DIA to 8 Mile

With just one day in Detroit, we knew we had to make it count.  Arriving at the Detroit Institute of the Arts just after it opened, we explored the impressive collection but spent the most time in the amazing courtyard containing Diego Rivera's mural of Detroit, which he created right there in the museum.  Not only is the mural a testament to Detroit's history, but the space itself is just beautiful.

Daniel appreciates the touch of providing a portable stool to carry with you as you peruse the art

While Maddie studies the symbolism apparent in the painting

Absolutely stunning!

The iPad station provides insight into how Rivera made the mural

Next stop - Dearborn and the Ford Museum.  We stopped at the historic Dearborn Inn for lunch.  Designed and built by Ford himself, when he wanted a hotel closer to the airport, the hotel is incredibly charming, the food delicious, and the location - just down the block from the museum - perfect.

Apparently Ford believed that history in books was less than inspiring and also felt he had to prove something to those who doubted his intellect.  Therefore, he decided to create a living history textbook at this Dearborn property.  Initially I expected exhibits devoted only to cars but soon realized that the museum was filled with all measure of startling artifacts - from the limousine in which John Kennedy was assassinated to the chair in the theater where Lincoln last sat.  On a less depressing note, the bus where Rosa Parks refused to move sits within the museum, along with the courthouse, meticulously rebuilt in its new home, where Abraham Lincoln practiced law.

Our summer road trips made us the perfect audience for this exhibit

The Presidents' cars are outfitted with special steps for the secret service to stand upon

Dana spoke with one of the volunteers to learn how the museum managed to acquire these incredible pieces.  How did Illinois part with the courthouse or Alabama with the bus?  Apparently, Henry Ford cleaned up during the Great Depression, offering city after city a relative nominal sum (approximately $10,000) for each piece.  In a time of such economic uncertainty, they were happy to comply.  So... a four hour trek around the Ford museum and Greenfield Village accomplishes exactly what Ford hoped it would - you truly feel as if you are walking through one period of history after another.  It is a remarkable place.

The Rosa Parks' bus

Living history

The home of Noah Webster

Dana contemplates the space where Lincoln tried his cases

After devoting the day to museums, it was time to spend the evening exploring the two Detroit neighborhoods we knew through film - Grosse Pointe and 8 Mile.   While we had no luck recreating our Jeff Daniels' experience by locating John Cusack's child home, we did enjoy ogling the astounding mansions overlooking Lake Michigan.  Going from being the riff raff who couldn't get past the iron gates of one yacht club after another, we then became the outsiders who clearly didn't belong on the streets off of 8 Mile.  Blasting "Lose Yourself" from our speakers, we went off in search of Eminem's childhood home, even though Maddie read that it had been burned down (in a questionable manner?) after someone bought it with the intention of making it a museum.  It was just as well, as it's difficult to imagine many people making the journey to where the museum would have been located.  To do so, one has to drive past some menacing characters.  Of course, that added to our adventure.  Adding to our amusement was Siri's GPS voice, insisting again and again that we "Make a U-Turn" and return to the original course we had set before deciding on this detour.

A few of the lovely Grosse Pointe homes

And then... 8 Mile

The house next door

The lot where once Eminem's house stood

Returning home after our driving tour, we opted to park the car and keep it simple for dinner.  The Book Cadillac is located right across the street from the two warring "Coney" haunts, the more famous (and, we believed, deservedly so) Lafayette and its competitor American Coney.  Many people order two coneys as their meal, but we opted to order just one in order to walk next door and order another for comparison's sake.  At $2.50 a "coney" (a hot dog with mustard, onions and chili), this was also our cheapest meal of the trip (even after we visited both restaurants).

We're now all nestled into our comfy hotel room, watching the first Hunger Games on TV and getting ready to call it quits on the last day of our vacation.  Michigan gets high marks from our family, and we fully expect we will be back to this great "lake" state.

