On our second day (first full day) in Michigan, we drove to Grand Rapids to visit the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum. (Side note: This is the only presidential museum which does not also house his archives. Those are on the U of M campus at Ann Arbor where he went to college. The museum is really well done and provides a good background on the times when he governed as well as how he ascended to the Vice Presidency (appointed by President Nixon, confirmed by Congress, when Spiro Agnew resigned) and the Presidency (assumed office when Nixon resigned). Bob and I both left with the sense that while we may have disagreed with his view on some things he seemed like he was a man with a lot of integrity who took charge when the country really needed some honest guidance. Of course, Betty is discussed as well and was (and continues to be) a role model in her own right.
We didn’t see much else in Grand Rapids, but what we did looked really nice. We learned that the area has benefited from the success of the Amway company (DeVos family) of which Betsy DeVos, current Education secretary is a member. There is a DeVos Learning Center within the Ford Museum and an Amway Grand Hotel downtown.
Bob and I have now seen the presidential museums of Clinton, Bush (first), Reagan, Ford, Nixon, Johnson, and Kennedy. Many more to go.
Peckish Travels 
