Kids' Last Day: The Titanic Exhibit At The Henry Ford

Me, JD and a last minute Ellis on the Grand staircase of the Titanic.

 We got up at the crack of dawn. Though my back and legs were still killing me from my efforts to make a young and fun impression on my grandkids over the last two weeks, I was going to go the the Henry Ford Museum at Greenfield Village come hell or highwater. The place opened at nine thirty. I figured we had to get there early while my legs had the get-up-and-got. We got there at ten thirty. Not a bad time considering six people, two of them the age who can never find their shoes, had to dress, eat and find their way to the car. Our destination was The Titanic Exhibition. Who would think that kids ages 12 and 10 would be so intent upon seeing the treasurers from a ship that sank so very long ago? Not me. I would have been okay with spending the day at the "pond."

The Henry Ford Museum was spectacular. Huge. The Titanic was a "traveling exhibition." in just a small section of the museum, which is dedicated to vehicles--trains, planes and automobiles (of course). I was restricted from taking my own photographs in the Titanic section; they wanted to make some money beyond the $150 we paid for admission. In spite of Honey's objections, I couldn't resist the additional cost of a photo on a replica of the grand staircase. After all, the staircase was the most outstanding work of craftsmanship on the great ship that sunk like a rock. And I didn't get up and get dressed and get out so early in the morning to not get the key photo of our excursion! Honey's a funny guy.

The photograph behind Jon's head is of the actual boarding of the Titanic.
Could one of those ladies in those grand hats been Maria? Maybe.

One of the most interesting things the museum did with this exhibition was to give every exhibition sightseer a boarding pass that bore the name of someone who had actually been on the ship.  I was Mrs. Victor de Satode Penasco (Maria). I was 17 years old, from Madrid, Spain. Victor and I were newlyweds on our two year long honeymoon.  In Paris, we had decided to extend our trip and travel on the Titanic to NewYork and back in spite of warnings from Victor's Mom that going on a ship on your honeymoon was bad luck. We were traveling in first class along with the Guggenheims, Asters and Straus'.  Victor was very wealthy.

Poor Ellis was in third class. He was Mr. Edward Ryan from Ballinareen, County Tipperary, Ireland. He was immigrating to Troy, New York where his sister lived; he hoped to find work there.

Charles Lindberge's plane that was the first solo flight from
New York to Paris in 1927. It was a single engine plane.

Of our group, only I was first class.  Everybody else was second.  Unfortunately, standing in line to board the exhibit ship, first class passengers didn't get to board first. I had to stand in line with the rest of riff-raff! Can you believe that. I was appalled. We had a great time imagining what it was like back then while we stood in the admission line.

At the end of the exhibit, you got to see if your passenger survived. The only one in our family group who didn't survive was Ellis. Mr. Edward  Ryan went down with the ship.  So did Maria's husband Victor. At seventeen, Maria was a very wealthy woman.

We had a memorable time. After the Titanic we walked through the museum of vehicles.

The 1956 Ford Thunderbird, a knock-out automobile out of Detroit

Edison's Dynamo Generator that was operable

JD and Erin pumping electricity from the Dynamo
into the Tower of Light. They could have used a stronger hand
to help. The dynamo had the capacity to light up the whole tower.
Awesome  exhibit. Edison's Menlo Park,laboratory is located now
in Greenfield Village. 

After lunch in Dearborn, Ellis and I went home to ice our knees. The kids went, would you believe, to the movies.  As I write, I just know they are going to want to go the the lake one more time. I'm going to watch, or maybe just wave them on to have a good last swim in a real lake, albeit a pond, after seeing Lake Michigan, the second largest lake of the Five Great Ones: Superior, Michigan, Erie, Huron, Ontario, the largest fresh bodies of water  in the world. Tomorrow, at 4AM  their Midwest adventure ends. I'll probably cry.