Detroit-not what you think

We started out day three with Lindy waking up first at 8:30 only it was really 7:30 because the stupid clock in the hotel was set wrong. We checked out of hotel and went to give our number to the valet to bring our car up. Isn't that what a valet is supposed to do? Well at the Blue Chip you have to walk to the parking garage with your luggage and give the person your ticket so they can bring your car to you. Only problem was-the same number had been given to another car. So after a few heated moments we were on our way. We stopped at McDonalds to get breakfast-only problem we were now in Eastern time so we had to eat lunch instead-oh well!

Our next stop was at Battle Creek 
home of Kellogg cereals-but Cereal City has closed. Lindy remembered going to it as a child. I guess I'll never get to see it. We did get to see this 18 ft statue of Sojourner Truth. It was pretty cool.

Our next stop was Ann Arbor-home of Michigan State University. We saw the stadium and some of the campus. Ann Arbor is like the Madison of Michigan. We drove around some neat areas and downtown. We also had lunch at the Whole Foods Market salad bar. Please indulge the pictures of our food, but we knew Andy would enjoy seeing them.

On to Detroit. We came in on the Rosa Parks Highway and there was hardly any traffic-I guess everyone was going out of town at 5:00 on Friday. On the way in we saw some tough looking housing but it reminded me a lot of Milwaukee. The downtown is amazing. There is a real mix of architecture. Our hotel was at the Renaissance Center right on the river next to the tunnel that goes over to Windsor, Canada. It is an incredible building. The Marriot Hotel is on one tower, but there are three others. In the center are three levels of shops and there is also a huge display of all of the cars made by GM. It is hard to describe and the pictures don't do it justice. Our room was only on the 54th floor-there are 72 in all.

The view was amazing. We could see the Detroit River, Comerica Park and Ford Field from our window. The room was very nice. We decided to take a walk over to the Greektown Casino. After losing money there, we ate burgers at 5 Guys-really good! Then we decided to take the monorail train that circles around the downtown area to the MGM Grand Casino. Only 50 cents! We still had a bit of a walk to that casino, so after losing some more money there, we took a cab back to our hotel. When we got back, Dave Mason was playing a free concert outside by the Riverwalk. He founded Traffic and wrote the songs: Feelin' Alright and We Just Disagree. He is one of those under-rated musicians who was always playing on others people's albums. It was great music. He still plays great for an old guy. It's so funny to see all of these old people dancing around (Even though we are the same age!) When we got back up to our room the view of the city lights was so cool. I have always heard such horror stories of Detroit, but it wasn't like that at all. I'm sure there are areas that are bad, but the downtown area was really nice.

We are both tired and now I have to load all of these pictures. Not too far to go tomorrow, but I am hoping to get to see Dusty Street at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame!