Where Are We Sleeping Tonight: Red Roof Inn, Dearborn, Chicago, Michigan Our main destination today was the USAF Museum where we got to see several huge hangers full of various aircraft. The highlight was the collection of stealth aircraft including the F-117 Nighthawk and the B-2 Spirit stealth bomber. The World War 2 hanger had heaps of old bombers and even had a couple of inert atomic bombs! They were obviously dwarfed by the huge silo that contained several different Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles (ICMBs)!
After handing over our passports to prove we weren't terrorists, we jumped on the tour bus that drove across the road and onto the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. Driving through an active military base was very interesting indeed. Arriving at a hanger located in the middle of the base, we were guided into the hanger to visit the Air Force One Collection - all the planes that have ever flown the President of the USA (not including the current one Obama uses). It was amazing to see how dated some of the aircraft are and how small, considering these were in use in the late 80s, especially having seen how big Elvis' plane is and that was flying in the mid 70s.
Hiding in the corner of the hanger was the official flying saucer, aka the Aurocar. They had technical specifications and blueprints for it but apparently they never managed to get it more than a metre off the ground and as such scrapped the concept. Or did they...
Having been returned to the main museum, and with our passports safely returned, we headed off on our way up to Detroit. Our first stop was for some lunch at Frisch's Big Boy where I had a fantastic Portobello Burger. Mmmmmmm. With ever decreasing space in the car, we decided not to buy a souvenir Big Boy.
Arriving in Detroit, we were amazed to discover the generally poor conditions of buildings. Not only did we find an abandoned high school for sale, we couldn't believe that there were houses destroyed by fire that had been abandoned amongst houses that people were living in! We found the Michigan Building Theatre that was converted into a carpark in the 1970s but sadly we couldn't drive in and park there. With no street parking nearby either, we drove around and around trying to find an easy place to park but ended up having to drive on :(
Continuing on our way, we had to pay a visit to Ellery Street, home of the Heidelberg Project. Designed as an outdoor art 'exhibit', it was amazing to see how one person can make such a difference, lifting an otherwise 'scary' part of Detroit into a place for tourists to want to visit.
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