Wild Bergamot

The Wild Bergamot (Monarda fistulosa) is blooming at our cabin property.

Road Trip - Day 3

Day 3 of the Michigan road trip began with a visit to The Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Henry_Ford). The 12 acre museum is primarily a collection of antique machinery, pop culture items, automobiles, locomotives, aircraft, and other items.

Reed standing next to the 1952 Oscar Mayer Wienermobile.

Reed checking out some of the innovated toys and games that his dad and uncles had when they were his age.

Reed and his uncle at displays of large steam engines that powered the Industrial Revolution.

Reed gets a lesson on steam engine speed control.

Reed next to a 200 Kilowatt Edison Dynamo.

Reed generating electricity using his own power.

Reed and his uncle on the second level of one end of the massive 750 ton, 1916 steam-gas engine that powered Ford's Highland Park Plant. This is one of the nine machines that each had a gas engine and a steam engine mounted on either side of a 4,000-kW DC generator. This was an early form of a hybrid engine that could switch the source of power.

1926 Fokker Trimotor used by the Byrd Artic Expedition for the first flight over the North Pole.

1928 Ford Tri-Motor.

On to the car section. Reed checks out the drag racing exhibit.

A classic VW bus. We passed one of these, in the same color, on our drive to Michigan.

Reed said this early Ford T-Bird was nice, but not his dream car.

This was more of Reed's idea of a dream car. The Ford GT40 that won the 1967 24 Hours of Le Mans race.

An exploded view of a 1924 Ford Model T touring car.

A 1907 Ford tractor.

A cut-away view of an early Fordson tractor.

Reed out for a drive.

A 1923 Canadian Pacific snowplow train.

Reed and his uncle next to one of the largest steam locomotives ever built. The 1941 Allegheny Locomotive weighted in at 603 tons.

Reed in front of the Chesapeake and Ohio 1601 train.

The 1858 Rogers steam locomotive known as "Sam Hill".

Road Trip - Day 2

Since grandson Reed enjoys video games, Day 2 of the road trip started with a visit to Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum (http://www.marvin3m.com/). Marvin's is an arcade and museum devoted to a large collection of coin-operated animatronic dummies, mechanical games, and other curiosities.

Reed is no stranger to video games, but this is the first time he's been to arcade.

Reed enjoys "The Simpson's" TV show ...

Now Reed gets to play "The Simpson's" video arcade game.

Reed and his uncle testing their skills. I was able to beat Reed on a mechanical pin-ball game.

One of Reed's favorite video games is "The Legend of Zelda", so we had to check out "Zelda The Fortune Teller". Here is Reed's fortune, which is close to describing him. The surprising part of the fortune is the "7 appears on many money transactions", upon leaving Marvin's, Reed found 2 pennies and a nickle in the parking lot, a total of 7 cents. The other surprising part is "Grandmother may have some more to say to you", Reed is spending this summer with his grandmother.

After visiting Marvin's it was time to balance the day with some local flora and fauna.

A visit to some wetlands.

A bump in the duckweed started moving and a snapping turtle appeared.

It was a hot/sunny day and not many animals were out, except for the geese. After visiting several local sites the day ended with a trip to a Thai restaurant.

Road Trip - Day 1

With grandson Reed spending the summer with us it was a good time to take Reed on a road trip to visit his uncle in Michigan. Reed was only 14 months old when he last saw this uncle.

The first day of this visit was a trip to Greenfield Village (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Henry_Ford#Greenfield_Village), an outdoor living history museum that includes buildings from the 17th century to the present, many of which are staffed by costumed interpreters who conduct period tasks such as farming, sewing and cooking. I visited Greenfield Village as a child when I was only a few years older than Reed is now.

There are various modes of historic transportation in the Village providing rides for visitors.

Greenfield Village runs a rail line on which steam locomotives run a continuous loop around the perimeter of the museum property.

Examples of early farm life include buildings, gardens and other farm activities ...

Along with chickens, cows and horses, there is a demonstration of mucking horse stalls and then applying it on a field.

A replica of Thomas Edison's Menlo Park laboratory complex from New Jersey.

Reed got to see a demonstration of Thomas Edison's first phonograph record and then play back a persons voice.

Reed and his uncle checking out the underside of a steam locomotive at the turntable and roundhouse.

Reed and his uncle at the Ford Rouge Factory, the manufacturing facility for the Ford F-Series truck.

The Ford Rouge Factory allows visitors to watch the assembly of Ford F-Series trucks. (no photo allowed inside the plant)

Reed taking his photos of the River Rouge Plant.

West Hill Bathtub

Time to check the game cameras at our West Hill property with Matt and Reed. "Look Reed, a frog"

Reed getting a close look at the frog.

The temperature has been in the 90's and this bear was checking out the water in the old bathtub.

After a quick drink the bear kept watching something in the woods.

The bear was busy looking for food under rocks.

The bear decided to cool off in the bathtub as a cub took over the job of flipping rocks.

Mama bear was still watching the woods as baby bear continued to flip rocks.

A second cub checks out the bathtub as the first cub continues to flip rocks.

A third bear cub checks out the bathtub as the first cub continues to flip rocks. The bears stayed at the bathtub for almost 2 hours.

The Bobcat was also at the bathtub during the hot weather.