Family Fun In Detroit

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Ash’s Uncle Paul treated us to a tour of Detroit on the way to Grosse Ile, the island where he and Aunt Maureen live and where Ash’s Mom grew up. Detroit has seen better days. Huge, once elegant, brick houses lie in ruins extremely close to the downtown area. There used to be more but many have been completely demolished and cleared. Block after block of Woodward Avenue shop and office blocks are left empty and boarded up. It’s really sad to see and hopefully they will rebuild and refill the empty buildings. As part of our little sightseeing excursion we pulled into a McDonalds on Mack Avenue to get some refreshments and use the facilities. It was like something out of an 80’s Eddie Murphy comedy, we were the only white people and everyone was looking at us. So bizarre! Next Uncle Paul drove us through the old suburbs where Aunt Maureen’s family used to live as well as by the home Grandpa Nate grew up in. It was all very interesting.

It wasn’t long before poor Ade was inundated with new names and faces. First, we met Aunt Maureen for lunch before heading back to their house on Grosse Ile to get settled in to Stacey’s old room. We had the full tour of the house including Uncle Paul’s newly redecorated office then listened to some music at full blast. Uncle Eric, Aunt Debbie and cousin Erica arrived for some pre dinner drinks and then we were off to Sibley’s in Trenton to meet Amy & Mike their three kids, (Michaela, Anna and Brendan) and Aunt Markese. The meal was delicious and Ade had a good taste of what was to come. After the feast, we dropped into Elba Mar Boat Club to have a drink with Stacey & John. As if to make up for our missing out on a day out on Uncle Paul’s boat (wrong season), Uncle Paul showed Ade around the docks and we spotted his photo on the wall in full uniform from when he was the club’s Commodore.

The next day we slept in late, had breakfast at midday, took it easy for awhile then arrived at Stacey’s after 6pm for a party. Uncle Vince pulled in at the same time as us with his two sons, Tyler & Conor. Madeline wasn’t far behind with her two kids, Ryan & Ayssa. In some order, soon we had Uncle Jeff & Pam, Aunt Markese & Uncle Dennis, Meredith & Autumn, Grandpa, Aunt Claudia & Uncle Kip, Aunt Char, Amy & Mike, Herbie & Alyssa, Uncle Eric & Aunt Debbie, Erica and Molly. Uncle Paul, Aunt Mareen, Stacey and John were also there from the start. Ade was well into the thick of name remembering now! The party was great and started winding down about midnight. Soon after we headed back to Uncle Paul & Aunt Maureen’s for a nightcap (Aunt Claudia, Uncle Kip and Aunt Char were staying too) taking us till after 3am and introducing us to Sean Phillips and Aunt Claudia’s singing. The next morning Aunt Maureen treated us all to a big breakfast. Uncle Eric, Aunt Debbie, Grandpa & Erica all rolled in just in time.

At this point we realised that the mosquito bite Ade was harbouring for some time had become infected. Uncle Paul and Ade visited the doctor to have it lanced and drained – ouch! Madeline collected us and took us on a Halloween themed day starting with a trip to Bryd’s Giant Pumpkin Patch where we ogled all the enormous pumpkins, the deformed ones with growths, the normal ones, the micro ones and some gourds for good measure. So much fun! Next we visited Charlie Apple’s Cider Mill & Farm where Ade fed an ostrich, Ash sat on a tractor and we bought some donuts, a bag of Macintosh apples and, of course, apple cider. (As an aside, here cider is assumed to be non-alcoholic. If you want alcoholic cider, first you have to find it as it’s not common, it’s called ‘hard’ cider. Ash found this amusing.) On the way back to Maddy’s we stopped off at her work and she and Ade made some pizza’s for lunch. Once the kids were home, fed and had homework complete we took off back to Grosse Ile to go on a Halloween Hay Ride. This consists usually of a horse pulling a huge cart filled with about 20 people around a farm which has been decorated with spooky exhibits, haunting music and various people in costume and character jumping on to scare the unsuspecting folk. Much to our dismay, the local girl scouts had booked out the ride that night and so the spooky characters and music weren’t on. It was still a really fun night.

