After Saugatuck we backtracked to Grand Rapids. The first image is of Ann just outside the front of the Gerald Ford Presidential Museum in Grand Rapids, MI. There is a nice modern fountain with multiple levels and multiple waterfalls.
The second image is of a statue of
President Ford. It was installed on July 15, 2011, on the occasion of
the funeral of Betty Ford. As one might expect there is a lot of memorabilia in the museum. One thing surprised me. I had known that Ford was a naval officer on an aircraft carrier in WWII. What I didn't know was that the carriers of that era, had flight decks made of wood.
The third image, in the tradition of the Michigan whimsical statuary tradition is of Gerry Ford as a football player (he was a Center and Linebacker on the U of Michigan football team from 1932-1934). The statue has University of Michigan colors (Ford also played in the 1935 College All-Stars vs Chicago NFL team game). The statue was installed in 2003 on Gerry Ford's 90th birthday and he was there for the event.
One of the interesting things about Gerry Ford is that he was adopted. His birth name was Leslie Lynch King. His mother married a man named Gerry Rudolff Ford and Leslie began calling himself "Gerry R. Ford" but didn't legally change his name until he was about to go to college (he respelled the middle name). The museum gave no information on this that I could see but I had sketchily known about it previously (and confirmed it through the Wikipedia site on Gerry Ford).
Another interesting factoid is that Ford had the shortest Presidency of anyone except Presidents who had been assassinated or otherwise died in office. Ford lived to be 93 and a half and is, as of this post, the longest lived of any US President (that was in the museum).
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