Detroit Day 1 Part A

The only reason I booked Detroit was for the Depths of Wikipedia show.  It will be in Atlanta on March 4 at the City Winery on Ponce de Leon, but I will be in London then.

My biggest fear was that the winter storm would cause delays in my flight, however, that all happened on Wednesday and flights were all in service, albeit with overbooking. They first offered $500 for people to willingly re-book to a later flight, then $600, then finally $800, which were snatched. I didn't because it would have meant getting in at 9 PM at night, after the show. Also, they can offer as much as $10,000, though any offer in the 1000s would have been snatched before it could get to that.

I had contemplated canceling, but the weather was in the 40s and there was no precip. There was still ice on the trees and power lines when I got there, but it all started melting and ice was dropping everywhere. 

Because of the fullness of the flight, they offered passengers free check-in of carry-ons. I accepted, first happily, because even with priority seating, there would have been a scramble for space, but then unhappily when I couldn't properly wheel my luggage because one of the wheels was bent out of shape. I had to drive to the airport to have them inspect it, because I didn't think of doing this when I arrived. I only had 24 hours to do so and made it with an hour to spare. Oh, this was a brand new case I just got on Tuesday.

Detroit Day 1 Part B

Since this was going to be the warmest day, I decided to go to the Henry Ford Museum because I had 3 hours prior to my AirBnB check-in. 

This place is huge! I was joking with one of the attendants that I could get my steps in for the day and she said that the outer circuit of the interior was a mile long. There were a huge number of exhibits, from Ford's first factory to an evolution of cars, to all the Presidents' limos over the years (not the one from JFK though), to the evolution of EVs, trains, planes, racing, the Mystery Machine, the Oscar Meyer Wienermobile, and even a Hallmark ornament room. 

Detroit Day 1 Part C

I can't gush enough about my AirBnB. This is the best AirBnB I've stayed at (so far). It is modern, has a garage with a remote opener, has digital fob locks everywhere, is decked out with everything, and actually blew my breath away. It even has a washer and dryer.

I almost want to come back to Detroit just to stay here again.

Detroit Day 1 Part D

The whole reason for the trip. Depths of Wikipedia (Annie Rauwerda) at the Ridley's Comedy Castle. Annie got me on stage to do some trivia and true/false stuff (I volunteered and got some laughs from the crowd.) As a prize, I got the Orgasmatron, because I identified its name. She also had Ally Evenson, a local indie artist, sing the song "My Favorite Things" with links from Wikipedia (My Favorite Links, dontcha know.)

This was intellectual humor. Annie has dived into Wikipedia a lot finding weird stuff. There are over 6 million articles on it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depths_of_Wikipedia

Detroit Day 2

Today was a pretty open day, except I filled it with unexpected stuff.

First of all, I had to go to the airport prior to 24 hours after my flight landed. When I left the airport yesterday, I thought I just didn't know how to wheel a bag. When I got to the AirBnB, I realized my bag had been maimed. The only recourse was to GO back to the airport. The Baggage Service Office was right outside the bag claim area. The attendant looked at it and told me they would file a claim (with a 3rd party company.) They would either reimburse me the amount (that bag WAS expensive) or I would have to re-buy it and they would reimburse me then. 

Then I figured I'd come back to the AirBnB and work on posting Detroit Day 1 since I had been so tired the previous night and couldn't finish it. 

At about 6:30 PM, I was getting stir-crazy, so went to the eMagine movie/bowling/pinball complex. The place is large, but there were no movies I wanted to see, the bowling was just 4 lanes and no one on staff, and there were 6 pinball machines as well as other arcade machines and pool tables. 

Finally I drove downtown, because that's where I have to be tomorrow. Parking was impossible for an idiot like me, so I drove back, so no night pics. I'll have plenty of day pics tomorrow, since I'm going on a 4 or 5 hour private tour. Assuming I can find parking!

Detroit Day 3

On my last day in Detroit, I went on a private tour with JP of Let's See Detroit Tours. Normally it's $65 per person, but as a solo person, it cost $130 and was absolutely worth every penny. JP knows a lot about Detroit and has lived here all his life. We did a bit of walking, but it was a cold day with patches of snow from an overnight snowfall. The tour went from 10 AM to 6 PM (almost making me late for my flight, but luckily, it was delayed.)

JP shared a lot of history about Detroit, including that the 7 Fisher brothers had a lot to do with it. They were car body manufacturers and many companies contracted with them for their products and eventually GM bought them. The Fisher building is one of their architectural achievements. 

We also went to the East Market and to lunch where I had Detroit style pizza and JP had the Gumbo. We went to the Detroit river and there was Canada! Easy drive over the Ambassador Bridge (trucks) and the Tunnel (no trucks).