Motor City

Somewhere I heard of a metaphor to describe Detroit as an urban smile with missing teeth. After visiting Detroit, one can see how that metaphor reigns true. Everywhere you go, it's a mix of pristine buildings and abandoned boarded-up "missing teeth". However, it's this urban smile that makes Detroit unique. 

One of Detriot's greatest prides? The Tigers! And they just happened to be playing the Phillies when we were in town, and won. The Comerica stadium even served local craft beers and pierogi, and provided ticket holders with a spectacular post-game fireworks show.

Detroit is also famous for one of the great national food wars--The American Coney v. Lafayette Coney! After trying both, and they literally taste almost exactly the same, I'm still undecided. Guess I have I go back for more!

While in Detroit, we stayed at yet another another airbnb, which is really proving to be a great lodging option. For $50 a night, we stayed in a luxury condo with all the amenities. It also happened to be located a block away from the Motor City Brewing company, which was a huge plus. 

It's a great city to stroll around in. We must have walked close to 8 miles one day (not to be confused walking down "8 Mile") and found that it was a lively Friday afternoon with plenty markets, street vendors and outdoor music. While downtown we stumbled upon a popular joint called Fishbones. The maze like restaurant led us to the angelic voice of Reggie Smith and the After Party, which was acoustically enhanced by the cavernous ceiling. 

And even though we were broke every rule of the dress code, wearing tee shirts, shorts, flip-flops and sneakers, we somehow got into the Coach Insignia Lounge at the top of the GM building. Had it not been after the Tigers game, I would have been on the floor of the glass elevator crying as it shot up 72 stories. By far one of the coolest elevator rides, and the 360 views of the illuminated Detroit and Canada skyline weren't so bad either. 

This is the part were I give a shout out to the upcoming portion of the trip, um the wilderness?