from “Here come the Mummies” at the ‘Blue Note’. The opening band “Luthi” was so good that we felt we already got our money’s worth. Our seat neighbors explained to us why the Mummies perform all disguised: Supposedly, they are all well known (some even Grammy winning) musicians, who are by contract not allowed to tour on their own, so they do so incognito with the Mummies. It’s hard to describe their style. I’d call it mostly funk…and calling them highly energetic fun would be an understatement. 

"Here Come the Mummies!"

Ever since we went to the JFK Presidential Library 10 years ago, we’ve been to as many Presidential Libraries and Museums as possible, but there is always something new. At the Truman Library in Independence, Missouri they had a “History Happy Hour”, which includes free drinks, snacks and one of the curators sharing her favorite finds from the archives. She had just transferred from the JFK Library, which made the presentation particularly fitting for us. Plus we got to talk to the right people to secure an overnight spot for Joy and us to spend the night at the Library. This was helpful since we did not finish the museum on the first day…too much to learn about Truman…and too much to be thankful for, especially as a German.

Harry Truman Presidential Library and Museum

Here is how nice President Truman was to Germany after the Second World War, even though he went to fight Germany in the First World War himself: He knew that Hitler came to power because of the unfair conditions imposed on Germany after WW I and he knew that Western Europe was needed to contain Soviet ambitions to spread communism. But he also knew that he was not popular enough in congress or in the country to ask for billions of dollars to help rebuilding Europe. But General Marshal was popular, so he was willing to call it the Marshall Plan and not get all the credit. I remember my mom telling me how grateful they were for the help from the Marshall Plan, but until we came to this Museum, I knew Truman only as the guy who dropped the atomic bombs. 

Learning that the years immediately after the war were hard times in America, too, makes it even more impressive that they spent billions to help Europe. I hope by now most Americans will agree, that it was money well spent, making Europe a democratic ally and a force for peace and stability rather than the previous cause for war after war. I have to be honest, I don’t know whether I would have been so generous. For example, when West Berlin was cut off, it would have been easy to sacrifice half a city to the Soviets to avoid confrontation. But Truman insisted on the Berlin Airlift, which lasted a lot longer and involved much more effort than I ever realized. For about a year a plane landed in Berlin in average every two minutes to feed and supply the city. Pretty smart move, in hindsight, knowing that Berlin was the city where the wall came crumbling down about 40 years later. Not such an obvious decision back then. Thank you Harry; thank you, America!

Each plane represents one flight of the Berlin Airlift...every day for a year!

After leaving the White House, Truman moved back to his home in Missouri. It was actually the home of his in-laws. He moved in there when he married Bess, who was much more upper class than him. Apparently, for his mother-in-law Harry was never really good enough for her daughter, even when he was the president. It was a fancy home for the time and the area, but very modest for an ex-president. 

The house across the street is historically restored as well. This is where Harry’s favorite cousin lived, what apparently was instrumental in him courting Bess. In it, we saw a TV show from the 50’s in which Truman’s daughter interviewed her mom and dad in the family home, it’s very charming and really shows how down-to-earth they were.

Off to Kansas, now we are down to just two states we have not been to. If you have been paying any attention, you can probably guess where we spent the first day in Topeka. Yes, of course, at the state capitol. And I am not kidding, but the Topeka Sate Capitol seriously is my new favorite capitol building. First of all, they just finished their multi year renovations, with the very elaborate copper ornamentation still shiny. But mostly because they don’t offer just one free tour, but two. We have been to so many capitols where I looked up the rotunda and wished we could go up….in Topeka we did! 

Kansas State Capitol in Topeka

The dome is taller than the Capitol in DC, however the inner dome is actually only half way up. On the tour you get to climb up the stairs through the lower dome to the upper dome and come out on top of it, with great views inside and out. Luckily, our tour guide enjoyed it just as much and did not mind staying there a little longer, possibly cementing Topeka as my favorite state capitol of them all…but we still have about 26 to go.

