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