The Explore All 50 States Project
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The Henry Ford Museum is an enormous museum which covers the history of transportation and car culture. Inside we traced the evolution of the automobile and saw some of Henry Ford’s earliest attempts at the motorcar. It was crazy to look at these amazing contraptions and realize these were the visionary inventions that led to the cars we drive today. Looking at the "Quadricycle" the kids and I discussed what … [Read more...]
The Detroit Historical Museum was the perfect museum to give everyone a nice introduction to Motor City. It's not too big and gives a broad history of the various things Detroit is famous for. The kids and I enjoyed the interesting displays, but they did look a little dated. Detroit is a city that has faced some really difficult times so it wasn't a surprise to find the museum in the condition that it was in. … [Read more...]
The Motown Museum, the home of Hitsville USA is a treasure trove of musical history. Hopefully you’ve added some Motown hits on your soundtrack that you’ve been listening to on the road—some Diana Ross, Smokey Robinson, Marvin Gaye , Stevie Wonder, The Jackson 5—the list could to one and on. There were so many fabulous artists that emerged under the guidance of Berry Gordy and his visionary Motown label. … [Read more...]
The Cincinnati History Museum located in the old Cincinnati Train Station, is an incredible museum that showcases the city's history in some really unique and exciting ways. Enter into the lobby and you are instantly transported to another era, the era of the greatest generation, WWII. As we moved into the first space, we got to see a history of the city by looking at various scale models of the city in miniature … [Read more...]
On the road, sometimes things just don't go the way you planned. In our grand loop we had planned to head up to Pt. Huron because for some reason I was obsessed about seeing Lake Huron, and because we wanted to see the Thomas Edison Depot Museum which tells the story of one history's greatest inventors of all time, Thomas Edison grew up in Pt. Huron working at this very railroad depot in his early years while he … [Read more...]
The University of Alaska in Fairbanks is an amazing campus-where else can you major in Arctic studies? It is also home to a wonderful museum about all things Alaska, The Museum of the North. It was a rainy day in Fairbanks when we made our way up the hill to the museum which is housed in a wonderful contemporary structure. Once inside we discovered some really interesting exhibits. After buying our tickets we … [Read more...]
Toledo is famous for glass production and The Toledo Museum of Art-Glass Pavillion showcases some of the most beautiful glass artifacts and sculptures from ancient times to the present. Everyone really enjoyed the opulent displays. The cut crystal was amazing, but everyone's favorites were the awesome modern art glass sculptures. I just love art glass, it's such an interesting artistic medium. It's so fluid … [Read more...]
The Inland Seas Maritime Museum in the adorable little town of Vermillion on the banks of Lake Erie was an unexpected gem. We had a great time here learning all about the shipping industry on the great lakes and maritime history in the area. Some of the more memorable things to do here were tying knots and creating signals with flags spelling out our names. We learned all about the equipment that's kept on board, how … [Read more...]
The Rosa Parks Library and Museum is worth a visit but be forewarned it was very pricey and lacked the rich and wonderful content of others places we'd been like the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis or the Little Rock High School Visitor Center. We weren't allowed to take any photos so sadly I have nothing to remember and nothing to share with you here. Probably the most interesting exhibit is a model of … [Read more...]
Also known as the Louisiana State Museum, The Cabildo was originally the seat of the colonial government in New Orleans, as well as the site of the Louisiana Purchase transfer. At one point the building housed the state supreme court and was the site of the famous Plessy vs. Ferguson decision. Now the building houses an incredible collection of Louisiana history. We walked through the museum which covers a huge … [Read more...]
