Henry Ford Museum, Detroit, Michigan

Detroit was somewhat on the way to Chicago, so we made a stop at the Henry Ford Museum to learn about the Industrial Revolution.

This is a museum with a large collection of cars, campers, engines, baseball memorabilia, and much more that will leave you feeling great about America.

We went specifically to see Bucky Fuller's Dymaxion House, which is sort of a combination of a yurt and an Airstream trailer, 1,017 square feet of modern living space. It is made of airplane parts which can be assembled in "2 days by 10 men." This is the only one of its kind, and was donated by the only family to actually live in a Dymaxion House.

Seeing this house alone made the admission price worth it, but we had a couple of hours to kill so we wandered around the giant steam engines for a while. The size of these engines blew our minds, and for the first time I understood how dangerous it was to work in a factory.

My other favorite, and somewhat random, exhibit, was a 1928 Model A car driven from Punta Arenas, Chile to Detroit. The placard described father and son team Hector Quevedo Abarzua and Hugo Quevedo Liberona as having a "lifelog dream of visiting the Henry Ford Museum". It took them 2 years and they made it by staying in shelters and receiving donations. Currently they are in Detroit, raising funds to drive back. Take what you will from that.

There is also a very nice exhibit on Time and Timepieces, which caused me to add another destination to our list, Sunwatch Village in Dayton, Ohio, which is a restored 800 year old circular village, which is basically a sun dial. Perhaps on the way back.

Admission to the museum is $14, plus a $5 parking fee. We printed coupons from their website which gave us a $10 discount. M and I both feel that this was a good deal and the afternoon well spent.

Preparations

M and I returned to Pittsburgh about a week ago, but realized we had not really told any friends that we were here. Last night we made it out to eat with some friends we haven't seen in a while, but the majority of our time has been spend unpacking and repacking for our next cross country trip. We are leaving for Chicago tomorrow, but plan to go via Detroit in order to see a Buckminster Fuller exhibit on the way there.

Reunited with B. Hippo

A few weeks ago, I posted about our newest traveling companion, B. Hippo. Well, B. Hippo has made it to Pittsburgh (or at least the aforementioned photo, which is what we will actually be taking with us). His traveling clothes are adorable.

As soon as M gets back from helping his dad move some furniture, I will be bugging him to get some photos up.

The New Life

So, for months and months now, M and I have been talking about getting out of the proverbial rat race, quitting our jobs, traveling, etc. Well...we finally did it!

After having sold practically every stick of furniture in our apartment, we loaded some remaining boxes and a reluctant Rosie the Cat into the car and took off for Pittsburgh. We made the journey in a record-breaking 38 hours through a tag-team driving effort.

So now, for the first time ever in my adult life I can say that I am unemployed. I am also living with my in-laws. These are not supposed to be things that adults aspire towards. Certainly, the novalty has not worn off yet, especially since I spent the previous five weeks enslaved to Teach For America. Ok, enslaved is not the right word, as I freely sought employment at the summer training Institute, but I worked a minimum of 100 hours a week while there, reducing my salary to somewhere below the legal minimum wage.

Regardless, I am feeling pretty good right now.

However, we ran into a stumbling block this morning. As unemployed people without a lease or mortgage, we are having trouble proving that we actually live here. This will make it difficult to vote, register our cars, or obtain a driver's license. The real kicker is that we actually DO live here.

Don't worry, we will not let the Man keep us down, but any suggestions on how to get around this would be greatly appreciated.

Separated By A Continent

...but our love remains strong.

Happy 10th year anniversary to my precious M, who is currently traveling back to Phoenix from Atlanta, via Birmingham.

An even decade ago, I was wandering around Hampton Community Park, without an inkling that I would meet my future husband that very night. I had to ask permission to watch fireworks with my friends, instead of with my dad. I was also granted permission to go to the EatnPark with my friends after the show. (This was a big deal because I was grounded for approximately 70% of my adolescence.)

Among those friends that night was M, and can you believe that he still has the scrap of place mat that I wrote my phone number on?

I'm so glad he called me.

We had a lovely weekend together in the ATL - I highly recommend the Flying Biscuit for eating and the Atlanta Botanical Gardens for seeing an amazing array of plant life. I have 13 more days of "institution" - as some people are beginning to refer to the summer institute training program, and then it's back to Phoenix to be reunited with my love.

Happy 10th, M!

Welcome Aboard, B. Hippo!

M and I are in Atlanta together this weekend, along with M's mother, who is visiting an old high school friend. This friend and her husband have visited every continent and have been on over 25 cruises. We spent all afternoon paging through a few of their many scrapbooks, and drilling them with questions about their travels. Incidentally, they have a small stuffed hippo that "travels" with them, meets the captain, has his picture taken all over, etc. Think of the gnome in Amelie.

While at first this seems quite strange, it was really awesome to see the photos of B. Hippo all over the world, especially with real hippos in Africa (which are quite dangerous animals, if you did not know). Anyway, our conversation inevitably turned to our upcoming Appalachian Trail hike, and we decided to take B. Hippo along with us (well actually a small photo of B. Hippo, to avoid permanent damage to him, as we will be spending a lot of time in the rain. Welcome aboard, B. Hippo! Stay tuned for an upcoming post containing an actual photo of B. Hippo.