THE BUILDING OF A NATION

Hi everyone

I realized this morning as I ate breakfast at our Comfort Inn and Suites in Taylor, Detroit (recommend because  of the very friendly staff, clean rooms, and great breakfast), that yesterday, and in fact all this road trip of our, is a lesson in the building of this nation.  From seeing the vast crops that go on for miles and miles, the engineering endeavours that result in immense spans of bridges over waterways and the complicated lock systems that  resulted in man overcoming nature so that they could work this land, has been awe inspiring.

Yesterday morning we went back to the Henry Ford complex – Neil was using his second free ticket we got as part of the package hotel deal to go to the Ford Factory to see how the cars are made today, and I went with Kelli (Abbey MacInnis) to walk through history in the Greenfield Village.  Henry Ford was a man in many ways before his time.  Not particularly well educated – left school and the family farm at 16 – he started life as a clock maker, but when he spied his first steam engine he was inspired.  He brought the car to the common man by using production line manufacturing for vehicles.

Greenfield Village is the compilation of historical buildings brought from their original birthplace, to the village here in Detroit.  Set in a village style, with trees and roads.  Model T cars drive through, taking visitors for rides, along with horse drawn omnibuses, and motorised ones and workers in period costume riding vintage bicycles and penny farthings. 

A plantation house brought to the Village - we saw a slave re-enactment here.

A stone and wooden windmill that has been transported

Kelli (Author Abbey MacInnis ) and her brother Derek

Dressed in costume in Henry Ford's childhood home - he was the eldest of six  children

The working farm on the property - the sheep made me feel at home!

The wright brother re-enactment at their home moved to Greenfield Village - but read here re NZ 1st flight - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Pearse

One of the vintage model T driving around the property

An omnibus - i think

These are some of the 'oven's used to make the filaments in Edison's workshop

More vehicles

The cotswald cottage transported here - the garden was just like an English country garden

Horse drawn omnibus - i'm sure there's a proper name

The McGuffey school- an educator who wrote textbooks combined  with  morals

Fancy a ride?

And to finish off a day- a deep dish pizza

There’s the Edison house where the light bulb was invented, all exactly as it had been.  The story of Edison coming 50  years later to the ho use now in the village where he commented to Henry Ford that it was 98% correct as it had been years earlier. Ford was a tad miffed and asked what was not correct (Ford was a perfectionist) and Edison’s comment was that it was cleaner now! 

Historic covered in wooden bridges (loved that), Cotswald cottages brought all the way from England and slave quarters.  Then there was the Wright brothers house, along with a short play with actors playing the Wright brothers depicting that day.

The thing that has occurred to me is that this country was founded on people not frightened to take risks, that thought outside the box.

All along this journey we’ve been told about the famous deep dish pizza – famous particularly in Chicago, but because we didn’t get to Chicago, we mentioned it to Kelli and family and so last night they took us – in the pouring rain – floods even on the freeway – to down town Detroit to an area called Greek Town where we dined at Pizza Papalooza.  It was a great meal, the pizzas divine, the pastry first, then cheese, then filling topped with the tomato topping and baked – unlike regular pizzas which take about 10 minutes to cook these deep dish pizzas take 45 minutes. 

A ride on the people mover,  Detroit’s rapid transit that transports all the attendees that go to the city’s stadiums that are centred in the down town area.  And I didn’t realize that Canada was so close, I mean literally just a few metres across the river!  I think I should have stayed awake in my geography class.   But have checked out a map this a.m. and sure enough there is Canada.

So that was yesterday – more to come from Neil on his car tour.

See you tomorrow – Jane and Neil