Stairs between the lower and upper dome of the Topeka capitol

Topeka is also home to the Brown vs. Board of Education National Historical Site. They converted the school where Linda Brown went into a museum about the landmark decision of the Supreme Court to desegregate pubic schools. Even though it’s known as Brown vs. Board of Education, there were actually several lawsuits involved and Linda actually finished school in the all-black school even after the favorable verdict. But they sure changed history. It made me think that the people who fought for equal rights for everybody regardless of the color of their skin, the gender they were born or who they happen to love, maybe those people should wear those red hats saying “Make America Great”. Regardless of the many bad things going on, I feel there is no question that in the big picture America is still on her path to live up to her original declaration that all men are created equal. Sometimes a look back at history helps to keep things in perspective. 

Brown vs. Board of Education National Historical Site

That was our very short introduction to Kansas, back to Missouri: Of course they have a capitol, too, so we went to Jefferson City. Fun fact: When the capital was moved here, only 26 families lived in Jefferson City. It’s slightly bigger now, but still a very quiet town. As always, we enjoyed the tour at the state capitol. They might have the best murals of any state capitol, but they did not let us on top of the dome, so Topeka is still my favorite for now…

But with the capitol, the historical buildings of Jefferson Landing and a nice brewery, it made for a very pleasant visit. Jefferson Landing should actually be called Lewis & Clark Landing, since they were the first ones to land on the banks of the Missouri River at this location over 200 years ago. 

Since we are running a severe risk of eventually running out of Presidential Museums, Sandra found something completely different for us to do in Fulton, Missouri: A “Prime Minister Museum”, or to be more precise: The National Churchill Museum. It’s located on the campus of Westminster College because that’s where Churchill gave his famous “Iron Curtain Speech”. In case you were wondering why he would give this speech in rural Missouri: The short answer is: Because they invited him. And then our friend President Truman extended their invitation. What I wasn’t aware of is the fact that in 1946 he was not Prime Minister anymore. That’s right, a year after defeating the Nazis in WW 2, he was defeated in an election at home. But he stayed involved, as shown by the speech at Westminster College and by the fact that he became prime minister again a few years later. The Churchill museum is just as impressive as a presidential museum. We spent a full day here, including a long chat with a volunteer who gave us a private tour of the old church, which was brought from London brick by brick and in which the Churchill museum is now housed. 

Joy at the Churchill Museum at Westminster College

The little Westminster College in quiet Fulton, Missouri has continued to invite big name speakers and they continue to agree. Reagan gave a speech here when they erected a piece of the Wall just a year after it came down in Berlin. Many more speaker came here, from Margaret Thatcher to Bernie Sanders, so they cover pretty much the whole spectrum. 

In St. Louis we only went to the Arch. We had been to the top 26 years ago, but the visitor center is totally new and has great exhibitions about the westward expansion. 

St. Louis viewed from the Arch

The memorial and the museum pays tribute to the pioneers who expanded the country from coast to coast, without whitewashing the history. They explain in detail how the Americans of European decent stole the land from the Native Americans, broke ever single treaty they ever made with the Native American tribes and decimated native populations through diseases and by destroying their livelihood, both accidentally and on purpose. What I was not aware of before is that even for European settlers, the expansion of America was not always an expansion of freedom and democracy. For example, women had many more rights in the French and Mexican territories before they became part of the United States.

View straight down from the top of the Gateway Arch

We spent one more day in St. Louis disc golfing, packing and getting Joy ready for the expected cold front while we are gone. Then we were off to the airport. If you think we are enjoying our road trip so much that we will never come back to Maui, rest assured: We miss our friends and the weather. A few more reminders like this and we are sure to remember to return to Maui for the winter: 

Snow in October, a reminder to come back to Maui eventually...

Speaking of winter: I’d love to tell you about our two days in Iceland, but I promised to keep this short. Also: I am still debating whether to describe Iceland as a barren wasteland where we got excited when we saw our first tree or as a mystical colorful wonderland of natural phenomena. Both descriptions seem perfectly honest to me. If you haven’t been there yourself, you’ll just have to wait for the next post. 

For the next week, we will try to do nothing in Germany except seeing our family, eating pretzels and drinking beer, so maybe next time I can write the really short update I had promised you.