The Purple Rose of Chelsea

Driving through "the heartland" of Michigan to get from the NW corner of the state (think the pinky on your left hand) down to Detroit (at the base of your thumb), we had a relatively peaceful and uneventful day driving through beautiful farm country (mostly corn but the occasional wheat field that kept causing Dana to ask, "if you get out and stand in a field of wheat here, do we still have to go to Kansas?" despite knowing all too well the answer to that question ;).

After our last lovely morning in Traverse City, where the woman from whom I bought a TCFF (Traverse City Film Festival) tote bag and t-shirt recognized my earrings and asked where I had gotten them.  When I told her a little store in Mackinac Island, she not only knew the artist who created the earrings but also the store owner of Little Luxuries, the Mackinac shop.  Michigan is that kind of state.  She sent us off to explore Traverse City's version of that store - a shop filled with items made locally by Michigan artists called Secret Stash.  We tooled around the downtown for a bit longer, headed back to our hotel room for one last look at the Grand Traverse Bay and hit the road to Detroit (via Mount Pleasant, home of CMU, and Ann Arbor, home of University of Michigan).

The view of the Bay as the sun came up - so peaceful

and transparent

When we stopped at Max and Emily, a charming little cafe and our planned stop for gas and an afternoon snack (since we had a late, big and delicious breakfast), we noticed that Jeff Daniels, most recently (and best known to my children) from Newsroom, attended college at CMU and would be playing at a local music festival there on August 21st.  The framed news article of an appearance he made a few years ago at this same festival, along with the flyer announcing his upcoming appearance, caused us all to think even more admirably of this man who continues to make a point of visiting the state of his alma mater.

It was only as I read from our Moon book on Michigan about the charming little down of Chelsea, just outside of Ann Arbor, that I realized that Mr. Daniels still LIVES in Michigan.  In fact, he lives in Chelsea, where he opened his own "Purple Rose of Cairo," where, it turned out, he would be performing this weekend.  Of course, Dana thought, "I bet we can find his house," which led to an amusing discussion/debate about the privacy of public figures and what life must be like for an actor in a place such as Chelsea, Michigan as opposed to Beverly Hills, LA.  The discussion, I should mention, took place after Maddie had programed the address she found with relative ease into her phone and while we drove around Chelsea admiring the place and searching out Jeff Daniel's impressive, yet completely understated, lakeside home, where he lives with the wife he met in high school (both grew up in Michigan).  I will now make you complicit in our questionable activity by allowing you to look at the photos I took of said house ;)

The notion of Jeff and his wife (and, before they were grown, his three daughters) just casually strolling the streets of Chelsea made us all appreciate the choices made by famous people regarding how they live their lives.  For Daniels, there is no gate, no guard, just neighbors and a peaceful life in an unassuming town.  Made me love him that much more.  When we get home, we're showing the kids The Purple Rose of Cairo.

This one was taken with my zoom lens and would have been quite cool had he been standing there contemplating the lake, don't you think? :) (and, yes, I felt the most like a stalker/paparazzi while taking it)

T

The theater in Chelsea

We arrived in the wonderful college town of Ann Arbor around 5:30 and spent the next four hours or so exploring the wonderful downtown, driving around the college, while discussing with Daniel the various schools to which he might wish to apply and having a wonderful dinner at a bustling favorite spot of the locals called The Jolly Pumpkin.  Maddie's college friend, Drew, drove in from Toledo, Ohio to have dinner with Maddie, so we were without our girl for much of our spin through Ann Arbor, but we all once again marveled how much easier it is for people who live in any state other than Florida to get from one place to another.   It took Drew about the same amount of time to drive from Toledo to Ann Arbor as it takes us to drive to see Clay, Alex, Sophia and Fiona! :)

One of the many cool bookstores in downtown Ann Arbor, where anyone can sit at the typewriter, type a line and add it the wall above.

An ordinary street corner artist?

