Gerald Ford Museum and the Grand Rapids Public Museum

After our non productive day Monday, we decided to go into Grand Rapids and see the Gerald Ford Museum and the Grand Rapids Public Museum on Tuesday.  What a good choice these were.

Our first stop was the Gerald Ford Museum.  The first thing we learned was that Gerald R. Ford was actually born Leslie Lynch King, Jr.  His biological father had been abusive to his mother and they separated when President Ford was only 2 weeks old.  They soon divorced and approximately 5 years later, his mother met and married Gerald R. Ford, Sr.  Another interesting thing is that he began being known as Jerry Ford early on in his youth but his name was not legally changed until he was in his 20s.  The museum is well done and shows his life from an infant through his presidency.  There are exhibits regarding his football career, being an Eagle Scout, his military career and congressional career.  We also learned that he was an attorney and practiced with his best friend for one year before the World War II broke out.  When he returned, he practiced again.  Another interesting fact is that he was appointed Vice President under Nixon when Spiro Agnew resigned due to tax evasion problems.  Also, he became President when Nixon resigned for Watergate.  President Ford was defeated by Jimmy Carter and therefore, he was never elected either as Vice President or President.  He only served 2 1/2 years but was always regarded as an honest, decent and trustworthy person in every aspect of his life.  He and his wife are both buried on the museum grounds.

Then off for a quick bite downtown and on to the Public Museum, which was right across the street from the Ford Museum.

The Public Museum was also very well done.  What a treat this museum is for all ages.  There were many hands on activities for children, some of which Van and I were intrigued enough to put our hands on (ha).  Unexpectedly, we found out that it just so happened that The Titanic exhibit was at this museum for a couple more weeks.  The sad thing is that no picture taking was allowed in The Titanic exhibit.  The exhibit was composed of more than 400 actual relics recovered from the sunken ship.  The exhibit also showed sample rooms for the various classes of people on the ship and the menus for each class.  As you entered the exhibit, you were handed a passenger ticket with the name and information of one of the actual passengers on The Titanic.  At the end of the tour, there was a wall with the names of the passengers and whether or not they survived.  When we checked our tickets, we discovered that my person lived and Van's did not.

 

 As you can see from the pictures below, Van and I had fun posing for pictures at the various spots.  Pay particular attention to the pictures of us at the two tents.  I made it clear to Van that my tent was much large and nicer than his (ha).  Also, there was a section on The Great Lakes Boat Wrecks and again, we liked the "hands on" exhibit.  The picture is showing that Van is "steering" the ship in the channel between other ships.  It's really a cool simulated exhibit.  I had a hard time getting Van to give it up to the kid waiting!  You can also tell from some of the other pictures, that the wild life ranged from prehistoric skeletons to deer.  There are many other exhibits regarding the history of this area.  We learned that this area was very prominent in furniture making.  Unfortunately, that one section of the museum was closed for updating.  There was even one section showing main street as it was early on.