My first impression of Michigan.... Cold! Very Cold!
Cold weather has never been my thing...give me some sun and a beach any day and I'm happy. So this week I braved the cold, ice and snow flurries and came to the definite conclusion that I have no business in Michigan unless its for business! ;)
This week I stayed at The Henry, a Marriott hotel, and it was just wonderful. It was almost like a boutique hotel. They had original artwork all throughout the hotel which was beautifully decorated in classic meets modern decor. I absolutely loved it! They even had a pencil sketch by Van Gogh on the wall! The staff was really friendly and it felt like a cozy hotel. Not to big and expansive. The rooms were nice, clean and comfortable.
I visited Redford Township for part of my week. What I saw as I drove down the street was building after building boarded up with broken windows, half burned down, empty and marked with spray paint. I thought to myself, "what has happened here? Added to that, Trash and debris in the gutters and along fence bottoms. Just horrible! Now, I realize it is winter but I think that no matter the season you should really care about your town. To sum it up, I was in the....Ghetto. No businesses were open in this area. There were only a few fast food restaurants and not much else. I didn't get a chance to see the whole town but the part I saw was of a disheveled abandoned section in need of some TLC. You could tell by the amazing old brick and stone buildings that at one time this might have been a really nice suburb to live in. Off of Grand River Blvd, the side streets had little neighborhoods with gorgeous old brick houses. I would have to guess from the 1920's or 30's. They all had slightly different architecture but all built in red brick. At the entrance of the subdivision were grand brick columns with finials marking the entrance to the seem to once be a high class neighborhood. Its a really sad sight, and shocking as well.
I would have to say the best part of my whole week in Michigan was going to the Henry Ford Museum with my co-workers. We had been up late the night before but we still had the energy to get up early and brave the cold to see this historical site. I was definitely not disappointed. Pulling up to the museum you see an old large brick building looking like library or school. Inside were beautiful crystal chandeliers and lights lining the hallways. The Henry Ford Museum had over 9 acres of exhibits. From the first Model-T to the unusual golden rod, showing us how far we have come in the automobile industry. They also had trains, stage coaches, and one of the first motor homes. They have a very important display about 1960’s Racism in the South and have on display the bus that Rosa Parks rode that day in history. Additionally, they have several of the United States Presidential Limos and cars that were used from the early 1900’s till 1980’s. The most famous limo housed in the museum is President Kennedy’s limo he was riding in when he was shot! Probably the funniest automobile they have on site is the Oscar Meyer Wienermobile! As long as a bus, this auto was built in 1952 and drove around cities to promote Oscar Meyer hot dogs.
I also visited two different Mediterranean/Lebanese restaurants that were absolutely amazing! The first was Oasis in Livonia. It was recommended to us by a local. I met a few of my coworkers there for lunch not really knowing what to expect. I was so impressed by the menu, service and quality of food. The stand out for me was the homemade pita bread! I had never been to a restaurant that made their own from scratch. It was so good I could have just had that with hummus for lunch. It was all very fresh and tasted great.
For dinner, we went
to La Pita in Dearborn. La Pita was also recommended to us by a local and was
really, really delicious. The restaurant was decorated with a Middle Eastern
flare and smelled really good when we walked in. I had falafel which was slightly
different. It had a little spicy kick to it. They also had the home made pita
bread! The brick oven is open to the dining room so you can watch the women
rolling out the dough and preparing the pita for baking. I really enjoyed
eating at all of these restaurants as I didn’t think I would find any local
restaurants to try that week. Nice surprise!
I will have to say that I will probably never return to
Michigan and really have no desire to return either. If I did, it would only be
during the summer when you expect better weather and not daily snow flurries
like I experienced. To end this post I will say….. Good Bye Michigan! I am not
sad to leave!
Thanks for reading!
Annie xo
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