Aloha,

Chris & Sandra

The “Land of Lincoln” Special - 12th update from Chrisandra’s Roadtrip

Aloha all,

I can almost hear you: “What? Already another blog from Chris and Sandra?” I know, most of you have not even started to read the last post, but occasionally, we think a place is so special that it deserves it’s own update. Springfield in Illinois has been such a place for us. All of Illinois claims to be the “Land of Lincoln”, but you don’t really notice it other than on the license plates until you get close to Springfield….then all of the sudden everything is ‘All About Abe’. 

It started in Bloomington, the day before we got to Springfield. They have a historical museum, which is mostly about Lincoln, the Bloomington residents who knew Lincoln and the places in Bloomington where Lincoln has been. They do mention that Bloomington is on Route 66 and that some other people came here besides Lincoln, but considering that he never actually lived in Bloomington, it’s pretty funny how much they claim him as their home town hero.

We also visited the David Davies Mansion in Bloomington. He was a US senator and a Supreme Court justice. But not surprisingly, in Bloomington he’s mostly know for being one of Lincoln’s friends, in particular because he persuaded him to run for president. It’s all about Abe. I don’t blame them, there are only two or three presidents that pretty much everybody agrees were pretty good, so if you got one of them, you got to use it for all it’s worth.

We got a fun welcome to Springfield when we checked in at the campground at the Illinois State Fairgrounds. Apparently the campground host was bored, so he offered to take us on a golf cart ride around the whole complex, telling us about the buildings, the state fair and of course the Lincoln sites.

Our private golf cart tour of the Illinois Sate Fairgrounds

In the last update I mentioned that we also found the one and only house in Springfield that has nothing to do with Lincoln and we actually went there first: It’s the Dana Thomas House by our good old friend Frank Lloyd Wright. The more of his houses we see, the more impressed I am by his work, the more appalled I am by his character and the more amused I am by his inability to build a roof that does not leak. But what I find most impressive is that his houses still look modern to us after all these years, this one is from 1904. Many buildings are out of style within a decade of being built or at least look obviously old. Frank Lloyd Wright’s work seems either way ahead of his time or just timeless. Unfortunately, they never allow photographs of the fun features inside of the house. 

The beautiful, timeless, leaking Dana Thomas House by Frank Lloyd Wright

Most presidents are lucky if their home is preserved as a museum at all. For Lincoln, Springfield not only preserved his home, but re-created the whole neighborhood where he lived. The National Park Service manages the site and per Lincoln’s son request, tours are and always will be free. This is the home where he lived before he became president. Nice middle class for the time, but nothing fancy by today’s standards.

Lincoln's Home

Since Springfield is the capital, of course we we took a tour through their state capitol. It was built after Lincoln was assassinated, but of course he’s still very well represented and remembered at the capitol building. If you have ever been to the Illinois state capitol, I bet that the first thing you said when you looked up into the rotunda was the same thing we said: “Wow!”. This truly is the most impressive state capitol dome we have seen so far. I know you think that I say that about every capitol building we visit. But I want you to go back to my last update to confirm that I did not say that about the Michigan Capitol in Lansing, even though it was really impressive, too. Springfield’s capitol dome is also the tallest in the country, taller than the national capitol in Washington.

Rotunda in the Illinois State Capitol

From what we hear, the Governor’s Mansion in Springfield had fallen into terrible disrepair. But just in time for us, they finished their $15 million renovation and now give free public tours through all but the private living areas. You would think the current governor of Illinois would get some credit for renovating the Governor’s Mansion without spending any taxpayer’s money and making it available for public tours. He’s also one of the few Illinois governors, who is not (yet) convicted of corruption, which is somewhat unusual. But the one state employee we talked to just rolled his eyes when asked whether they were glad not to have Blagojevich in office anymore (he’s currently in jail for trying to ’sell’ Obama’s senate seat). Apparently he is only slightly happier with the current governor. 

The next day was one of my favorite days of all of our road trips. According to TripAdvisor, most people spend 2-3 hours at the Lincoln Presidential Museum in Springfield. We went there when they opened and left seven hours later when they closed. The museum just opened in 2005, so it is very modern. In fact, one of the multimedia presentations, the “Ghosts off the Library”, was so well done that we had to see the show a second time just to confirm whether what we had just seen was a hologram, an animatronic or a real person. We even watched it a third time, but that was just for fun.

