Days 17 and 18 – The Motor City

Day 17: Cleveland to Detroit and the Henry Ford.

I left Patricia and Frank’s after breakfast, with a packed lunch in hand, to head to Detroit. The weather was dry but cloudy and windy as I headed along the southern shore of Lake Erie towards Sandusky. There were a few good views of the lake but I also wanted to catch a glimpse of Cedar Point amusement park, opened in 1870, that is now known for its many fearsome roller coasters.

I then headed for the Ohio Turnpike and inter-state highways to get to Dearborn, Michigan which is the headquarters of Ford. They have a tourist complex called “The Henry Ford”, which contains several features and I visited the Henry Ford Museum and took the Rouge Factory Tour. Both were excellent. The museum has all forms of transportation from bikes to planes and is not limited to Fords. Among the highlights were six Ford built presidential limos dating back to 1902 including, most notably, the car that Kennedy was riding in when he was assassinated in Dallas.

The factory tour was amazing as I watched the F150 truck being assembled. The intricacy of the timing and the sophistication of the factory design and process was mesmerizing. Unfortunately, no photos were allowed.

From Dearborn it was a short drive to my hotel in Detroit as you can see on the map/video here

The Kennedy presidential limo. I was surprised it continued to be used after Kennedy but, as you can see, it was modified for Johnson by covering it in.Big and small trains kept all ages amused.I guess I’m just fascinated by huge snow plows.

Day 18 – Detroit

I realized that I had planned my trip pretty well as far as Detroit but had little idea where I was going to go next or what I would see. As a result, I spent today visiting my “must see” attractions and planning the next few days.

Apart from cars Detroit is also well known for music and a trip to the Motown Museum was the first stop. This is a small museum in the building that was Berry Gordon’s house and the Motown studio. The approach of Motown is well known but being in the studio where most of those great hits was made was something special. Again, no photos allowed in the building.

Next up was the Detroit Institute of Arts Museum. Having seen galleries in places such as New York, Amsterdam, Paris and Rome I rarely visit “local” art museums. However, this museum represents a significant portion of the Detroit City Council’s assets and was definitely worth supporting. Unfortunately, it was almost devoid of tourists in just the same way that Detroit seems empty almost everywhere. The flow of traffic on downtown street is limited only by the speed limit. road works and red lights and the famed Riverwalk has very few walkers, joggers and bikers. Unfortunately, the scarcity of people and the massive number of huge buildings and warehouses left abandoned and decaying vividly illustrate the fall of a previously wealthy city. Unlike Cleveland, Detroit has yet to attract the investment that will encourage people to return.

After some planning, I ended the day with a pleasant stroll along the Detroit Riverwalk.

The outside of the Motown MuseumThe GM complex right on the river in downtown DetroitThe next three photos were all taken from the same spot. The first looking towards the river where parks have been created to beautify the area and the next two just behind the park.