USA Trip 09- Final Thought

There are a lot of places that are hidden gems. They don't advertise much, so people don't know about them. I did some research and uncovered great inexpensive places to go. And I am sure that there are plenty of others out there too.

USA Trip 09- Day 8

On this day I had to fly home. My flight was first to fly to Nashville, TN then change planes to Seattle. I returned the car and got on the airport shuttle. The shuttle driver was friendly and talked about how his kid had a big wedding and then got divorce the following year. Then he was talking about the old movie "Father of the Bride." He was interesting to listen to. At the airport I just listened to my Ipod function of my Iphone. Then once on the plane I read. The plane was full and a man sat next to me had been drinking. He was cut-off from having any more booze. This did not please him, but he then just went to sleep. The flight to Nashville was short.

A New Airport to Me

I have never been to Nashville or it's airport. I had lunch at the airport. It was crowded, but I had a lay over of over an hour. I then looked in the airport stores. I then decided to walk over to the gate and that's when I saw they were about to board the plane. I didn't hear the announcement, but I got in line. We boarded, and again it was a full flight.

Home

We arrived and I called the shuttle to pick up my car. It was cold in Seattle, and the first time I wore my jacket on this trip. I like the car parking place I use, but they always take a really long time to pick you up at the airport. They did arrive and took me to my car. I then headed home, stopping for dinner along the way.

The Mo Town House

USA Trip 09- Day 7

This was my last full day of my trip. I woke up and planned to go to a museum, only to discover that it was closed. So, I then went to a different museum. I went to the Mo Town Museum. I had some trouble pin-pointing the exact location, but I happened to find someone who knew where it was located. I was then able to find the museum, which is a house. Along the way I had to look out for jaywalkers. There was a lot of jaywalkers walking around the streets.

Mo Town

The Mo Town museum is the house where all the famous albums were recorded. It is left exactly as it was in 1970's when the recording studio left for Los Angeles, California. Walking in was like going back in time to the 1970's. Although I was alive back then, I was way too young to remember. In fact, I was only born half way through that decade. Anyways, the recording studio had pictures of famous singers singing and recording their famous songs. The tour director, who was very informative, got each of us out of the group and we had to sing and perform. Lucky, my voice was drowned out. It was fun.

Windsor, Canada

After Mo Town I left the country. From Detroit there is a bridge to Canada. There was a lot of road construction, but it was a short wait before entering into Canada. When I arrived I used my GPS on my Iphone to locate the Ceasar's Palace Casino there in Windsor, Canada. It was the only new building in that city. The rest of the city looked old, (and not in a good way). I had lunch at the casino, and it was expensive. After lunch I went gambling. I won $2 Canadian dollars, then I found $10 Canadian dollars on the floor. I then tried to find a postcard of Windsor, Canada. I collect postcards of all the places I have ever been. In Windsor, Canada I found postcards, but they were pictures of Detroit. I bought one anyways. After the casino I parked the car and walked around the city. I bought a T-shirt of Windsor at a souvenir shop. There was a lot of construction going on, and some of the streets were closed. After walking around for a while I was ready to leave.

Just Exploring

I got the third degree by the USA customs agents. I kept thinking, "What, you are not going to let me in? Get real. I am an America citizen. Just let me in." After I got back in the USA, I then went for a drive around the city. I saw fancy rich houses. I saw really fancy, big, rich houses. I saw the house that belongs to the Ford family. It was very big. I then started to head back to the motel, since it was getting late and I had to fly home the next day. Along the way I got into my only traffic jam. It was construction that limited the lanes. After that, no problem.

President Hayes House, Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, and Johnny Cash tour bus

USA Trip 09- Day 6

On this day it was the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. This museum was along the sea shore. It is a museum of Rock and Roll music. It was very expensive, costing $22 for admission. There were many floors of displays of clothing worn by famous musicians in music videos and/or concert tours. There is also films about Rock and Roll. I even boarded Johnny Cash's tour bus that he and his wife took on tour. It was pretty neat, but felt different then the museums I am use to, except for the Rock and Roll museum in Seattle. It was very similar to the Seattle Rock and Roll museum.

After this I had a quick lunch at Wendy's and I was on the road back to Detroit. Along the way I stopped in Fremont to visit President Hayes House. President Hayes was the President before President Garfield. He has a big beautiful house that I was lucky enough to make the days final tour. Then after this is was time to go. In about 3 hours I returned to my motel in Detroit where I had stayed before I left for Ohio.

