We went into downtown Grand Rapids today to visit the Grand Rapids Public museum. I asked the kids what they think of downtown. They kept saying, "It is so small." When in comparison to Salem it is bigger. However, I failed to remember they were in New York and DC only a few weeks ago.
We left my sister's place in southeast Grand Rapids and are now staying at my parent's condo in Byron Center. Most people know already, but my dad was a Christian Reformed pastor for over forty years and recently retired about a year and half ago. He served his last church in Palos Heights, IL. He and my mom decided to relocate to the Grand Rapids area to live out their retirement years. They recently settled into a church in Byron Center and are beginning to get involved in the community. We thought we would divide the time between staying at their place and at my sister's place.
So this afternoon we headed to the
Grand Rapids Public Museum also taking along my niece (my sister and brother-in-law were working and my nephew had soccer). We visited this museum when we were here four years ago. The site where it is currently located was built in 1994...ironically the first time I went to it was after I moved to Oregon. We learned about what Grand Rapids looked like in the early 1900's.
Grand Rapids was once the furniture city in the early nineteenth century during the lumber boom. At one time 44 furniture companies occupied Grand Rapids. Some still exist but many have moved outside of the city. Now many of the old furniture factories have been converted to condos and restaurants. This mural depicts the history of the furniture industry from the 1880's to 1990's.
We also enjoyed some of the hands on exhibits. I especially liked learning about Roger B Chaffee who was part of Apollo 1 in the 1960's. In January of 1967, Chaffee and his crew were undergoing a countdown demonstration test at Cape Kennedy. An electrical fire broke out in the cockpit and he died from asphyxia. I did not know much about Roger B Chaffee when I lived in Grand Rapids--just that there was a street named after him. I learned more about the early Apollo program when I read the book
The Astronaut Wives Club: A True Story a couple years ago.
Then we all participated in this temporary exhibit called the Mindbender Mansion. I found this exhibit is from OMSI! That is our own Oregon Museum of Science & Industry. We had to complete these mind games to earn passwords. Some of them were so challenging! My niece and I worked on a few together. My son helped my parents. My oldest did quite well on her own. We were able to complete most of them, but I have to admit I gave up on a few of them.
Because my parents are museum members their grandchildren get unlimited rides on the carousel. I think the kids rode at least four times. As you can see from the photo my dad rode too!
We ended the day with dinner all together at my parents, played a board game, and watched America's Got Talent.
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