Michigan - September 22, 2012; then home

After yesterday's late night, the day began far too early; the buses left at 7:30 a.m.  At least we're scheduled to get back early -- in time to get ready for the concluding banquet.

We arrived at Grand Rapids Public Museum about 9 o'clock.  After a group picture (why, I'm not sure), we were split into two groups.  While one group rode the carousel, the rest of us were able to tour the museum; then we switched.  

I was charmed to find a Grand Rapids Yesteryear exhibit which was similar to, and larger than, the Yesterday's Main Street at the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry that I had loved as a child.  I think I enjoyed it, not only because of the interesting (weird) stores but because I could run back and forth across the "street" on my own which as a young child of 4 and 5 I was not allowed to do for real.  So this exhibit unloosed lots of nostalgia.

The carousel, a 1928 Spillman Co. creation, was acquired by the museum and put into its own pavilion in 1981.  The momentum to acquire this carousel was created by the loss of the community's beloved carousel at Ramona Park.

Instead of a lead horse, this carousel has a lead goat -- a rather happy looking fellow.

Because the skeleton of a whale became a symbol of the Grand Rapids Public Museum, when a replacement figure was needed for the carousel, everyone agreed it had to be a whale.

The giraffe is my favorite animal, and I hadn't ridden on one yet this trip.  Unfortunately, giraffes are always standers (don't go up and down) so are not as much fun as other animals; at least they're often on the outside row.

The entire city is involved with an annual festival, ArtPrize, which brings in sculpture from all over the world, most of it located downtown in public places.  This installation was in the river right outside the windows of the carousel pavilion.

The only location for ArtPrize not downtown is a short drive away at the Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park to which our buses took us next.  I didn't like most of the ArtPrize work on display but enjoyed some of the other sculpture.  Unfortunately, the weather was a bit chilly and  windy so I didn't do too much of the outdoor gardens/sculpture but did make sure to see The American Horse sculpture by Nina Akamu.  She created an 8 foot working model of the sculpture titled Homage to Leonardo and a 15 inch version to serve as a touchable model.  The final version is 24 feet tall and quite impressive.

There was a delightful Children's Sculpture Garden that I really liked.  A lot of fun sculpture that kids, and adults could enjoy.  This one is Children of the World by Kirk Newman.  Kids could run and play among the sculptures.

 The conservatory was fine, but not as spectacular as the one in Como Park in St. Paul.

And the Chrysanthemum display, while pretty, was nowhere near as impressive as the Como flower shows are (agreed to by all the St. Paul convention representatives.)







A few of the group were grumbling at this long (2 1/2 hr.) stay at a site with NO carousel, but I thought this was a worthwhile sight that anyone going to Grand Rapids should see.  With sunshine and temperatures a bit higher, it would have been great.

Onto the bus (with box lunch) for the drive to Windmill Island Park in Holland, Michigan.  This park attempts to create a little bit of Holland through windmills and a Dutch streetscape.

The carousel is about 100 years old, imported from the Netherlands in 1971.  It is a children's carousel so only two of the convention attendees were young enough to ride.  

It has 28 horses, all standers, and a few other animals, the smaller ones probably incorporated from another carousel at some point in its history.  The painted murals were restored by a local artist in 2002-03 and look quite nice.

A few of the horses have been refurbished and look good

But others are in need of a lot of repair.  One even  had a missing ear.  The Carousel Association gave a small grant to the carousel to help with their restoration efforts and one of our members who does repair/restoration volunteered to do two of their horses for free.

We left Holland and got back to St. Joseph about 4:30 with enough time to rest for a bit, take a shower and get ready for the final event of the day, the dinner and silent and live auctions.  For that we went back to the Silver Beach Carousel where the convention had begun on Wednesday.

This is the view of Lake Michigan from the front of our hotel as we began the walk down to the carousel.

As we walked we saw the Carousel in the daylight and then, after dinner as we left, saw it lighted for night.

And a final look at the horses of the Silver Beach Carousel

After a reasonable night's sleep, on Sunday morning (9/23) my roommate Marcia and I walked down to the Amtrak station just below the hotel and near the carousel to catch the train to Chicago.  It was about half an hour late, but that didn't matter because we had a long layover in Chicago.  Had lunch at the Union Station food court and got on the train a little after 2 p.m.  It left on time and, amazingly, arrived in St. Paul on time -- 10:30 p.m.  Marcia and I had a lovely, if expensive, dinner in the dining car, did some chatting, a little reading, and even some snoozing for the 8-hour trip.  So by 11:15 on Sunday I was safely home but feeling lonely because Katy and Jackson were both still with their caregivers so I had no four-footed furries to keep me company.