Brief outline of events from Monday to Wednesday - Flint and Detroit

Monday 6th August

Sloan Museum - We visited Flint's Cultural Center and the Sloan Museum. The Sloan contains exhibits documenting the history of the area; its native American days, the lumber trade and the development of the automobile industry. Unfortunately, the state has been hard hit by a falling demand for locally made cars (apparently, more people are now buying into non-American products).

Buick Gallery and Research Center - A large collection of vintage American vehicles and cars with bonnets as long the Nile. Gareth, I have photos that will drive you wild.

Cody's Friends - Monday evening we met up with one of Cody's closest school friends at a local bar in Flushing (I had Guinness - what else). Kyle is looking to train as a social worker in the Flint area and I could certainly see why he and Cody click. I was also encouraged to talk at length about England, which I'm always happy to do, and Kyle is now working on his Mancunian accent (oh boy!). If he's looking for a challenge I'll have to introduce him to the Geordies!!!
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Tuesday 7th August

We got off to a slightly later start than hoped for but we eventually decided that we would take a trip across to Detroit to see one or two museums, although we weren't certain which one we'd visit first; the decision was made for us when we got off the freeway and found ourselves closest to the Motown Museum. The museum is contained within two houses, where many of the Motown label records were recorded. It was a relatively short tour but with some interesting artifacts along the way. "The" white glove and hat worn by Michael Jackson were displayed in a secure glass container (after some smart Alec had stolen them, signed the guest register on the way out and returned with the item after a reward was offered). I found myself in an embarrassing predicament when I semi-volunteered to be one of The Supremes and was then asked to sing and dance, at which point it dawned on me that I do not possess the ability to sing AND dance (given that I do not possess the skill to do either of these in isolation with any real pizazz) at the same time.

Once we had finished at the Motown Centre we were low on time for visiting another museum, so Cody gave me a drive-through tour of downtown Detroit. I loved the skyline of the city and on reaching the Renaissance Centre Cody pointed out a white building, not more than a couple of miles away I'm guessing, on Canadian soil - in fact we drove right past the "Tunnel to Canada".
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Wednesday 8th August

Back to Detroit. Say, 2 hour drive. This time we pulled up at the Henry Ford Museum. The complex is huge, which forced us to make a choice between the exhibits centre and Greenfield Village; we chose the exhibits, due to the roasting heat outside and the refreshing air con inside. In fact, the air conditioning was so efficient that I had goose pimples by the end of the visit. There was so much to see in the museum that it's difficult to write about it all but we stood next to the JFK car, took a seat on the Rosa Parks bus (on the seat behind Rosa Parks) and, last but by no means least, posed next to a Wiener van.