The Lincoln Museum would be the one place I would not blame if it were all about Lincoln. But they actually had an exhibition that included the other three presidents with Illinois ties. Only one president was born in Illinois. It’s not who most people would guess, it’s Ronald Reagan. Grant also lived in Illinois for a long time and of course Obama. Depending on who you ask that’s a pretty good record. Four good ones if you ask this German hobby historian. The Lincoln Museum does a great job telling Lincoln’s story from his log cabin beginnings, through his career as a traveling lawyer and as president during the civil war, to his untimely death. 

Some people just don't know how to dress to meet the first family...

Most other presidential museums and libraries leave out or downplay any of the criticism. Here they do the opposite: They display an amazing amount of quotes, caricatures, and news that just trash Lincoln. If you think partisan politics  today are worse than ever, this might come as a surprise. The things that were said about Lincoln during his lifetime were worse than anything I have ever heard on MSNBC about Trump or on Fox News about Obama. But of course that changed quickly after he won the civil war and died a martyr by being assassinated. Now I guess the curators of the museum are so confident in Abraham Lincoln’s reputation that they can have a whole exhibition about vicious criticism and it just makes Abraham Lincoln look even better. 

Another exhibit I really enjoyed at the Lincoln Museum was a modern day TV studio where they had Tim Russert report on the 1860 election. I wish they had these for all presidential elections, just to show that dirty partisan politics are nothing new.

Tim Russert reporting on the 1860 presidential election

After the day at the museum we were able to enjoy a real “tripple treat”: As you know, we love American history & former presidents, we love musicals and we love state capitols.  Lucky for us, we got to combine all this when we were able to get tickets for the sold out musical “1776”, performed in the historic House of Representatives at the Old State Capitol and we loved, loved, loved it. The performance was so fantastic that it really felt like we were there at the birth of the nation, even though I doubt John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin and Co. were singing much when they argued whether or not to declare Independence.

"1776" musical at the Old State House 

We went back to visit the Old State Capitol the next day. Only makes sense to go there twice; besides Lincoln, Obama also made history here. Plus my own first lady walked down the capitols steps, too:

Sandra at the Old State Capitol

Obama announced his candidacy and his running mate in front of the Old State Capitol in Springfield. We also got to talk in depth with a historian, who enlightened us that history is never as black and white as it seems: Two examples: Stephen Douglas was not as bad as the Lincoln stories sometimes makes him look. Douglas is portrayed as the bad guy in the debates with Lincoln because he favored states rights to allow slavery, but does not get much credit for fully supporting the Union once the civil war broke out. And the Hamilton musical makes it sound like Alexander Hamilton was an abolitionist fighting for democracy, but apparently he bought and sold slaves for his in-laws and was an elitist in favor of having a president for life.

Old State Capitol at night

Our last two stops in Springfield were Lincoln’s tomb at Oak Ridge Cemetery and the Elijah Iles House. This could have been just another old house of yet another guy who knew Lincoln. But even though we were the only visitors, we got to enjoy a competition between our tour guide, the curator of the mansion and the grandson of the last owner of the mansion. Between the three of them, they had lots of stories and details. The whole mansion was moved two times. We have heard that at many historical sites and it still blows my mind that they were able to move a house without any modern equipment.

Lincoln's tomb

When we left Springfield, we were already pretty impressed, little did we know that the best was yet to come. We went to Lincoln’s New Salem Historical Site. This is the small village where Lincoln lived for 6 years after moving out from his parents, apparently full of ambition but no idea what to do with it. We ended up spending almost three days here, mostly because we got here during their annual candlelight weekend, when they light the whole village with candles and they have interpreters in costumes in most of the buildings. They even serve free hot cider and gingerbread, so not surprising, there were over 1000 people there, walking from cabin to cabin, learning about Lincoln and his former neighbors, listening to live music or just enjoying the atmosphere with a faint orange glow coming out of every door and window. We loved it so much that we decided to stay another night. The second night was very different. There were only a few dozen people because it had rained hard. So no lines and one more reason to check out the next cabin to see what’s happening inside. This really is the most intriguing way to learn about history. 

