Closing Night at the Detroit Symphony

I'm really kicking myself for making season closing night at the Detroit Symphony Orchestra my opening night at the DSO.  After living here for an entire orchestra season, I finally took advantage of the DSO's 37/11 program and picked up some $60 seats for $11.  Anybody younger than 37 can get tickets to most seats at select DSO concerts for only $11.  You just have to sign up first here.

If this is you, then you should be kicking yourself too if you haven't signed up for the program.  I don't care if you "don't like classical music," for $11 you could think the music was crap (which it won't be) and just enjoy the amazing orchestra hall, the bustle of people in Midtown and a nice night out in Detroit.

Detroit has a world-class symphony, and the audience took remarkable ownership of the symphony and the performance.  It really felt like the orchestra was playing to the audience and the audience was just soaking in the emotion from their home-town gem.  

On the way home, we drove through the Wayne State University campus and what looked like an kids' dance performance getting out...lots of 5 year old in purple tutus, face makeup and balloons. 

Detroit Symphony Orchestra

Parking is $5 at nearby lots or $7 in DSO lot

Free Press review

The Place to Be in San Francisco

This blog may have moved from the Bay Area to Ann Arbor, but we've been able to stay pretty well connected to our former lives. 

So, for all of our San Francisco friends (and those random readers we happen to catch with a SF cab fare search), here's what you should be doing on Thursday, May 14: attending High Stakes for Habitat. This must-attend casino night benefits Habitat for Humanity Greater San Francisco and their efforts to build homes-- and hope-- in Marin, San Francisco and the Peninsula. 

Grab your friends, put on your favorite cocktail attire, and head to the Great American Music Hall to sip a signature cocktail, sample tasty treats and dance the night away-- all while rolling the dice to support Habitat! 

Tickets are $75 and include "charity chips" to start the gaming, beer, wine and signature cocktails and a great DJ and dance floor. You can buy tickets online and learn more about the event at www.highstakesforhabitat.org. 

Ann Arbor Parking Spot Availability

The Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority tracks open parking spots in downtown parking structures. You can also get the same information by calling (734) 272-0909 and following the prompts. Don't leave home without it!

So...stop your yapping about not being able to find a parking space. Or better yet, hop on your bike, the bus, or your feet.

Available Downtown Parking Spots

The hottest spot in Michigan

After complaining about the cold, we found the hottest spot in Michigan on Friday night: The North American International Auto Show at Cobo Hall in Detroit. Not only was it the place to be in Detroit, it was also really, really warm. 

Despite the intense heat in Cobo, we enjoyed wandering through the displays and experiencing the "Detroit-ness" of it all. Where else can you find a city so fully devoted to the automobile? And the best part was that the Ford, GM and Chrysler sections were the busiest areas. Too bad

 KIA didn't get the memo that they were coming to the auto show in Detroit  when they advertised that their car can go from San Francisco to LA on a single charge. 

We are not "car people", but the sheer number of cars was impressive. We sat in Mini Coopers, Audis, VWs, Saturns, Pontiacs, Jeeps and anything else that had doors that would open. I'll admit we often threw dirty looks at the little boys monopolizing the driver's seat! But once I was behind the wheel, I realized that it's impossible to resist ma

king the "vroom vroom" sound while pretending to steer and shift. 

And since we aren't "car people", we didn't feel too badly calling it a night and heading home once our feet began to hurt. Plus, we had already shed as many layers as was appropriate! 

What happens when it's -15 degrees

While I may joke about being constantly cold, I am actually enjoying our first winter back in Michigan. The snow is really beautiful when it falls, I can never get enough of warm, cozy sweaters, and my knitting projects have grown exponentially. 

That said, when the air temperature hit -15 degrees last week, the cons of winter began to outweigh the pros of winter. For those of you reading this blog from balmy California, here's what happens when the temperature dips that low:

• Schools close. And all those kids that would normally be in school on a Friday morning are now at Target with their parents, screaming bloody murder about not getting the toy they want. 
• Cars sound like trucks. Yes, even the little Chevy Aveo sounded like an F-150 when it started. Thankfully, it started. And drove. 
• Car locks and/or stick shifts freeze. Your aforementioned car isn't terribly useful if it doesn't unlock. For those in our household with a stick shift, it took an incredible feat of strength to shift from park into reverse.
• You can't get warm. Despite multiple layers of clothes, slippers and a warm blanket, your fingers are still numb as you type.
  