Cleveland, Ohio

USA Trip 09- Day 5

On this day I started with a hearty breakfast at the Glidden House. After I checked out, I went to the cemetery. The Lake View Cemetery which house the graves of many famous people. For $5 you rent a CD tour and drive along in your car. The Rockefeller family, Eliot Ness, and many other notable people are buried there. There is also the monument tomb of President Garfield and his wive. President Garfield was shot in 1881 and that was the second Presidential assassination in American history. On the bottom of this 3 story monument is the coffins of the former President and First Lady. The inside of the monument is is done in gold leaf and in a beautiful 19th century decor.

After the trip to the grave, I went to Cleveland Art Museum. The museum was nearby. The museum was under renovation so many of the rooms were closed to the public, but it was a free museum. The had many famous paintings, including famous paintings of George Washington. There was a huge room with armor from the Middle Ages, and tapestries hanging on the walls. It was pretty neat.

After the Art Museum I got a room for the night in Downtown Detroit. It was too late to visit the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I called and booked the room via cell phone call. I forget the name of the chain motel I stayed at, but it was next to a pizza place and that is what I ate for dinner.

Thoughts While Working in the Yard

These are a few things that went threw my head while I was cleaning out my gutters.

I am not as young as I use to be.

Why does yard work involve so much cursing?

This seems to get harder every year.

Greenfield Village

USA Trip 09- Day 4

On this day I returned to The Henry Ford museum to see the other half. That half was called Greenfield Village. Henry Ford was so rich that he bought the houses of many famous inventors and Americans and had those homes and something businesses shipped to this museum. Henry Ford even bought a cottage in England and had it shipped over brick by brick. There is Thomas Edison's workshops, the bicycle shop where the Wright Brothers invented the airplane, the Wright Brother's house, the House of George Washington Carver, Robert Frost House, Noah Webster's House, Heinz House, and many other. They are all lines up like in a little town circa 1900. You can walk down the street or take a tour via carriage or Model T car or Model T bus. I took the Model T car, then walked around. There were 19th century working farms where people dressed in period clothes and worked the fields or kitchen. There was also 17th century working farms as well. I had lunch at a 19th century restaurant called A Taste of History. All the menu items were period with all local ingredient. It was very good. I can't remember what I ate.

After this museum I got in the car and headed to Cleveland, Ohio. The drive was about 3 hours long. When I arrived I had some trouble finding a motel so I ended up a the Glidden House, which was an old mansion converted into an inn. It was expensive, but worth it. The room was nice and they had a good breakfast. The inn was also next to the Cleveland Art Museum and close to the Lake View Cemetery which I had planned on visiting the next day.

That night I walked down to the Little Italy for dinner. I ate at La Dolce Vita. They had an old movie playing, which I am sure I had seen before but could not remember the name of the movie. The food was okay, but the serves was very poor. I didn't leave much of a tip since it was such poor service. That rarely happens unless I am very unpleased by the service.

USA Trip 09- Day 3

This morning was the first of two days at the Ford Museum. When you arrive at the complex, which makes up both the museum building and a small town, it is as big as a palace in Europe. The building looks very similar to Independence Hall in Philadelphia. The first day was the Henry Ford Museum building. This is a huge building holding cars, trains, electric power plants, homes, furniture, airplanes, and other exhibits. There were historical items that were like holy relics of American history. I saw the chair President Lincoln was sitting when he was shot. I saw the limo the President Kennedy was shot in. I sat on the bus that Rose Parks refused give up her seat, which helped sparked the civil rights movement. There are Presidential limos from President Teddy Roosevelt to President Reagan. It is a huge building which too me all day to see.

Why I stopped watching CNBC.

I stopped watching CNBC because, it wasn't a channel about investing. It was a channel about gambling. Even the commercials are for products on trading stocks. TRADING STOCKS IS GAMBLING! The only thing of real substance on CNBC is the few actual business news reporting. The rest was all about short term predictions in the financial markets. They have "debates" which are nothing more then arguing ones political interests. It breaks down to being much ado about nothing. But, what really caused me to stop watching was not that they made predictions of stocks and markets that would be wrong. No. What cause me to stop watching is that they started to get real political. Financial channels should not be pushing political view points. They should be reporting business news, and not commentary and/or editorials. I stop watching and reading when reports turn into political view points. Financial reporting should be unbiased facts and only unbiased facts.