Candlelight weekend at Lincoln's New Salem

The things we learnt that surprised us the most: New Salem, with it’s roughly 200 people in a little over 20 cottages was the largest town Lincoln had ever lived in at this point in his life, even though his family had moved several times from Kentucky via Indiana to Illinois. The other astounding fact: In the 1830’s, tiny New Salem was about the same size as Chicago. Yet one would grow to become a huge metropolis while the other pretty much disappeared within 10 short years, before being reconstructed in the 1930s to make it more fun for us to learn about Lincoln. I now feel like I have a better understanding how Lincoln lived there 180 years ago than how any other president ever lived anywhere, including Obama how is not even 10 years older than us and grew up within walking distance of where we lived in Honolulu.

Reconstructed 1830's New Salem - same size as Chicago at the same time!

Now we have a few more days before we go to two very special and surprising places. I bet you’ll never guess where we will be by the time I write the next update. We just ‘found out’ ourselves. I am truly surprised myself and never ever expected this place to be on our itinerary for this trip….so stay tuned.

Aloha,

Chris & Sandra

Monkeys, Michigan, Museums, Milk & More - 11th update from Chrisandra’s Roadtrip

Aloha all,

in the past 10 days we did some of our usual favorite road trip activities, like state capitols and presidential libraries, but we were also attacked by monkeys, saw a cow and pigs giving birth, visited my favorite museum in the world, went south of the California/Oregon border IN KANADA and to Holland in Michigan. Confused yet? I hope it makes more sense if you read the whole thing:

We really enjoyed our time with Petra, but of course we went wild when she left us! By that I mean we went to a wildlife park, the “African Lion Safari” in Hamilton, Ontario. They have a variety of presentations, a little train and boat ride and most of all, a large wildlife refuge with (somewhat) free roaming herds of lions, zebras, giraffes, bisons and monkeys. My mom can confirm that I always enjoyed monkeys the most, even as a little kid in a regular zoo. But boy, was little Chris, the monkey fan, in for a treat! 

This is a drive-through park and since the animals are wild, you are not allowed to get out of your car or even open your windows. So for the most part, you are driving past the animals and observe them from a few meters distance…until you come to the monkeys. They liked climbing up on cars and they LOVED climbing up on Joy. They basically turned Joy into their own jungle gym, we had several of them on the hood, swinging from the large mirrors or hanging of the side, we also saw them on the backup camera climbing up the ladder and all the people in regular cars surrounded us because we had half a dozen of them on the roof. We were a little concerned about Joy’s well being, but it turned out to be very minor damage, especially compared to the very mayor fun we had watching them. 

Joy makes for a great Jungle Gym!

Time to explain one of the geographical mysteries: How many of you knew that you can go further south in Canada than some parts of California? Actually, the Point Pelee National Park in southwest Ontario is on a peninsula that reaches so far south that 27 US states are at least partially north of there, including California. 13 states are completely north of Point Pelee. There is more useless trivia for our European friends: This part of Canada is as far south as Barcelona or Rome! You wouldn’t even have to go all the way to the tip of the peninsula, but of course I did.

Chris in "The Deep South" of Canada

Last time we had trouble getting into Canada, this time it was hard getting out. The Ambassador Bridge in Windsor was closed due to a (luckily unsuccessful) suicide attempt. The only other border crossing in the area is a tunnel, which is normally tall enough for Joy, but due to construction work the ceiling is currently lower, so that wasn’t an option either. We walked along the river right across from downtown Detroit, so close, but we could not get home. And yes, even though according to our passports home is over 4000 miles further east and our actual home is over 4000 miles to the west of here, coming back to the US does feel like coming home to us (I am not just saying that because that meant we had cellular service again). And after a few hours delay, we did get to come home!

I was somewhat kidding when I wrote that we were not allowed to go to museums while Petra was with us and how desperate we were catching up on museums now that it’s just the two of us again. But judging how many museums we visited since Petra left, maybe I wasn’t so far from the truth. But two of my favorite museums in the world are right across the border in Dearborn, Michigan. We had been to them on our first big trip 10 years ago, but these are such special places that we had to see them again, plus it saves me some effort because even though we also saw some new things there, I can re-use some of what I wrote 10 years ago: 