The next day Ade returned to the doctor for more lancing and squeezing of vileness before we headed to Greenfield Village and The Henry Ford Museum with Maddy, Tom, Aunt Claudia, Aunt Maureen, Aunt Markese, Meredith and Amy. Here we viewed many interesting exhibits including the original Wright brothers bicycle shop, the bus Rosa Parks made her stand for civil rights in 1955, Thomas Edison’s Menlo Park complex, the car President Kennedy was assassinated in, the chair Lincoln was sitting in during his assassination at the theatre and loads more. We ate the Eagle Tavern where we were transported back to 1850, ate by candle light and were served by people in character. The food was delicious, one might suspect the kitchen was more advanced than 1850 although the menu and style of food seemed very authentic. For the first time Ash was able to order normal cider. Ade & Ash took a ride around the village in an original Model T car which was a laugh. Henry Ford was an avid collector of American history and had many historically important houses and buildings removed from their original locations within the states and transported to Detroit. Here they are all set up in the sprawling Greenfield Village estate and walking around really feels like visiting a village from the past.

Next stop was Rochester Hills (north of Detroit City) to stay with Uncle Kip & Aunt Claudia. Here we were treated to enormous cooked breakfasts courtesy of Uncle Kip as well as yummy dinners. We took part in eye opening activities like going to drive-through banks & pharmacies as well as finding ammunition in the supermarket and liquor in the chemist. We shopped at Kroger for pumpkins and carved them out using stencils and carving tools for the first time ever. It was so much fun! We all had one to carve but Ade’s and Aunt Claudia’s were the most difficult and the best. Grandpa, Aunt Char, Uncle Mark, Herbie & Alyssa all dropped in regularly to visit while we were here. Even Aunt Marion and Heather visited one fun Sunday afternoon. On the Saturday night we had a Halloween themed party where everybody got into the spirit and we were introduced to the outdoor fire pit, in a stand not the ground. Loads of people arrived for this including Ben and his family and Markese. Ade and Uncle Kip went mad with the decorations and had the best costumes, although Uncle Dennis’ Cookie Monster was Ash’s personal favourite. It was very hard to say goodbye to them when we went back downriver but we made a promise that we wouldn’t let it get to 7 years before a visit again. We stopped at Grandpa’s apartment on the way back to say goodbye.

While in town Amy, Mike, Maddy & Tom took us to a Detroit Red Wings home game in ‘hockeytown’ at the Joe Lewis stadium. Uncle Mark had lent us shirts so we fit right in with the crowds. We were worried that we wouldn’t be able to follow the puck but the stadium is so steep that it wasn’t a problem at all. The crowd really got into the game and we had a brilliant night out. We had drinks before and after at the Anchor Bar using their shuttle mini-bus to get the whole 400 metres to the game (which despite the short distance was driven as if on a rally track). We walked back. Molly met us after and Amy treated us to a performance on karaoke before we took it back to Amy & Mike’s for some poker in which Ash reigned champion. We also spent Halloween night at Amy & Mike’s during which Amy prepared a spooky dinner featuring snakes as the main course. We took the kids trick or treating, decorated and ate haunted cupcakes, the little ones dived for jelly snakes in bowls of whipped cream and the kids played various other games culminating in a draw for prizes at the end of the night. A great time was had by all. Once the kiddies crashed out the adults played another round of poker, this time Ade prevailed.

The last few days we spent back on Grosse Ile with Aunt Maureen & Uncle Paul. We’d packed our bags and purged ourselves of as much as we possibly could leaving quite a bit for Ash’s Mom to take back with her after Thanksgiving. All that was left was some last minute shopping and many more tearful goodbyes. Aunt Maureen drew the short straw and very kindly drove us to the airport at 4.30am. We had such a wonderful time in Detroit that it was hard to leave but we’ll definitely be back soon. We’re so grateful to everyone for looking after us so well and fattening us up for start of our travels proper in Central America, starting in Guatemala.



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Photos

Merrill Lynch Bull In Wyandotte
Outside ML's Office

Uncle Paul & Aunt Maureen's House
On Grosse Ile

Cool Basement Bar
@ John & Stacey's