The Ypsilanti Water Tower

As I was walking around EMU's campus, I decided to take more pictures of the Water Tower.

The typical view of the tower.

Another typical view.

A statue of Demitrius Ypsilanti, a Greek patriot.

Another angle with the Greek flag in the background.

The statue, flags and tower.

Looking up at the Water Tower.

Eastern Michigan University - Ypsilanti, MI

I graduated from Eastern Michigan in 1992. I was pretty happy with the education I got there.

Eastern Michigan was founded in 1849. It started life as Michigan State Normal College which was a school that would teach teachers for high schools and what not. In 1956, it become Eastern Michigan College and in 1959, it became Eastern Michigan University. It still focuses on educating educators but has some pretty good programs in other areas.

This is Goddard Hall, where I lived for 3 years. At the time it was the Honors Dorm. I think it is now idle.

This is the tower to Pierce Hall which houses the admistration offices.

Another view of Pierce Hall.

This is Sherzer Hall which burnt down and was reconstructed. It is one of the older looking buildings on campus and one of the more intersting ones.

This is a statue sitting outside of the Rec/IM building. I was messing around with the flash. I like the effect on this.

This is Pease Auditorium where they have concerts and some plays. It is a pretty nice building on the insie.

This is Pray-Harrold, one of the largest buildings on campus. It mostly houses the College of Arts and Sciences.

I would have taken more pictures but it was getting late and it looked like it might rain.

Plane Watching

Greenfield Village is fairly close to Metro Airport and near one of the approaches for landing, so I had a chance to do some planewatching.

A Delta A330.

This is either an A319 or A320 from Spirit Airlines.

This is a Lufthansa A330.

This is an Air France Airbus A340.

Baseball at Greenfield Village

Every weekend during the summer, they have replica baseball matches at Greenfield Village. They are playing by the rules from 1867. There are many similarities to the modern game but there are a number of differences. There are no balls and strikes are only called if the hitter swings and misses. Although in either case, the ump may give a warning to the pitcher or batter. If the pitches keep missing after that point, the batter gets 3 balls. In the case of a warning to the batter, he gets three more chances to swing. The fielders don't play with gloves (this changed as the ball got more tightly wound was was hit harder). Also, there wasn't a home run fence.

One other difference, if the ball hit foul but rolled fair, it was considered a fair ball. Outs could be made on 1 hop.

This is one style of uniform from the period. Notice the bib looking top. Also the pitchers pitched underhand.

This is the other style of uniform. The batting was pretty much the same as now.

Note the underhanded pitch.







I really like this shot.

Greenfiled Village - Dearborn, MI

I had a free ticket to go and it was a nice day, so I decided to go to Greenfield Village in Dearborn yesterday. It has been close to 30 years since I've gone there and I'll have to say that it was worth the trip, although I didn't get to see all of it.

Greenfield Village was started in 1929 by Henry Ford in an effort to preserve a good chunk of Americana. It houses the Menlo Laboratory where Thomas Edison invented the lightbulb, the bicycle shop where the Wright Brothers built the first airplane and a bunch of pieces of Henry Ford's history. Most of these are the original structures moved from their original location and reconstructed in Dearborn. Mr. Ford tried to replicate them as close as he could to their orignal condition. There are also a number of Model T's that you can ride on.

This is a replica of a flour mill.

This is a replica of a machine shop from the late 1800's to the early 1900's. Most of the equipment used in this shop still functions and it is powered by a steam generator. What's amazing is that with the exception of computer controls, many of these machines wouldn't look too terribly out of place in a modern machine shop.

This is a horse drawn bus. The village probably represents a place you would see from the 1890's to the 1920's. Many of the people working there will dress in costumes that represent the era.

This is one of many model T's that roam the village. You can ride them.

An old bike.

Another Model T.



This is a working locomotive that is used to tour the perimeter of the village.

A paddle wheel that you can ride.

This is one of the places where Lincoln practiced law. Mr. Ford went so far as to even bring the original plaster, have it reground and then used it for the walls.

This is a statue of Thomas Alva Edison who Mr. Ford greatly admired. This was cast at about the time Mr. Edison died and was from him actually sitting for it.

This is from the Wright Bicycle Shop, this is a mock up of the Wright Flyer under construction.

This is a replica of Ford's first plant which stood in Detroit. Mr. Ford paid his workers the at the time unheard of rate of $5/day.

This is a cow off one of the farms in the village. They actually grow stuff here.

I'm not sure what this guy is, but he looks like a Forest Ranger. The Village is in the process of restoring a wetland on their property.

Some people farming.

This is a replica of the Firestone (the tire guy) farm.

The train.

A covered bridge.
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This was pretty neat to watch. Every so often they have to clear out the boilers to prevent rust and other things from building up inside.

The Mackinaw Bridge

If you haven't figured it out yet, I love to go up to the Upper Pennisula. I love the looks of the Mackinaw Bridge, so I will always stop to snap some pictures.

This is a shot from over by the McGulpin Point Lighthouse. It makes for a really nice shot of the bridge and you can pretty much see it's whole span. And it takes on a delicate appearance from a distance.

A shot of the seagulls in essence.

A closer shot from that spot.

This time my mom drove, so I was able to get some pictures as we were going over.

Another shot.

A shot looking up as we were passing. I had the camera firmly strapped to my hand as I was doing this.

This is the toll booth as you head up.

This is an almost night shot from the St. Ignace side.

A night shot from the Mackinaw City side. It looks really nice all lit up like this.

Another shot.