It's been over a year since the market crash

It's been over a year since the stock market crash from the bank fallout. I do think the worst is behind us and that we are on the road to recovery. But, the events of what happened last year have seriously shaken my faith in the capitalist system. I was amazed that a few people could cause those bank crashes and this recession. All that chaos and panic from a few greedy people. Well, it was also the herd mentality. Everyone was quick to get rich from the real estate market and then everyone was afraid of losing money when the bubble burst. This has made me realize that the stock market, (in the short term within a month to a few years), the stock market is based solely on faith in the system. Like the coyote from the roadrunner cartoons, he is okay standing on the open air just as long as he doesn't look down. If he looks down he falls. The stock market must not look down or it falls. At least in the short term.

The Stock Market

I still believe that the stock market is a good vehicle for building wealth, but only for the long term. As the country grows in population from generation to generation, business naturally grow from selling more. If these business can't grow, then they pay out the profits in dividends. The investor re-invest the dividends to buy more shares, and this increases the investment. That's how it works or you just buy a low cost index fund that matches the indexes of the stock market. Dividends get re-invested to buy more shares. The process takes decades, but you build wealth. But, in the short term the stock market is gambling.

Financial Gimmicks

All those Derivatives and "bets" that they teach in business schools are what cased the bank crashes. The smartest people who go to the best schools almost destroyed the world economies. They make "bets" that enough people who could not pay their bills could pay off a mortgage loan. Then they took out insurance on those loans. What good is all that financial gimmicky and advanced math when common sense was missing?

A reformed investor

I did take part in buying stocks when the market was crashing. I missed out the lowest point of the stock market, because I was traveling to Europe. I am pleased to say that my stock portfolio is the highest it's ever been. I have doubled my money in certain stocks, but it's not all rosey. My loses from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are still currently greater then my gains. I admit that I would sometimes "gamble on stocks" but, not anymore. I am a long term investor. I have changed my ways. I stopped watching the financial channels and I have cut back on following stocks. I have moved my focus and some cash towards more constructive uses in my life. I still invest, but it's with the long term of years in my mind.

Capitalism

I still consider myself a capitalist. I still believe in the capitalist system, but not the way it works in my country. We need to change the system. The corporations have way too much power, and way too much influence on the government. We need a capitalist system more like what exists in Europe and Japan. We need to have a country that values something real, and not value short term get rich plans. Get rich plans only work for a very few, and cost everyone else a lot of money who try to copy them. And finally, dare I say that some socialism is not as bad as some people claim? Equality is a good thing.

This time I am doing things different

I usually just write about my trips in order from day to day. This time I am going to write other posts between writing about my last trip. I have a few things I want to post before I can finish writing about my last trip.

Detroit Institute of Art

USA Trip 09 - Day 2

I woke via an alarm clock. I was tired from being awake all night and the time difference between the wast and now east coast time. I got up and had breakfast at the motel. They had a good spread. I ate waffles. Then I headed to the city of Detroit. I first stopped at a CVS store, but I forgot to bring my card. I had a card from when I last went to this store in Philadelphia. Oh well. I bought some sleeping pills and a few other items. I then went across the street to the Detroit Institute of Art.

What a great surprise!

This museum was big and impressive. It is even bigger than the Seattle Art Museum. There was a little bit of almost every famous artist there. I saw many famous paintings, and I even saw the paintings that are on covers of some of my books at home. What I remember most was portraits from Gainsborough, the painting called "The Nightmare," (I can't remember the artist), and a few impressionist paintings from Monet and Renior. Some of the rooms in this museum were like rooms in castles and art museums in Europe. There were times I had flashbacks to my last European travels in Vienna, Austria. I bought a couple of books at the museum store, and had a tasty meal of soup and sandwich at the museum cafe. Most of my day was spent at the art museum.

The are ones in every state now.

I then went to the casino. The casino in Detroit I visited was call Mo Town casino. As I drove around Detroit, I kept wondering, "Where are all the people?" When I got to the casino I found where they all are. The casino was big and crowded. It was a modern casino with a very modern food court. You used a machine to place and pay for your order, (I think they call them Kioski), then you get a receipt that has your order number on it. When they call your number you go pick up your food. Portions are big and expensive. I ate at "Little Ceasers" because, we didn't have one in Washington, and I liked them in California when I use to go to when I lived there. About two weeks ago I discovered a "Little Ceasars" in my neighboring town. At the casino I won $40 playing craps.

After this I drove around the city. I saw the GM Headquarters building with a Monorail the goes from it out to the city. That surprised me. After this I headed back to the motel.