We made it to our historic Book Cadillac (now managed by Westin) by 10:00 and enjoyed an overview of the city from our perch on the 23rd floor.  Now we're off to Dearborn to explore the famed Ford museum.  Today is our last full day of vacation, and we intend to make the most of it.

Until tomorrow....

Breaking "Monsters"

After penning my somewhat bittersweet post yesterday morning, it was time to get cracking on another day.  We had metaphorical monsters - from epic waterslide rollercoasters to massive sand dunes to a documentary of a band that hopes to have a monster of a hit - to experience today.  Of course, the fact that the Great Wolf Lodge didn't open the water park until 10:00, when our checkout was at 11:00 a.m. was somewhat discouraging to the boys who headed down in their bathing suits at just after 9;00.  Still, we managed to beat the crowd and had no wait for any of the coasters.  We did tandem water slides, single water slides ("the fastest" and/or "the longest"), the lazy river (less lazy when you're aware of the time but still fun), and even soaked in the "adults only" hot tub, far larger than most resort pools and absolutely empty but for the four of us, before we headed upstairs for a quick change of clothes to head to the Sleeping Bear National Lakeshore (which is what it is called on the official website).

It's quite understandable why Traverse City is the summer playground for Michanganers (or Michaganians; our proprietor in Bay City said either was acceptable); the Traverse Bays (one referred to as little, the other big) is tranquil, enormous, and stunning.  The little town is peppered with great restaurants and shops, and it's just a 30 minute drive to get to Lake Michigan and the dunes.  The famed Interlochen school for the arts is just about 20 minutes away, so we were even able to take a spin through the campus while Daniel said a quick hello to a school friend who is studying writing here for the summer.  All in all, it's a perfect base for a relaxing two week vacation.  Of course, we had two days, so we had to get busy :)

On our drive to Sleeping Bear, I read, as per tradition, all the entries in our Michigan books about what we were about to see and experience, so when we arrived in the parking lot of the "Climbing Dune," we were prepared for the unusual site of a lot full of cars set against a massive wall of sand that appears, at first, covered with ants.  As you get closer, of course, you realize they are people slowly making their way up the dune.  While Dana was initially annoyed that we had to pay a $10 entrance fee for the National park;lake shore, since I didn't have our annual park pass with me (must have left it at home with the passports! ;P ), I reminded him that he had just recently forked over $40 to sit on the porch of a hotel, and he happily dropped the subject.

Dana knew immediately that this was a job best accomplished barefoot, so he took off his sandals and hit the sand.  The rest of us, donned in the sneakers I had suggested were requisite for hiking, soon realized we had to follow Dana's lead, take off our sand filled shoes and socks and forge on.  The dune is a hoot, as all of the many inclines I have done on the treadmill at Orange Theory barely prepared me for walking up a steep slope of sand.  Regardless of the fitness level of the many people of all ages all around us, the effort of sinking into the sand upon each step upward clearly took its toll.  You heard children bemoaning why they had to climb any further when all the really wanted to do was roll down (which plenty did), while one incredibly young and fit couple near me kept encouraging each other that "it's much easier if you take small steps."  I suggested to Daniel that we try this tip, but we didn't find it made much of a difference.  When you make it to the "top" (there are several tops, actually, as the dune continues in a few different directions, one of which Daniel explored and reported offered "NOTHING" in terms of better views), you have a stunning view of Glen Lakes (one less deep, and, therefore, less blue, than the other) and a wonderful perspective on the climbers now struggling to accomplish what you just did.  The day was clear and sunny and the wind, thankfully, at a minimum, so we were able to enjoy our perch atop the dune for as long as we wished (which was until hunger kicked in) before making the far more fun trek down.

