The Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, MI

Today was our first day at the Henry Ford  Museum. Since it was raining the choice was easy to stay inside the museum and out of the rain. We decided to take the Insider's Tour and got a great overview of the museum. The museum is huge as Henry Ford loved to collect items related to American innovation and especially items related to the intersection of agriculture and industry. Some of my favorites included seeing all of the Ford cars including the original 1896 Quadracycle Ford first invented to the concept cars of the future. The museum also had a number of one-of-a-kind items such as the Lincoln chair, (where Lincoln was shot), the Rosa's Park bus (I sat in her seat.), many presidential limousines, including the one President Kennedy was killed in, and the prototype for Buckminster Fuller's Dyamaxion House, which we were able to tour.  It was a delightful surprise to find that the museum was hosting a Star Trek exhibit. Gene Roddenberry, the creator of Star Trek, was a pilot during World War II and he successfully completed over 30 missions and earned the Distinquished Flying Cross. After the war, he created the Star Trek series, which was given the go ahead by Lucille Ball's, of I Love Lucy fame, production company. Star Trek has always been one of my favorites as it challenged stereotypes and expanded people's ideas of what was possible as it boldly went, "where no one has gone before." It's amazing to see how some of the gadgets dreamed up in Star Trek back in the 1960s are coming true today. Examples include the cell phone and body scanners. The exhibit was filled with props and costumes used in the series so it was neat to see them in person! Overall, I admire Ford's collection and the museum's focus on innovation and American inventions. 

National Museum of the US Air Force in Dayton, Ohio

Today we headed to the Air Force Museum outside of Dayton, Ohio. This is the oldest and largest military aviation museum in the world. It is right near the area wherethe Wright Brothers flew some of their planes. The museum is huge so we decided to focus on the World War II and Presidential hangers.  There were so many amazing planes and displays. Of note was the B-17F Memphis Belle, an iconic symbol of the air attacks made over Europe, memorialized by one of my favorite WWII movies by the same name.  As I  looked at the plane, I thought of my friend Bob Keatley who was a radio operator on a B-17.  I thought about his 30 successful missions and of all those who did not return.  Another amazing moment was having the opportunity to see Bocks Car, the B-29 Superfotress that dropped the atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan  ending WWII. On July 9,1945, Bockscar, piloted  by Major Charles L. Sweeney, dropped Fat Man, a plutonium based bomb on Nagasaki killing approximately 35,000 people and injuring over 60,000. As I looked at the plane and  the replica of the Fat Man bomb, I thought of my friend Gerry Jones, Marines First Division, who was on Okinawa preparing for the invasion of the Japanese homeland. The devestation of the atomic bombs was terrible, and I pray that we never need to use atomic weapons again in this way, but I am grateful that those who served like Gerry, and my friends Jim, Sol, and Herman who were in the Pacific because the end of the war meant they could come home. 

Finally, I was able to see a Catalina. This year I was honored to meet WAVE Carolyn Scott. Carolyn became an aviation gunnery instructor at Pensacola Naval Air Station. Carolyn was one of over 80,000 women who joined the WAVES in World War  II. She taught sailors how to shoot and as I looked at the .50-caliber machine gun mounted on the side of the plane I thought about Carolyn muscling the 84 pound gun as she taught sailors how to hit a target towed behind a plane with her paint tipped bullets, prooving her accuracy when the target was checked back on the ground. Those sailors learned from the best! 

Our last stop was the presidential hangerwhich houses planes that carried FDR, Truman, Eisenhower, and Kennedy.  I was able to board the plane that carried Kennedy's body back to D.C. after he was assassinated. Such a sad moment in our country's history. JFK is a personal hero so I was honored to be on this plane and touch this part of our history. 

I am thankful to my World War II friends and all those who served and continue to serve. So happy that this trip took me in this direction. 

Pecos National Historical Park in Pecos, New Mexico

On the way back home, we stopped at one final national park and got to learn some ancient history. The Pecos Pueblo, Cicuye, was first established around 1350 up in the high desert north of present day Santa Fe. It grew into one of the most powerful Pueblos with a population of approximately 2,000 people and structures four to five stories high. The Pueblo was located on a busy trade route between the Plains Indians to the east and the farming people to the west. Both groups met  and traded often at the Pueblo. In 1541 Spain  sought to colonize the land and soon after Franciscan friars arrived with the goal of converting the native people to Catholicism. Over the next one hundred years, four huge mission churches were built on the site of the Pueblo. Some converted while others continued to practice their religion in secret as the people experienced cruel treatment if they did not follow what the Spaniards wanted. Resentment grew and by 1680 Po'pay, a Pueblo religious leader, secretly organized surrounding Pueblos and the Pueblos revolted and drove the Spaniards out and the churches were destroyed. Comanche and Apache raids and lack of rain effected the health of the Pueblo and by the late 1700s the region's population decreased. Today the people of Jemez Pueblo consider the Pecos Pueblo people to be their ancestors. There is nothing I love better than walking through an ancient ruin and looking for pottery shards. I know that those pieces were once made by a strong people whose ancestors survive today. I am happy to be back in the Southwest and glad to learn the story of the Pecos Pueblo. 

Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library Abilene, Kansas

This morning we visited President Eisenhower's Presidential Library. We came through Kansas so we could stop here and I'm glad we stopped. The museum is almost through with a major renovation, but the temporary exhibits were great and the tour of Eisenhower's boyhood home, which is on the property, was excellent as it illustrated his humble beginnings and the positive influence of his parents, brothers, and the Abilene community. During World War II, Eisenhower was the Supreme Allied Commander in Europe and a five star general. He was also the thirty-fourth president of the United States. Elisenhower's road to the presidency was facinating. After high school, Ike was hoping for an appointment to the Naval Academy but instead he ended up at West Point. A good student and athlete he demonstrated his desire to lead. After graduation he married his wife Maime Dodd. As World War I broke out Eisenhower wanted to go to war but instead he stayed in the US and trained tank crews. He and George Patton actually met during this training and developed a life long friendship. During World War II, Eisenhower's ability to organize and bring people together resulted in the success of the D-Day invasion and ultimately the end of the war in Europe. After the war, Eisenhower served as the President of Columbia University before he was called back to military service by George Marshall to become the Supreme Commander of NATO. As the 1952 presidential race came about Eisenhower was approached by both the republicans and the democrats, eventually he ran and won for the republicans. During Eisenhower's two terms he had to deal with issues related to the Korean War, the start of the space race, the implementation of Brown v. Board of Education, and the McCarthy anticommunist hearings. Through it all Eisenhower used the West Point motto of, "Duty, Honor, Country" to guide his decisions. Highlights of his administration include the establishment of the interstate highway system, the establishment of NASA, the expansion of social security, and he signed the Civil Rights Act of 1957. He expressed his concern about the massive amount of spending related to military readiness at the expense of domestic programs. "Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed."

I admire Eisenhower's dedication to the country, the soldiers under his command, his love of family, and his leadership style. On his desk in the Oval Office he kept a plate in Latin that translated to, "Gently in  manner, strongly in deed." President Eisenhower lived a life that demonstrated this. May we all learn from his leadership. 

Mark Twain's Boyhood Home, Hannibal, Missouri

A happy surprise today was going through Hannibal, Missouri because that meant we got to stop at Samuel Clemens' boyhood home. Clemens eventually became known as Mark Twain, an American writer, humorist, lecturer, and entrepreneur. Twain adopted his pen name after he became a river boat captain on the Mississippi. A mark twain is a measurement of two fathoms, which is 12 feet, or the depth of water that a riverboat needs so it does not run aground. Many of the characters in Twain's beloved novels Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn are based on people Twain knew and grew up with in Hannibal. The town is right along the banks of the Mississippi River and the Main Street area is dedicated to his memory. Twain achieved great success in his lifetime and made a living off his writing and lecturing, but he also lost a great deal of money in failed business ventures, and he even had to declare bankruptcy at one time. Through all of his trials, Twain kept writing and success followed him. He was also a prolific traveler and lived all over the United States, including in Hawaii for a time. His travels also took him to Europe, the South Pacific Islands,  and India. As Twain said, "Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow mindedness." These travels also influenced his writings, including his travel books and his book A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. Slavery was allowed in Hannibal when Twain grew up and he interacted with enslaved people in his everyday life. These interactions also influenced his writing. Twain was criticized in his life time for using dialect and introducing "low" characters. Today The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is often censored from high school reading lists because of its repeated use of the N word when Huck refers to Tom, a runaway slave on the river with him.  This book, as well as many others by Twain, is a scathing satire on entrenched attitudes of the time including rampant racism. As Huck Finn says in the story, "Right is right, and wrong is wrong, and a body ain't got no business doing wrong when he ain't ignorant and knows better." In addition to an amazing collection of  Twain artifacts, the museum held 14 original Norman Rockwell paintings relating to the novels. Rockwell is one of my favorites so I'm happy I got to see these.  Twain was born shortly after the appearance of Halley's Comet and he felt he would die with its return. He passed away the day after its return at the age of 74. I admire Twain's writing style, sense of adventure, and willingness to take on social issues through satire and humor. As Twain said, "Troubles are only mental; it is the mind that manufactures them, and the mind can gorge them, banish them, abolish them." So happy this unexpected stop took us to Twain's boyhood home! 

Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Michigan

Greenfield Village is a living history museum that is a part of the Henry Ford Museum. It contains over one hundred historic  buildings that have been moved to the property and reassembled. There are craft buildings where visitors can pull glass and run metal lathes. I enjoyed making a brass candlestick on a lathe. I also enjoyed    touring Thomas Edison's Menlo Park lab. This is where he perfected the incandescent bulb. It was fun to listen to an actor portraying Edison talk about his inventions. When Mr. Ford had the lab rebuilt,  Mr. Edison actually visited to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the incandescent bulb. The chair he sat in is still in the building!  As Mr. Edison said, "Genius is one percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration." I also got to visit the reassembled Wright Brothers Bicycle Shop, and I heard two actors portray the brothers and talk about their first flights. So cool! This type of museum is fun because I was able to live history through riding a carousel, playing lawn games, eating food based on historic recipes, and walk through homes and shops people would have once used. My absolutely favorite part was getting to ride around the village in two different Model T Fords. One was a classic from 1914 and the other was a Woody from 1923 that had been used as a cab to carry passengers  and luggage from the train to hotels. We spent the whole day at the village and had such a great time and learned some amazing living history. 

Niagara Falls, New York

Today I was able to explore Niagara Falls. There are actually three falls that make up Niagara Falls: Horeshoe Falls, American Falls, and Bridal Veil Falls. We started the day at The Cave of the Winds tour, where I was able to get within ten feet of the Bridal Veil Falls. Whew! I got soaked,  but it was worth it! We took an elevator down to the water and walked on a wooden walkway over to the base of the falls.As a part of the tour, I learned that the area around the falls was largely used for industry during the 1800s. In fact, it became difficult for everyday people to see the falls much less gain access to them. A devoted group of people formed the Free Niagara Movement which lead to the first state park in the United States and eventually to the idea of national parks. I love that those progressives had the foresight to preserve this area. After a walk across the park. we boarded the Maid of the Mist and took a huge ferry boat right into the mouth of Horeshoe Falls! It was amazing to feel the power of this waterfall and have it enclosed in all around us. I am thankful to the many people who protected this park back then and still do today!