History, Heat and Humidity

We just recently returned from a ten day trip. Being in the midwest always helps an Arizonan to return with great appreciation for 'dry heat".

We flew into Chicago and drove to Nauvoo, IL for a little church history. The first thing we did was visit the Nauvoo Temple (which is my favorite of the 22 I have been through).
After the Temple we watched the Nauvoo Pageant. I loved that they opened the event with bagpipes and then the entire audience was invited to sing the national anthem.

The next morning we experienced the city by enjoying performances, visiting historic buildings and riding an old fashioned wagon through town.

Stopped the night in Peoria, IL and stayed with Mark's uncle Steve.

Spent the whole next day driving to Frankenmuth, MI. The next day we visited Bronners (the largest Christmas store in the world). Of course I was looking forward to this the whole trip but Mark wasn't as excited. He only made it through by listening to his ipod so he didn't have to hear the Christmas music. I, of course was cheerfully singing along to that music. Mark even gave me the go ahead to go shopping! Wohoo!

Isn't it beautiful?

This was Mark's favorite thing there. I think he wants me to make one. Ha ha!

That night we drove to Detroit and went through the temple there.

The next morning we toured the Henry Ford estate which was beautiful.

Then we headed to the Henry Ford Museum. We saw a variety of fun things and learned all about the history of automobiles in America.

This is my dream car!

We spent the next day in the Greenfield Village, created in 1929 by Henry Ford. We had never heard of this place before but it was so great! There were so many amazing buildings from history. Here are just a few. Below is the back room of the Wright Brother's bicycle shop. In this workshop they created the plane which first flew in 1903.

This is the workshop where Thomas Edison created the first lightbulb that could stay lit for more than a second. It lasted 13 hours and the men stayed up through the night watching it to see when it would burn out.

Throughout the day we watched performances by characters from the period. This was Thomas Edison telling his story.

This is the story of slavery told at a house which was an actual plantation.

Around town we watched an old fashioned baseball game (with 1800s rules), street performers and even people marching for the Women's Sufferage movement.

The next day, we were back in Chicago! Mark really enjoyed just walking around downtown.

Mark insisted that we go see a Cubs game. It was so Hot and Muggy but we had a good time.

Next morning, we took an architectural tour on the river. It was very interesting and we learned a lot about the history of Chicago as well. It did get a little crazy though when it rained on us the entire second half. Below is the new Trump Tower.

That night we saw a Broadway play, Billy Elliot. Not quite what we expected but it was good.

On our last day we went through the Chicago History Museum. Below is the very bed that President Lincoln died in.

Right before heading to the airport we had to stop for some original Chicago deep dish pizza at Gino's. After an hour and ten minutes we actually got to eat what we ordered. It was good.