MAGICAL MICHIGAN - GERALD R. FORD PRESIDENTIAL MUSEUM

August 27^{th -  GREAT ESCAPE FROM THE BLACK FLIES}

The Black Flies have arrived and they are busy, busy, busy!  Temperatures are in the mid-80's and humid....even on Lake Michigan.  Although we aren't terribly bothered at our campsite, other campers have said it's the worse they've seen in years.  I guess they are down on the beach attacking the beach goers!  So........

Took our first day off and headed over to Grand Rapids to check out a brewery and the Gerald Ford Presidential Museum.  It has turned hotter and more humid as rain lingers around the Great Lakes with overcast skies so decided to do indoor (A/C) stuff.

Grand Rapids is about 45 miles east of Muskegon.  Our first stop was the Evans Tempcon Company where Dave hoped to get a replacement dial for the MH A/C.  Evans Tempcon  manufactures motor home air conditioning units and is located in a century old building in the manufacturing area of Grand Rapids.   We went up to the Reception Desk and Dave gave the employee information regarding our AC unit.  He left for a couple of minutes and returned with the A/C dial!  Boy was I was surprised! 

BEER!

Grand Rapids is known for its breweries.   It earned the title “2012 Beer City USA” .  We picked Founders Brewery for our lunch stop.  They were Silver Medal winners in the 2010 World Beer Cup with the Founders Porter and Dirty Bastard a strong ale.   BeerAdvocate ranked Kentucky Breakfast Stout among the top 10 beers in the world by user reviews.  

Overall it is the 3^rd best brewery in the world according to a 2013 poll.

Although they are undergoing a huge renovation, we were able to pick our way through the construction to the Pub for a delicious lunch.  We shared a sampling of five beers; Curmudgeon, Nitro Pale Ale, Red’s Rye, Porter and Dirty Bastard.  I love a hoppy beer so the Red’s Rye and Dirty Bastard were my favorites.    We also liked the Curmudgeon which had old oak chips in the brewing process.  Had a deep, rich flavor.

 They are going to start distributing in Florida and Dirty Bastard will be their craft beer down there.

Across the street was this interesting Enginehouse No 6 but I could not find any historical information on the web.  I think it's a really pretty building!

Dave had to check out the Natural Gas pump located behind the brewery.  

We finished up and found our way to the Gerald Ford Presidential Museum which was extremely interesting.  It is the first Presidential Museum I’ve visited where I remembered the President … making it all the more meaningful.  

Napping under the bridge on the museum grounds.  Not your typical statue .. or may be!

Ford grew up in Grand Rapids and graduated from University of Michigan so he has two museums, one here in GR and the Library in Ann Arbor.

When were taking the carriage ride around Mackinac Island we passed the Boy Scout camp where Gerald Ford visited as a young boy.  He came back while I think VP and was followed everywhere by his security so he gave them leave & ordered them off the island for the weekend so that he could enjoy the places he enjoyed as a kid!

It’s amazing the issues that were relevant when Ford became VP and President:  Energy crisis, Nixon scandal and resulting pardon, Bicentennial, Vietnamese refugees, fall of Saigon, Civil Rights and Women’s Movements.

The artifacts from the late 1960’s and early 1970’s was a real attention grabber!

 

Then an entire area devoted to artifacts about the Watergate break-in and subsequent consequences.  I remember all this but had a hard time keeping track of the players!

The entire series of events that led up to Ford becoming president was extraordinary.  With Agnew's resignation and Ford's appointment to VP, then his succession to President.  Looking back, you can see how carefully crafted the succession plan was.

He explained the Nixon pardon in an interview citing there were so many issues pressing on the country, in addition to the Nixon issues, he needed to get the Nixon issues off the table and behind him in order to concentrate on the country’s issues. 

There was a wall of photos of the men who served under Ford and some are still very much in the center of politics today … Cheney, Kissinger, Greenspan.   George H Bush served as CIA Director. 

Reproductions of Ford's Oval office

Ford described himself as a moderate-conservative and I believe he may have been the last moderate Republican in office.    Wish we could find another one!

The whole museum was a memory jogger.  Lots of stuff that I had forgotten or just didn’t realize.  He died in 2006 at the age of 93.  His eulogies were recorded and heartwarming.   Betty Ford died five years later, also at 93.  Good stock, those Michiganers.