Our Vacation to Midwest & New York in October 2010

Marguerite had the opportunity to teach an Infection Control class on Long Island in October of 2010 so George decided to go with her and finish off his bucket list. Having been all over the world and lived in much of the USA, George only had the Air Force Museum and the Lincoln Home/Museum remaining on his bucket list (places he would like to see before he departed the corporeal world of existence). Since Marguerite had to pass over the Midwest to get to New York's Long Island, George decided to go with her and make a stop along the way (and since we were there we could see some other things).

So our trip was divided into two phases, Midwest and New York. The Midwest phases was divided into four sub phases: Chicago/Detroit - Dayton, Ohio - Springfield, Illinois - Chicago. The New York phase was divided into two sub phases: Long Island and New York City. This eight day trip was most educational and most exhausting. But the joy of meeting Gar and Chandi and Gracie at Chandi's folk's home in Westhampton Beach, New York, made the trip a joy for Marguerite.

The most complex part of the trip was the Midwest phase. As shown below, in order to see everything on days that the museums were open it took much planning. Especially where to stay and how long we had at each location. Took about two days on Google Earth and Google Map and Google Search and Hotels.com to get this all organized. We thank Google for our trip's success.

Chicago

In Chicago we met George's sister Leona Silvestri at a Japanese restaurant. We had a very pleasant visit and ate too much food. The start of a bad habit on this trip. The photos show George, Marguerite, Leona, and her husband Joe Silvestri.

Auburn, Indiana

On our way to Detroit, we stopped in Auburn, Indiana, to view the Auburn/Cord/Duesenburg Museum. The museum was in the old administration building of the Auburn Automobile Company. Indiana had over 30 car companies in the early 1900s because these folks knew farm machinery and how to make wagons. They all consolidated and most went out of business in the depression.

Below you see photos of us with the various cars we saw in the museum. The orange Auburn belonged to Frank Lloyd Wright.

Detroit

We then went to Detroit and did a tour of the GM Corporate Center, Detroit River, and then looked south into Canada (Canada is south of Detroit). We then went to the Motown Recording Studios museum and saw where all the great (in my opinion) music was made (in a converted two car garage).

Finally we went to the Ford Heritage museum and saw tons of cars and old 1890's USA. Below you see GM Corporate HQ (you can see Canada from the back porch), Lincoln automobile that JFK was assassinated in, and front porch of the Wright home moved from near Dayton, OH to the Ford museum by Henry Ford.

Wapakoneta, Ohio

On the way from Detroit to Dayton, Ohio, we passed through Neil Armstrong's home town (hint: Armstrong/Moon). The little town has his museum, so we visited it.

US Air Force Museum

This is the largest Air Force museum in the world near Dayton, Ohio. Everything too big to take a picture of. Everything from a Wright Brothers plane to an F-22 Raptor. Way too big for one brain to comprehend. George was excited to visit since he was in nuclear missiles in the army. Below is the best picture of the trip, George beside two old fashioned thermo-nuclear bombs. George could feel a bump in his testosterone level. It is a guy thing.

Land of Lincoln

This was the highlight of the Midwest portion of the trip for Marguerite. We saw the Lincoln home, the Lincoln Museum (which is beyond wonderful), the Illinois Capital (including the old capital building where Lincoln practiced law), and the Lincoln Grave.

New York

It just so happened that Gar and Chandi and Grace were visiting Chandi's parents in Westhampton Beach, Long Island. So our first stop in New York was the Neubauer homestead. There Marguerite got to visit with her granddaughter and extended family. We went to the beach to take some photos.

The next day Marguerite did her talk with the infection control folks of mid Long Island which helped pay for our trip. In the afternoon we went to Manhattan and saw the sights. That evening we saw the Broadway Musical "Memphis". The next morning we went downtown to visit ground zero and see the progress of the new buildings. We also visited the controversial Mosque (nice strip joints near this site George visited in the '80s when George did work at the World Trade Center Tower). We then visited Wall Street with the new heavy security set-up and finally Battery Park. George loves New York City but hates commercial flying so unless he becomes President and gets Air Force One, this is probably his last trip to New York.

All items now checked off George's Bucket List.