The Kleiber Family Timeline

Category: Museum

Museums

  • Greenfield Village 2012

    We used to go to Greenfield Village often, then the Titanic exhibit came to the Henry Ford Museum so we have to stop at the museum on the way to and from the village.

    James had a great time this Saturday visiting Greenfield Village and actually found some Halloween items in the gift shop for his Halloween party. There were not many people in the village this day, probably due to the 90 degree (we had low voltage at our house all weekend so the AC was off and we were used to the heat) weather, but it was still fun as always. The bandstand was roped off with a bucket of paint on it so I think the next time we visit we will see a freshly painted bandstand. James saw a couple turtles who skuttled into the water as soon as we got close, but we did manage to get a pic of one of the little guys sunning themselves on a rock.

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  • Soo Locks & Soo Museum Tour 2012

    James and Mom got to go on a two hour tour of the Soo Locks. This was James first time going through the locks and also the first time he got to go to Canada (that he remembered, we took him a couple times to Kingsville and Windsor while he was in a stroller). James has been wanting to go to Canada since studying about it at school and online. Going on the boat tour not only did he get to understand the workings of the Soo Locks, but also the boat took him to Canada without the headache of going through customs.

    After the boat tour we went by the other museums and finished off the day shopping in the tourist trap area.

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  • Henry Ford Museum Titanic Exhibit 2012

    Titanic has come to Dearborn MI. James got to see the new Titanic exhibit at the Henry Ford Museum and enjoyed it immensely. Pictures were not allowed inside the exhibit but there were a couple photo opportunities where you could buy pictures they took of you (ala Cedar Point roller coasters). James is shown here in one of those pictures. There were many artifacts that had been brought up from the sunken ocean liner including equipment, jewelry, money, and personals of people who were on the ship. They also had a real iceberg (similar to what they have at the polar bear exhibit at the Detroit zoo) so that people could feel just how cold the water was that fateful April night 100 years ago. The final part was (of course) the souvenir store where James could hardly control his glee at all the great Titanic gifts. James got a postcard book, reprints from 1912 newspapers, “polar ice”, and a titanic coloring book.

    After Titanic we took a quick trip around the museum, James got some pictures taken in the Rosa Parks bus, in front of the JFK assassination car, in front of the worlds largest locomotive, and a few other places before we left.

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  • Getting Ready For Titanic 2012

    Yes, Titanic is coming to Dearborn, well actually its coming to The Henry Ford Museum.

    James was under the weather the past few days and we took him to the doctors just to make sure everything was ok. The doctor said it was nothing to worry about and gave him some cough medicine. On the way home we stopped at Henry Ford so James could see the setup for Titanic. The exhibit does not open until March 31st and is really supposed to be spectacular, however they do not allow pictures so we are not sure how much we will be able to post here.

    James posed for a couple pictures in the lobby then we went into the museum and took a couple pictures where the exhibit was being built. They also will have the Titanic movie in 3D and several documentaries going on in April so it looks like April will be Titanic month, and why not, it was 100 years ago this month that Titanic began its maiden voyage which ended in disaster.

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  • Dinosaur World Kentucky 2012

    Being from Michigan we have many tourist locations up North, but many close for the winter season so on our drive down to Nashville we thought that Dinosaur World (a place James loves to stop at) would be closed but possibly the souvenir store would be open. When we got there we found out that the whole thing was open including the outside tour. We knew that Friday was going to be a super day in January with the highs in the sixties so we told James that if he was good we would also stop on the way back and go on the outside tour. Needless to say James was pretty good on the trip (he usually is) and it gave us a little break on the way home to take advantage of a gorgeous January day in Kentucky. When we arrived we were the only ones in the entire park so James had the entire Dinosaur world to himself for the day.

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  • Dinosaur World Museum Kentucky 2010

    Exit 53 on the interstate, between Nashville and Louisville, is one of James Raymonds favorite places on earth.

    On the way down to Nashville this year we stopped off at Dinosaur World but only went into the souvenir shop and picked up some dinosaur toys for James. We told him if he was good on the way home we would take him through the park. One of the nights at the hotel we even watched a dinosaur documentary which everyone enjoyed called “The End of the Dinosaurs” (or something similar in name) which detailed how and why the dinosaurs went extinct when a meteor hit the earth.

    Well, for the most part James was very good on this trip, especially in the restaurants. Yes, he did pour his bubbles into the fountain at the nursing home and Yes, he did shoot a rocket off down the hall of the nursing home and Yes, Uncle Bills new Lazy Boy chair got a bit of a workout, but for the most part he was very well behaved and a good boy so on the way home James got rewarded by a walk through Dinosaur World.

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  • Willie Nelson Museum 2010

    Within walking distance of our hotel were several tourist sites including the Willie Nelson museum. The museum is divided into two halfs, the front part is a huge sourvenier store which claims itself to be the largest souvenier store in Nashville. We visited many other souvenier places and so far this one does appear to be the largest, although we are by no mean experts and have certainly not seen all the souvenier places.

    The back part is the museum and there is a $8 fee to go there. Inside were many articles not only from Willie Nelson but also from Johnny Cash, Elvis, and even an Audie Murphy tribute. The museum was built with many of the items that Willie had to sell to pay his IRS bill, the museum purchased many of those items and returned them to Willie which was a cool thing to do.

    One of the creepiest things we saw on any trip was the Patsy Cline exhibit which included a mangled watch which stopped when her airplane crashed (fatal). Many other very interesting exhibits were here to visit and well worth the $8 charge.

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  • Cooters Dukes of Hazzard Museum 2010

    What would a trip to Nashville be without a visit to Cooters Garage. Actually its a Dukes of Hazzard museum which is located right next to the Willie Nelson museum. Inside you will find tons of pictures and collectibles from the Dukes of Hazzard television series, but without a doubt was the opportunity to see 4 of the vehicles used in the series, the General Lee, Cooters tow truck, Daisy’s Jeep and of course a Hazzard county police car.

    The museum was free, but there is a charge to take your picture inside the car (which is why Mary is outside of the General Lee). Fret not Hazard fans, we did purchase several souveniers to support this fun tourist site.

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  • Greenfield Village 2009

    Thomas the train came to Greenfield village for a day and boy did James have fun getting to ride on Thomas. Tickets for this event had to be purchased weeks in advance despite having a subscription to the Henry Ford. The train actually looked exactly like Thomas does.

    For those who do not know Thomas, its a kids show based on trains at a train station and was narrated by the late George Carlin (yes, the same guy who gave us 7 words you cannot say on TV doing a kids show, and to be honest he was pretty good at it). Its not really a cartoon, more like stop motion animation.

    While riding the train is never a disappointment and James loved his ride, you really can’t tell that you are on a Thomas train. You really need to be outside to see Thomas’ face and eyes move. James was happy and that is all that counts.

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  • Weird Michigan Museum 2008

    This is another of those little tourist traps that you love to stop at, this is located in St Ignace Michigan close to the deer ranch.

    It is basically a wax museum but it is based on Michigan lore and stories that I had never heard of before. We tried to get as many pics of the descriptions as we could so that the pictures would make some sense. Werewolves, bearded baseball teams, people getting murdered with wooden legs, melon heads, etc… How could we resist.

    James enjoyed the visit as well, running from scene to scene and trying to figure out what the purpose was.

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