Lower Michigan and the Leaves

What a day! We enjoyed nice sunny weather and the trip down the western side of Michigan from Frankfort to Grand Rapids. We stopped along the way to take a "signature" picture with some colorful trees in the background. Kristi spend considerable "arranging time", getting the camera balanced on the picnic table and getting the focus just right - then she would run and get in the picture. We did several and she finally got settled perfectly in the last one. As we were looking at the pictures later in the car, we had a good laugh, as an RV pulled behind us and parked in just the worse possible spot. We had failed to notice it at the time. So much for the "signature picture".

Grand Rapids is the home of the Gerald Ford Presidential Museum. A very nice facility with some impressive exhibits. It is really amazing how many important events occurred in such a short presidency. The Museum is on the banks of the Grand River, and as we were leaving, there were two fly fisherman wading in the middle of the river (which at the spot is in the downtown area) casting their lines in the shining sun. For the dentists in the family, Grand Rapids was the first city to add fluoride to its water in 1945.

We were looking forward - well I know I was - to our next stop, as we turned east toward Battle Creek, Ann Arbor, and Detroit. Battle Creek, or "Cereal City", is the home of factories making breakfast cereals for Kellogg's, Post, and Ralston Purina. It is dominated by the industry and has been for over 100 years. We were expecting to be able to tour a cereal plant, but were surprised to find that the Cereal City tourist attraction had closed permanently a few months ago. And since 9\11, not one of the actual factories offers a tour - I am not sure what the connection is between Grape Nuts and terrorists, but there you have it.....significantly bummed out after that news.

Ann Arbor is very nice. And it was not difficult at all to find the campus and the Big House. As we drove up to the stadium, there was an open gate and no one around.....well we had to take advantage of that! So Ric and Mike get a personal look at the empty Big House. We had dinner at the Macaroni Grill near campus, then drove into the Detroit suburbs for the night.