• Salt doesn't work. That means, any icy spots on the road stay icy. And any icy spots on your front walk continue to be a fall-on-your-ass hazard. 
• Cats hide. Our small (but certainly not thin) kitty lived under blankets. While she's perfectly adept at getting under them herself, she would much prefer to beg until a human lifted the blanket for her. 
• Everyone dances. Ann Arbor was quite a hopping town last Friday night-- literally. Large groups of people would wait to cross the street and do their own version of the staying-warm jig. Mine involved lots of bouncing. 

Thankfully, the cold weather lasted for a short time and we're back to a warm 30 degrees. This, I might remind you, is a full 45 degrees warmer than last week. Although, I will probably still dance while waiting to cross the street... 

The Winter To-do List

We definitely feel like we're still getting settled, but that won't stop us from at least planning a few things to do when we have a chance. Here's what we've got on the winter fun to-do list:

• North American International Auto Show
• Detroit Institute of Arts
• Detroit Symphony Orchestra
• Weekend ski trip
• Ice skating in Ann Arbor or Campus Martius in Detroit
• Michigan Hockey

I'd say that's a pretty good start. We'll see how we do and report back.

We're planning on going to the auto show tomorrow. I really, really hope it's better than the San Francisco Flower and Garden Show that we left crying.

Michigan Pride

Detroit has been in the news a lot lately, and Detroit has been getting its unfair share of criticisms. Mayor arrested, economy in the tank, unemployment up...it really doesn't have an end. Our lives have been pretty hectic getting settled into Michigan life, but as soon as things calm down we'd really like to spend more time getting to know Detroit. In the mean time, this should give you some perspective on the Detroit mentality, and the Michigander mentality in general. We really do like it here!

The Courage of Detroit by Mitch Albom [from Sports Illustrated]

Ice skates and rifles

There are some things in this world that just shouldn't go together. Spinach and ice cream. And ice skates and guns. 

We drove to Grand Rapids for Thanksgiving this year, giving thanks for the ability to spend the holiday with our family without the hassle and expense of flying. After the Thanksgiving festivities were over, we planned to meet friends in Chicago for a night. While the trip to the windy city was planned at the last minute, ice skating was a key component of the weekend's festivities. 

Now that we live in snowy Michigan, I thought it was the perfect time to unearth my ice skates from my parents' garage. After suggesting that idea to my Mom, I learned that the ice skates were, in fact, sold at a garage sale years ago. So much for childhood memories! And while Steve insists that we move his inline skates from one side of the country to another, he has never owned ice skates. 

That meant both of us were in the market for new skates in advance of our much anticipated Chicago ice skating adventure. And where better to find them than Rylee's Hardware on Michigan Street in Grand Rapids. After all, it's where I always purchased my skates as a kid. 

What I never remembered about Rylee's (and this is probably a good thing) is that the innocence of ice skates and sleds is interrupted by case and cases of guns. Hand guns. Rifles. Other guns. In fact, to get my ice skates sharpened, I had to wait at the gun counter while all around me were men in hunting gear, talking about their hunting conquests. 

And yet, through all the trauma of standing at a gun counter for 15 minutes listening to stories of blood and guts, I got a great deal on a pair of ice skates. In fact, I think they are better than the ice skates my Mom sold years ago. Just don't tell her. 

We happened to have a great time ice skating in Chicago. The weather cooperated, the skates were fairly comfortable and the only thing forcing us to quit was the rough ice. 

I'll admit that the trauma of the gun counter lasted only a short time. And it makes for a pretty funny story, particularly in the "welcome to Michigan" spirit. But I still stick by my assertion: some things just don't mix. 

"Snow, snow, snow" she cried!

I knew it would be cold when we moved to Michigan. I swear I knew that. That still doesn't take away the surprise of the first frost, the first night below 30 degrees or the first snow fall. And it really doesn't take away the shock of walking outside to a blast of cold air!  

I realize that I'm a bit spoiled because my commute to my desk takes all of 10 steps. It's Steve that has had a better introduction to the wintery reality as he scrapes the car off every morning. But still...

We had our first snow fall on Sunday night. I had been in San Francisco until Sunday morning, so it was even more of a shock to make the fast transition to snow. Actual snow. I'll admit that I thought it something was falling off the balcony above our back door. Steve got a good laugh out of that one!