“The Henry Ford Museum is not a museum about Ford. Their Automobile gallery is actually only a small part and includes everything from the original Oscar Mayer Wienermobile to several presidential limousines, even the one in which JFK got shot. They also happen to have the chair on which Abraham Lincoln got shot. But it's not at all some macabre collection, the chair is part of a fantastic exhibition about various struggles for liberty and justice: How America freed itself from the British rule by the declaration of independence, how the black slaves had to fight for almost another 200 years before America agreed that "all men are created equal" means that ALL men are created equal. And how the women's right movement had to convince not only men but also more traditional women that they should have the same rights as men. The museum also has the actual bus on display in which Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat for a white man. It is allowed, but I did not dare sit in her seat. My favorite part of the museum was the "Dymaxion House". This was a brilliant idea that was supposed to revolutionize the way the world lives and builds houses. Hailed in the 40's as the "House of the Future" (sounds familiar, RJ?) these houses were to be pre-manufactured and then shipped and set up in a few days. They were completely round, held up by a central post and had a lot of very unique features. It all sounds really appealing, but the changes were probably too radical. The houses were widely advertised, but they failed to raise enough interest or capital. Only two models were built and only this one in the museum remains...and we all still live in square houses.

The Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan

We also spent a full day at Greenwich Village, which is my favorite museum in the world. This is a historical experience you can not have anywhere else: Greenfield Village is a collection of real buildings, where industrial history was made. In one day, you can see amongst other things:

• The house in which Henry Ford grew up and the workshop in which he built his very first car,
• The bicycle shop of the Wright brothers. You can say that the back of this building became the world's first airplane factory since this is where they built their first plane, 
• The actual laboratories in which Thomas Edison invented, designed and created his many inventions. Funny, that I mostly remember learning here what Edison did NOT invent: The light bulb! As it turns out, many others had made electric light before Edison. But their bulbs only lit up for a few seconds. Edison did come up with the first light bulb that worked for practical purposes. Still pretty clever.
• The house in which the Heinz company started out (interestingly enough with horseradish, not ketchup)
• The house where Noah Webster lived and wrote his famous dictionary. I’ve learnt that he’s responsible for many of the uniquely American spellings, such as harbor instead of harbour. Before he wrote the first American dictionary, spelling for many words were all over the place.”

Greenfield Village, the Disneyland of the Industrial Revolution

Ten years ago, we were not yet into state capitols, so the Michigan State Capitol building in Lansing was new to us. At first we were a little concerned because we were on a tour with a large group of school kids. But the kids were pleasantly well behaved and the tour guide did a great job making the tour interesting for teenage kids as well as for state capitol nerds like us.

Dome of the Michigan State Capitol in Lansing

When we were in Michigan ten years ago we were also not yet into Presidential Libraries (that did not start until we went to the JFK Library a few weeks later). But now we are, so of course we went to the Gerald Ford Presidential Museum in Grand Rapids. Again we were shocked at first: There were dozens of school busses and we had a hard time even finding parking. But it turned out that most of them were not there for the Presidential Museum, but for ArtPrize. Don’t feel bad if you are as ignorant as us and never heard of ArtPrize. It’s only the biggest art competition in the country with the largest cash prize in the world. Roughly half a million dollar is awarded, mostly by popular vote from the over 400,000 visitors to the 160 venues in downtown Grand Rapids over 19 days. The presidential museum is one of the venues and therefore free during ArtPrize, but luckily, most of the kids (and adults) were interested in ArtPrize and the museum itself was not that crowded at all. 

President Ford has the unique distinction being the only person to became president without ever being elected as president or even vice president. Nixon chose him when his Vice President resigned due to a scandal (unrelated to Watergate). And after Nixon resigned a few weeks later, Ford had gone from congressman (who had planed to retire after his next term) to President of the United States in a matter of weeks. What we did not know is that when he ran for re-election in 1976, Ronald Reagan actually challenged him for the Republican nomination. Ford won narrowly at the Republican convention, but the bruises from his primary fight against Reagan and many voters still upset about him pardoning Nixon gave Carter the advantage in the general election. Gerald Ford inherited a terrible mess politically after Watergate and economically, but he seems to have been a genuinely decent guy. Then again, depending on your personal perspective, these days most if not all former presidents look like pretty decent human beings in comparison. Especially if you study them in their own museum and libraries, which are not always the most objective source. 

