Detroit, Chicago & East Lansing

Such a fun whirlwind of a weekend!

Detroit

Gage was in Detroit for a night. His copilot was in his class at the Air Force Academy, and he's also from Michigan. Gage, Charley and I met at their hotel The Book Cadillac, and we walked to The Anchor Bar to watch the Detroit Red Wings play. I ate the little cheeseburger sliders, and they were delicious. 

Gage suggested we find a karaoke bar, so we googled and called around to find one that was open. We also walked there - no coats, even though we all wished we had them - and ended up in such a cool place! It was named Sid Gold's Request Room. It was small, and the hostess asked if we had reservations. Since we were there 20 minutes before the karaoke started, she was able to get us in, and every other table had a reserved sign on it. It was full before it hit 9:00 p.m., and the music was provided by - not a karaoke machine, but a man on a real piano!  Looking online now, I see there are four of them in the U.S., but I hadn't heard of them. The crowd was great, the venue was fantastic, and it was really fun. Gage and Charley sang wonderfully, and the entire experience was great. I had parked at the Financial District Garage (just $10!) so I walked back and made it home by 12 because...

Chicago

I left for Chicago at 8:00 a.m. I love that you can drive to Chicago, and not only can you drive to the city, you can drive DOWNTOWN right into the busiest part! I parked at 875 North Michigan Avenue parking which is in the bottom of the John Hancock building. It wasn't super easy to find since the sign didn't state that, but I found it. ($55 overnight.) 

Our hotel the Knickerbocker was just a block away. I checked in, threw my stuff in the room, and immediately walked to the lake! I had driven on Lake Shore Drive along the water, and I was just dying to get there. It was about four blocks away, and then...Lake Michigan! The sun was shining, the water was so blue, and there were tons of people walking and running along the lake. I walked along it a long way to where it moves from cement to beach, and then walked on the sand. The skyline, the water - all of it was so beautiful. Sheer joy.

I met up with my friends in the hotel for our yearly reunion! I went to WMU with these girls. They all majored in engineering, and I was their lone English major friend. Some of them are my former roommates. (We lived in a house of seven girls at one point and my bedroom, literally, was a hallway. I liked it because I had a door on each side of my room and the rent was cheap.) They all have gone on to have great careers with impressive titles!

Erica - manager power supply portfolio, Hoosier Energy

Jen - Senior business process specialist, Hayworth

Joy - Director labor relations manufacturing, GM

Jodie - Owner, Little Caesars, formerly Vice president of global operations, Rockwell

Aletha - Senior director of inventory planning, Sweetwater

Sarah - Quality manager Chicago stamping plant, Ford

I mean come on! What powerhouses. We get together once a year so there's a lot to catch up on!

We headed out and stopped at Streeter's Tavern. It wasn't a place we could also eat, so we went to Pippin's Tavern. We split a lot of foods like giant pretzels and potpies. Then, out on Michigan Avenue, where there are tons of stores and people. 

We had a reservation at 6:00 p.m., where Sarah joined us at a fancy corner table on the second floor. People here were dressed to kill, and it was so fun to see them. 

We stopped off at Hopsmith after that to collect Sarah's boyfriend, and they set off to Sarah's apartment for a nightcap...but I walked back because...

East Lansing

I had to leave for East Lansing at 5:00 a.m., and not only was there a time zone change, I lost two hours because we also changed the clocks!

 The drive was so incredibly easy with zero traffic. I met Kris at Art's Pub in East Lansing, which has become one of our favorite spots to eat in EL. They have breakfast all day, all the food is great, and the service is fantastic. It was packed in there, but we had no trouble getting in and out to see the Spartan beat the Wolverines, then hoist the Big Ten Championship banner. What an exciting game! It was senior day, and there was tons of confetti and happiness in the air.

Chicago with WMU girls

For the last few years, I've gotten together with my friends from Western Michigan University in Chicago. As we're coming from Indiana, Wisconsin, Ohio, and Michigan, it's a great meeting point!

Friday

I picked up Erica at her parents' house and we parked in Michigan City at the train station. There was a sign that told us that we'd have to get off the train and get on a bus at one point. Erica asked me about it, and I told her it didn't apply to us. Guess what? It did. At one point we had to get off the train, they immediately led us to a bus, we got on that bus, and then got off and back onto a train. The conductors led us, because they also had to do it, and there was no pausing for bathrooms, eating, or slowing down. It was actually very efficient. They told us they've been working on the tracks and it's been this way for two years. We also had to wait for a train to pass us on the tracks...in retrospect, I would have driven closer to Chicago before getting on the train - probably to Hammond. Free parking and cheap tickets on the South Shore Line! Worked great, really. 

We stayed at the Marriott Downtown, which is really a great location on Michigan Ave. We just walked from the train station to our hotel. I'd gotten suggestions on where to go from a woman who lives there, so we went to eat at the Green Door, which we liked, and then went down to the Drifter, which we also liked! I especially enjoyed that it had a secret door. We walked back to our hotel for the night.

Saturday

I got up early and ran to Navy Pier along the river. I have all good memories of Navy Pier, and I love Lake Michigan. The water was so blue, and it was wonderful. I love this place.

We walked to have breakfast at Yolk, which is a good chain, and I had an awesome breakfast burrito. We shopped along the Magnificent Mile. We were at Marshall's and I looked at some shoes I liked. I looked at the box for the price tag and the name of the shoe was CARLA. Of course I bought them - they literally had my name on them!

We went in Sugar, a cool-looking candy store I've never seen, plus other fancy stores along the way. 

Then we went to our reservation at The Museum of Ice Cream, which I'd never heard of before Aletha suggested we go there. It was heavenly! Different ice cream in every room, fun activities in every room, beautiful scenes, and even...hot dog flavored ice cream, complete with a bun, mustard, and relish! It ended in the sprinkle pool, which was a giant room with a pool full of sprinkle-shaped pieces of plastic. There was one hidden in there with hearts on it, and the person who found it got a free ice cream sundae. A little girl found it and she was so happy. Honestly, I looked for it, but I don't know if I could have stuffed down any more ice cream at this point. I was very full and very happy! This place is SUCH a good idea, and we had so much fun.

Our friend Sarah who lives there had made us reservations at Happy Camper, which was full of campers and Christmas lights and even had swings at the bar! It was a fun atmosphere and the pizza was great. We stopped by Sarah's apartment, and then we went to Bassment. As soon as I walked in, I realized I'd been there before! The singer said he was going to give a free drink to people, and he asked if anyone was named Tiffany. Yes, there was! She had to meet him at the bar with her license. He went through a few more names...Penelope, no. Gwen, no. Carla...YES! Chicago just had my name on it.

The band and singers were so enthusiastic, and we danced and danced with everyone else in the place. So fun. We took an uber back - at first to the wrong hotel, then to the correct hotel - and called it a night.

Sunday 

I woke up early and walked to the Bean, which is under construction, but still pretty. We got on our respective trains, and it seemed much faster to get back than it took to get there, in part because we didn't have to wait on the tracks.

Thanks for the ice cream and dancing Chicago! I'll be back!