The first snow of the year is always fun. This was no exception. The snow was originally melting on impact, so it didn't get in the way of our drive to dinner (at Pizza House which was totally not worth it). But by the time we came out of dinner, there was a light covering on everything. The car. The sidewalk. The trees. Good thing we bought a brush a few weeks earlier! 

The snow actually stuck around until the morning, which gave us plenty of time to take some pictures. While I'm not necessarily looking forward to multiple months of the fluffy white stuff, it was a beautiful introduction to the Michigan winters that I'm sure we'll come to dread soon enough!  

Just a little paint fumes

During a particularly beautiful fall weekend*, we took on the somewhat daunting task of painting. I think it started as a distraction during the Michigan football game and morphed into an all-on paint assault in the apartment. 

The funny thing about painting is that we are the blind leading the blind. I had done some painting as a kid with my Dad and on Habitat homes... but nothing that mattered as much as my own living space. While my Dad was helpful in giving tips, we turned, as usual, to the internet for painting research. Loaded with checklists and to-dos from Real Simple's website, we took a deep breath and dipped our brushes into the paint. 

After only a slight amount of bickering (did you know that painting can be hard on a marriage??), we completed an accent wall in the living room. It's now a lovely Martha Stewart shade of "sueded leather". Really, it's brown. Which is much better than the dingy beige that is EVERYWHERE in this place. 

The worst part about the whole ordeal was watching the paint dry. As we sat on the couch, we began to notice all the places we missed. Thankfully, the matte paint was forgiving when we went over the bare patches the next morning. 

Steve, having gotten the painting bug, started in on the bathroom at 5 pm last night. I'm never sure that starting to paint at 5 pm is a good idea... But, by 10 pm we had an almost-painted bathroom in glossy "pale sapphire 1." While pale sapphire 1 didn't totally live up to my expectations of the color (i was hoping for more lavender, less baby blue), it is another lovely paint job. So what if you can tell we're beginners? The splotches of dripping paint give it character :) And it's a rental. 

I think Steve summed it up best when he said "now it looks like somebody lives here." Yay! 

* Don't worry, we also went to the Dexter Cider Mill, took a drive to see the fall colors along the Huron River, and hiked through the Arb on campus with camera in tow. 

Worst bloggers ever...and WE MADE IT!

We can't even blog when we tell everybody that we know to read our blog. How pathetic. I'm also disappointed that none of you called to make sure we were dead on the side of the road in Kentucky somewhere as our blog posts would lead you to believe.

We made it to Ann Arbor in one piece and became instantly overloaded with unpacking, familiarizing ourselves with the area, and starting work (or continuing work in TBH's case). It really does feel great to be here. I really do promise that we'll be sending out pictures of our place as soon as we're not embarrassed to show it to everyone.

As we expected, we are having a little bit of San Francisco withdrawal, but things really are going well so far. Just wanted to let you all know that we made it!

...and NO...Michiganders DO NOT talk like Sarah Palin. Blechhhhh.

According to Santi

Thanks to Santi for reminding us to keep blogging! We haven't always had the most reliable internet access and our dream of blogging every night faded quickly.

We spent the last four days visiting family in the South. After we left our great hotel in Arkansas (can't beat Hampton Inn!) on Tuesday morning, we drove to the Clinton Presidential Library in Little Rock. Since it's a bit like a museum of the 1990s, we had a blast reliving all of our favorite moments during our favorite President's tenure. Although, I'd recommend skipping the library's restaurant...

From Little Rock, we took the back roads to Jackson, Mississippi. It was amazing to get off the interstate for awhile and actually SEE the Mississippi river! Plus, we were both excited to add another state to our list since the back roads took us through Louisiana in addition to Arkansas and Mississippi.

To drive along the river felt like we were driving back in time (except for the many, many Tyson Chicken trucks passing us in the other direction). Like good Yankees, we were impressed with the levees, the swampy waterways and the fields of cotton. We also couldn't miss the rural poverty that is still pervasive in the deep south.

We arrived in suburban Mississippi to visit with Steve's Dad and his wife. Other than a short drive to the Jackson reservoir, we didn't see much outside their sprawling development. I guess we'll have to do the historical trip to Mississippi another time!

Since it's time for us weary travelers to turn in (at yet another Hampton Inn!), we'll finish telling our story in the next few days. We should be in Ann Arbor ("home"?) by tomorrow afternoon.

Our trip...

