R. E. OLDS MUSEUM IN LANSING, MICHIGAN

During March 2010 we visited Elizabeth's son Jeremy and his friend Julie who live in Lansing, Michigan. They took us on a tour of the R.E. Olds Transportation Museum. Ransom Eli Olds, a native of Lansing, is the father of the Oldsmobile automobile. This museum is a tribute to the founder and the automobiles designed and built here. There are even REO Speedwagons--the real ones and not the musical group. The first Oldsmobile, an 1897 model, is on display.

The next time we do this, we are going to write down the models of the cars we photograph so we can properly identify the photos.

Julie, an excellent photographer, composes a close-up of brass trim while Jeremy looks on.

Check reoldsmuseum.org

Jeremy and Julie took us to visit Frederick Meijer Gardens and Landscape Park. We are shown above sitting by a likeness of Frederick Meijer and Lena, his wife.

The park is located near Grand Rapids, Michigan and one of the main cultural destinations in the state.

We especially liked to photograph rare butterflies in the butterfly house.

Wikipedia has a fine write-up about the gardens and park so we won't repeat it here. Just look for Frederick Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park.

My GUESS is that this is a Heliconius melpomene butterfly. It didn't come from West Virginia! Commonly called The Postman Butterfly.

 Heliconius melpomene butterfly
American Horse by Nina Akamu

This is the horse that Duke of Milan commissioned Leonardo da Vinci to build, but was never completed, however, Frederick Meijer did. He also had one built in Italy. The bronze sculpture stands 24-feet tall and is the work of artist Nina Akamu.

The American Horse is located in Frederick Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park in Michigan. The 132-acre park contains many outdoor sculptures, but this is the finest-in our opinion.

Julie photographs the American Horse from a different angle while Jeremy looks on.

The Lena Meijer Conservatory at Meijer Gardens houses rare plants from around the world. Unfortunately, we don't know the names of any of them. These plants, and many others like them are housed in an environmentally controlled conservatory. Environments from arid desert landscape to tropical jungles provide natural living conditions for plants most of us would otherwise never see.