We also found another great little community theater in Grand Rapids. We saw "The Curious Incident of the Dog at the Night-Time" at the Spectrum Theater and it eroded yet again my fading belief that Maui is the only place with great community theater.

We have been to Holland several times, but never in Michigan. And even in Holland in Holland we had never been in a working windmill. But thanks to the Dutch immigrants who founded the town of Holland in Michigan, we have filled those gaps. The “De Zwaan” windmill they have there was the last historic windmill that was allowed to be taken out of Holland and only under the condition that it continues to be used as a mill by a member of the Dutch Milling Guild.This is how serious the town of Holland in Michigan was about being Dutch: The city sent somebody to Holland to learn how to make flour using a 250 year old Dutch windmill. She is now the only female member of the Dutch Milling Guild and operates the only Dutch windmill in America. 

As far Dutch as you can go in America: "De Zwaan" Windmill in Holland, Michigan

The tour of the windmill was most interesting. The mechanics made a lot more sense to me. I say that because we have also seen a modern wind farm on this trip. Apparently all the designers of modern windmills agree that three skinny long blades is the way to go. But to me, the four wide wings of a classic windmill with sails on them seem to be a lot better suited to catch as much wind as possible. I would also bet that the light flyer from the Wright Brothers is more likely to get off the ground than a Boing 747 weighing hundreds of thousands of pounds. Yet, the Wright brothers were excited to fly 852 feet, which would be a pretty terrible distance for a 747. So maybe it’s good I don’t design planes…or windmills.

The actual town of Holland wasn’t as Dutch as we thought, but it was a lot more fun than we expected. They had a great farmer’s market and festivities for the grand re-opening of their civic center. They also have a surprising number of breweries for such a small town and the best bloody marry bar I have ever seen. And they have the largest snow melt system of any town in America. They buried 190 miles of tubing under the streets and sidewalks. They pump hot water through the tubes, providing an ice and snow free downtown without having to plow or use salt. We are not really planing to get anywhere near Michigan in the winter, but if we were, this cute town would be on the top of our list.

Farmers Market at the newly remodeled Civic Center in Holland

Crisscrossing through the Midwest we’ve been driving through a lot of farm country. We’ve also been drinking a lot of milk and ate a lot of cheese and steak. So it only made sense to learn more about where that all comes from. No better place to do that than Fair Oaks Farm in Indiana.This is a real working dairy and pig farm, but also a tourist attraction. Their main business is making milk and breeding pigs, obviously they would not need over 30,000 cows just to show tourist where milk comes from. But in order to be fully transparent and I am sure also to make some extra money, they built a large visitor center and offer various tours and attractions. Since you are seeing the actual dairy farm and pig farm, this seems to be a pretty honest view of where some of our food comes from. I was pretty surprised to see that the cows walk onto and off the milking carousel voluntarily all by themselves. 

Milking carousel at the Fair Oaks Farm

The most fascinating part was the little theater they built where you can watch cows giving birth and with 30,000 of them, there are always plenty of births happing. Obviously, I have no idea how happy or unhappy the cows are at a farm like this, but I guess this is the best way to do this if we want to continue to pay only $2 for a gallon of milk here or ‘only’ $5 per gallon on Maui. 

First time we saw a cow giving birth

I was wondering how the pig farm would be able to show what they do without turning every single visitor instantly into a vegetarian. There is one simple trick: This is just a pig breeding farm. They make cute little pigs by the thousands. We saw several born just in the few minutes we were there, but they just ‘sell them to market’, which of course means somebody else is going to slaughter them. Every human being should have very mixed feelings about that, since it’s hard for me to imagine anybody not liking cute little pigs or not liking bacon. The experience did not turn us into vegetarians yet. In fact, we had a delicious lunch at their farm to table restaurant right after the pig tour. But at some point, I should try to see a slaughter house, too. Maybe that will do the trick.

About 5 minute old pig

We are now in Springfield, Illinois. But we are not done here yet, so you will have to wait for the next post to find out whether we were able to find any presidential sites here….just kidding…anybody who has ever been anywhere near Springfield knows that they market their hometown hero Lincoln like no other town I have ever seen. But believe it or not, we have already found one place in Springfield that has nothing to do with Lincoln, which is a lot harder!

Aloha from the Land of Lincoln,

Chris & Sandra