We thought it might be helpful for you (and us) if we showed a map of our trip...

We're going/went here:

View Larger Map

As dry as a...

Well, it seems to be as dry as a desert around here. Go figure! We've both been liberally applying the only lotion we have handy which just happens to be hemp lotion from The Body Shop (it's great stuff, by the way!). So not only do we look like San Franciscans, we smell like San Franciscans, too...

Saturday was our long drive through the desert from the Grand Canyon to Santa Rosa, New Mexico. We spent most of this leg of the trip following the old Route 66. Luckily for Steve, I was able to sing snippets of the Route 66 song for his enjoyment all day long.

It turns out that we were also following the railroad tracks most of the day, as well. We needed a food and bathroom break near Winslow, Arizona and just for "kicks" we got off I-40 early to take Route 66 through what looked like a pretty dilapidated town (Dairy Queen for lunch, anyone?). Just as we were giving up on local restaurants, we came across a beautifully restored hotel at the end of the main street. It was La Posada hotel, a lovingly restored railroad hotel built in the 1930s. It was the perfect dessert oasis for us weary travelers!

We sat down for a wonderful lunch at their restaurant, the Turquoise Room. The service was outstanding and I had their "signature" soup-- half black bean and half cream corn. It sounds odd, but it was delicious!

Steve and I wandered the grounds for awhile and watched a few trains pass on the railroad tracks just behind the hotel. We also amazed at the $99 a night rooms. How had we missed staying here?

The rest of the desert loomed before us and we had a fairly uneventful drive through the rest of Arizona and New Mexico (although see our earlier post about funny signs in New Mexico!). I was particularly excited about the storm clouds building on the horizon... I have been longing for a "real" thunderstorm after living in the Bay Area. Unfortunately, the thunderstorm stayed to the north of us, but we were able to see the desert outlined against a beautiful dark sky.

We stayed the night in Santa Rosa, New Mexico. While our hotel was the omnipresent Holiday Inn Express, it was on Route 66. So, after having much success with Route 66 in Arizona, we got off the highway early and traveled Route 66 in to town. It made for some great pictures with the "retro" vestiges of Route 66 highlighted against the darkening storm clouds.

The very nice desk clerk at the Holiday Inn Express suggested that we eat dinner at Lake City Diner in downtown Santa Rosa. Again, we were treated to a great service and a great meal. The diner was in an old bank building on the very small main street in downtown. We both enjoyed a few beers and some delicious Mexican food, albeit served in a leisurely manner. It was a fitting end to the day.

Day 2: Much better than Day 1, but not quite "vacation" yet

Start: Bakersfield, California
End: Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona - Mather Campground
Date: Friday, September 12
Highlights: Needles (?)

After recovering from a pretty crazy first day of our trip, it was great to be driving during the day! The mysterious Bakersfield Smell had disappeared, thank goodness - I was afraid that the A/C had broken in the car. Southeast California and Arizona pretty much look the same. We stopped in Needles, Calif. for lunch. We made a pact to eat at local places for at least one meal per day, so the McDonalds in Needles definitely did not count. I really don't remember the last time I ate at McDonalds...and this one was under severe construction. It's amazing what "making good time" will do to your eating habits! Interstate 40 pretty much parallels the Historic Route 66, or what is left of it, and I'm sure Needles had much more prosperous times in its past.

I also have to admit that our itinerary really planned for us to fly through the western US and spend more time in the Southeast with my family at the end of the week. If it seems like we're not appreciating something enough, then we probably aren't. Wouldn't it be nice to have all the time in the world to see all of the amazing places off of the interstate??

Southeast California and Arizona pretty much look the same; the Colorado River forms a stunning string of green vegetation in an otherwise brown landscape. Libby and I figure it will actually sink in that we're moving once one of the following happens:

• Rain
• Green trees
• Grass
• Corn

None of those happened on Day 2, so we're obviously still in denial.

We arrived at the Grand Canyon tired again and set up the tent. There are SO MANY foreign tourists at the Grand Canyon! We were definitely in the minority as American tourists.

Since we arrived so late, we saved the actual canyon-looking for Day 3. If we weren't also racing a moving truck to Michigan, we would probably go on a hike...but I think canyon-looking will have to do this time around. Stay tuned for canyon-looking tomorrow...

p.s. If you haven't met Bill the Monkey, let me introduce you. He was born several days ago at 6th and Market in San Francisco, and was rescued from squalor by our friend Jim and given to us, his new foster parents. I'm a big fan of Ghostbusters, so see if you can figure out the inside joke. Bill really doesn't seem to like elevation changes, temperature changes, or other ideal gas law variable changes...we'll see how he does in the next few days!