The park literature suggests that no first time trip to this area is complete without doing three things:  climbing the dune (check!!), exploring historic Glen Haven and taking the Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive.  So we headed to Glen Have for lunch at a wonderful little place called The Cherry Republic.  Since Michigan is famous for cherries and Traverse City hosts the annual cherry festival, it's only natural that some restaurant would adopt this concept - everything, from the iced tea to the burger to the grilled cheese - contains cherries in some manner or another.   While Daniel was initially skeptical that this would be the "worst meal of our vacation" (as he proclaimed he was decidedly not a fan of the cherry), he soon changed his tune and asked for a refill of his cherry cola after eating every bite of his burger and a bit of his sister's grilled cheese.  The setting is lovely, outside in a shaded garden filled with flowers.  All was perfect until we were about to leave and a Yellow Jacket from one of those nearby flower beds landed on Maddie's neck.

Those of you who know Maddie well know that she fears nothing quite so much as she fears bees.  We used to have to coax her out of the house to go swimming if she saw one anywhere in the vicinity of the pool.  So she stood as still as a statue, waiting patiently for it to fly off.  When it didn't, I grabbed a napkin and cautiously scooped it off of her and into the nearby garbage can.  Disaster averted, though Maddie continued to relive the trauma for the next 20 minutes or so. ;)

After lunch in charming Glen Haven, nestled against Lake Glen and bustling with all sorts of activity - kayaks to rent, ice cream to eat, and so forth - we hit the road for our scenic drive.  Pierce Stocking loved this place so much that he wanted everyone to be able to access the beautiful views, regardless of their health and ability to climb a dune, so he built this road and stuck his name on it.  When he wanted a pretty photo spot, he created the bridge in the photo below, which was the first one of its kind.  Now all the National Parks have some such structure bearing the National Park logo.  Pretty good thinking for a former lumberjack in Michigan.  The drive did afford spectacular views, though by our last stop - for the best vantage point of Lake Michigan (and, for some intrepid swimmers, an entry point into the lake itself) - the wind had kicked up just enough that we had to guard our eyes from the sand flying everywhere.  Safely out of the lookout point, it was far more pleasant.

After our brief stint at Interlochen on our way back "home" to Traverse City, we checked into our new digs, a lovely little resort right on the bay and headed down to the "beach" for an hour relaxing to the sounds of lake waters gently rolling against the shore (a sound I am enjoying again as I write this morning's post from our balcony overlooking this lovely bay) before readying ourselves for the night's entertainment - a documentary called Breaking a Monster about a young band called Unlocking the Truth.  Since Daniel had seen them perform on The Colbert Show, he was more interested in this film than most of the few others we might have been able to see.  Since the director would be in attendance at this showing, and it was playing at the downtown State Theater, we were all enthusiastic we were able to score tickets.  The fact that the band would also be in attendance hadn't been reported in advance, so that was an extra treat.  Rolling Stone made this doc a top pick at an earlier film festival (it is currently on the festival circuit), and it's easy to see why.  The 13 year old boys are immensely talented and also quite likable, a fact that all the industry people who manage them within the film want to capitalize on.  We got on line just after 8 for our 9:00 film, so we got great seats, sitting in the row behind Malcolm, the lead singer and guitarist of the band, his father/tour manager, the film's director and the band's music producer, Johnny K.  It was just the sort of film festival experience one hopes to have, and we enjoyed every minute of it.  An added bonus - the band played a four song set after the film, so we got to see a movie and hear a concert!  We're TCFF enthusiasts :)

Now it's 8:21, the family has awakened, and it's time to settle on our last morning's activities before heading to Ann Arbor and Detroit for our next (and last) Michigan stops.  Will we hit a panel at the festival or rent a boat and go tooling around the Bay?   Hmmm.... at the moment, the lake sure does look (and sound) inviting.

In the name of keeping our sanity, we opted to enjoy the bay from the balcony, take in a charming breakfast spot (The Blue Heron 2) in the old city and do a bit of shopping before hitting the road.  TCFF merch in hand, we're checking out of Traverse City for now, but we hope to return for a future festival, as our little taste of this one was fantastic!