Stacey’s 30th Birthday Extravaganza

Thursday and Friday proved to be rather lazy days where I spent time catching up on Internet-related issues and doing laundry. Yay clean clothes. Thursday night Jared and I went for dinner in the hip and trendy suburb of Royal Oak because…well frankly, we consider ourselves to be hip and trendy. Since I decided to stay Friday night to go to the Tigers’ game it was mildly disappointing to find the game sold out except for “standing room only” tickets. They were cheap though so off we went to Comerica Park in downtown Detroit where, yet again, I did not get shot.

Standing room only was actually a pretty good time…you meet lots of people also standing around and if you were lucky, as we were, to be able to lean up against a barrier most of the time you barely notice you’re not seated. Of course, the Tigers got their asses kicked by Kansas City which I will take full responsibility for…I’m an unlucky jinx.

Though Jared was nice enough to let me derail his life for three days, I thought I had best get going on Saturday morning. Canada was calling and Jared had a triathlon to run (which he won it seems) but before I left town I popped into the Detroit Science Center. A while back I heard about an exhibit that was traveling the country where donated human bodies were preserved in various forms to display the inner functions of the human body. Sara and Michelle told me that the exhibit was currently in Detroit so I had to stop in and check it out. All I can say is “wow!” Very, very cool. I especially found the fetuses at various stages of development to be very interesting. The prenatal display is, of course, rather controversial and roped off into a separate section for those who can’t deal though I found it to be one of the more interesting parts of the exhibit. And to all the moms out there…I don’t know how you do it. All the baby growing “stuff” is really tiny so it’s a little mind-blowing to imagine how it all grows human beings. Anyway, “Our Body: The Universe Within” will be in Detroit through Labor Day weekend so check it out if you’re in the area.

Considering that the only other border crossing I’ve made in a car was from San Diego to Tijuana, I can assure you that the crossing from the U.S. into Canada is an entirely different and generally more positive experience. I found it especially funny that the first thing I see upon entry into Canada is a Tim Horton’s (for those not familiar…Tim Horton’s is the Starbucks of Canada…one on every corner…sometimes more than one). As much as people love to degrade corporations like Starbucks and TH’s that are taking over the world…I’ll always have a place in my heart for TH’s as they do lots of great stuff for kids with their Tim Horton’s Children’s Foundation and are big supporters of a cause near and dear to my heart…Camp To Belong. Enough with the shameless plug…

Despite the usual out-of-America experiences (how many liters of gas fit in the Civvy? How fast is 100 km/hour?) driving in Canada proved to be blissfully uneventful. I had originally selected Niagara Falls as a stopping point between Detroit and the later goals for this week of New England and Montreal but I did not anticipate the mayhem that is NF. Oh my god. Saturday night in the middle of July proved to be about the worst time to go and hotel rates were running in the $300 plus per night range which is clearly insane. I had planned to stick around the next morning to at least do the much ballyhooed Maids of the Mist boat trip but after taking a few uninspired pictures (see below) and driving along the park road to get a view of the Falls, I ultimately decided that the best thing to do in Niagara Falls is to get the hell out so that’s what I did. Instead I ended up spending the night in beautiful and scenic…wait for it…Buffalo, New York. By the airport no less.

I am currently en route to Vermont on the New York Thruway typing to you from the free Wi-Fi in the service plaza. As lovely as the Thruway is, I think I’m going to pop off of it in a 100 miles or so and do a scenic drive through the Adirondack Mountains in NY. I will, of course, be taking lots of photos so stay-tuned for that. Before I go…a few thoughts on the trip heretofore:

4 Assessments from the First Week of the Extravaganza

Assessment #1: Michigan appears to have lots of prisoners. I saw many signs all over the state that read “Prison area. Don’t Pick up Hitchhikers.”

Assessment #2: Detroit gets a bad rap. Sure, the Motor City has its problems like any city but there’s lots of worse places to be. Cruise around with a local and you’ll be surprised.

Assessment #3: Comerica Park is nice though I can’t say it’s my favorite MLB ballpark…that honor continues to go to Camden Yard in Baltimore (sorry Miller Park fans).

Assessment #4: Niagara Falls claims to be the world’s honeymoon capital. If my FH (future husband) ever suggested a honeymoon in NF I would seriously reconsider the wedding. The Falls are impressive though…I just can’t recommend a Saturday in July.

So I had great aspirations on Tuesday…get up early, take the ferry to Mackinac Island, bike eight miles around the island, be back in time to check out of my motel and make it to Grand Haven, Michigan by 4 pm as planned. Unfortunately, sleep deprivation (courtesy of the Minnesotans) finally caught up with me and I ended up sleeping in and skipping the island. I’ve heard that I didn’t miss much…my friends in Grand Haven described Mackinac as “cheesy” and Angie says it’s “boring”. Either way, it’s going to have to wait for some other trip.

I did manage to complete the rest of the plan…checked out of my motel and made it to Grand Haven by around 4 pm. Grand Haven is a very cute beach front community on Lake Michigan near Grand Rapids. I was planning to visit my old college friend Jason and his family in Kalamazoo but it turns out they were on vacation at a rented cottage in GH so I popped in to see them there. Jason’s in-laws Denny and Ellen were gracious enough to both feed me and offer a night’s accommodations which was extremely nice of them. I had a great time catching up on old times with Jason and his wife Michelle, whom I hadn’t seen since they got married nearly 4 years ago.

Speaking of Jason and Michelle’s wedding…this is perhaps a good time to explain how Michigan scored its one point against me. You see, the last and only other time I’d set foot in Michigan…I was double-crossed by this great state. Indeed Michigan seems very midwesterny in its presentation. It looks a lot like Minnesota and Wisconsin…green, lots of trees, lots of water. Michiganites have proved to be just as friendly and gracious as everyone else in the Midwest. But don’t be fooled. Michigan actually resides in the EASTERN time zone…not CENTRAL like the rest of the Midwest. Seems simple enough but unfortunately my friend Nate and I were not aware of (or rather, had forgotten) this fact and ended up showing up at Jason and Michelle’s wedding AFTER the ceremony was over. Score one for Michigan.

At any rate, a grand evening was spent in Grand Haven (pun completely intended) in which I met some new friends Sara and Kirk and got to hang out with Jason and Michelle’s adorable little girls Caitlin and Nora . After breakfast and coffee by the lake, I headed back out on the road towards Kalamazoo for lunch with some work colleagues. It is the strange nature of my work-from-home gig that I’ve worked with many people across the country over the past few years whom I’ve never actually met in person. Such is the case with the crew at Comsys in Kalamazoo so it was great to finally put faces with the voices. Here we are (from left: Johnny, Jo, Jill, Cartier, me (of course), Jim):

After lunch, the Comsys Crew had to get back to the office for the standard Wednesday conference call and I decided to get back on the road towards Detroit. An uneventful drive (for which I’m scoring myself a point) landed me in St. Clair Shores where my friend Jared’s house is located. We celebrated my arrival by heading to downtown Detroit (no, I did not get shot) for sushi at Fishbone’s and drinks at a local Irish pub. I’ll likely hang out here a few days as the draw of a washing machine, wireless internet and a couch to lay around on is too tempting to pass up. Plus, I’ve been talked into sticking around for the home Tigers’ game on Friday night so will likely head towards Niagara Falls on Saturday morning. More to come from Detroit….

Since all of the Minnesotans I know went to college in Wisconsin, I've been wondering for a while if maybe there is something inherently wrong with the state of Minnesota? I mean really...why would so many residents defect for a ... [Continue reading this entry]