You can drop litter in New Mexico

Here are our favorite signs-- we'll keep adding as we go

New Mexico:

• Do not throw litter (can you drop it instead??)
• Gusty winds may exist (there MUST be a simpler way to say this)
• Don't drive on median (okay)
• Keep off shoulder (why not just say "Drive on Road"?)
• 30 Modern Stations (advertising all the fantastic things in any given city)

Texas:

• Worlds Largest Painter of Commercial Airplanes (anyone consider spell-checking a large billboard in the middle of a major city?)
  

This day can't get worse, can it?

The first day of our cross-country road trip was supposed to include light cleaning of the apartment, a quick exchange of keys with our landlord and hitting in the road by 2 pm to make it to Barstow by bedtime.

Instead, it went something like this:
6:00 AM Wake up COLD on the deflating air mattress on our bedroom floor
6:30 AM Find myself with my head in the freezer, scrubbing frozen beer off the shelves and trying not to inhale too many cleaning fumes
9:30 AM Drop off last-minute prescriptions
9:50 AM Orthodontist appointment to remove my braces (yay!)
10:45 AM Rush back to apartment to scrub floors and clean toilets
1:00 PM Meet landlord and hold our breath for the walk-through; turn in keys
1:30 PM Take a deep breath because walk-through went fine
2:10 PM Return to orthodontist to have retainers fitted; find out retainers don't fit
3:00 PM Last-minute lunch at Zachary's
3:45 PM Pick up eyeglasses
4:20 PM Return to orthodontist to pick up retainers; find out again that retainers don't fit
4: 20 PM My husband runs all over Oakland for final errands
[Note (husband): Returned cable modem to Comcast near airport, picked up extra prescriptions, ran into Trader Joe's to use the restroom...]
5:45 PM Retainers finally fit! Cancel hotel reservations in Barstow; make reservations instead for Bakersfield
6:00 PM Have on-the-go conversation with my boss about consulting work; get stuck in traffic
7:30 PM Eat leftover pizza in a truck stop parking lot on I-5
11:30 PM Pull into hotel in Bakersfield; gag at the smell in the air (what WAS that??); gasp at the cost of a room at the Holiday Inn Express
Midnight SLEEP

Heading East

After four great years in the Bay Area, TBF and I packed our bags and are moving to wonderful Ann Arbor, Michigan! We still plan on blogging - especially during our road trip. We're actually already on Day two of the trip, so stay tuned for the juicy details...we promise to fill you in and hopefully provide some pictures.

Afternoon stroll along the bay

I had to take our camera out for a spin on a short hike at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Regional Shoreline. It's a great little trail along the Bay roughly between 66th Ave. and Hegenberger Rd. Watch out for the squirrels. Click on the picture for more.

MLK Regional Shoreline Pics [flickr]

A Fireworks Tradition

Since childhood, I've loved watching fireworks. In a mid-sized city, it was easy to park the car, spread the blanket and spend the evening munching on junk food and listening to live music at Ah-Nab-Awen park with my Dad until the show began. The fireworks show quickly became a father/daughter tradition.

While living in the Bay Area has brought a number of changes, one of the hardest adjustments was Fourth of July celebrations. First of all, it's supposed to be HOT on Fourth of July. Thankfully, we lucked out with a beautiful day today... but it's not always the case. Secondly, watching the fireworks in San Francisco has never been very appealing-- especially with the threat of fog (which, by the way, makes things chilly). And I'm still getting used to the fact that I can't buy sparklers at the store, but our neighbors can set off fireworks at 2 a.m. all week and nobody stops them.

But I'm happy to report that we've found a new fireworks tradition! For the past two years we've gone to the July 3rd Oakland A's game where they put on a fabulous fireworks show set to music. Have I mentioned that I'm a sucker for fireworks set to music? From our inexpensive seats we watch all the fireworks we want and can still make it home on BART in 10 minutes. And on the actual holiday, we can usually catch a glimpse of the fireworks around the bay from a hill in the neighborhood which definitely beats fighting the crowds in the city. Next year we'll just have to bring my Dad!

Happy Fourth of July!