Mary Beth Writes

This is a small compendium of photos and observations from a quick trip we took to Detroit last weekend.  

Amazingly, this has taken ALL my time since Wednesday morning. Sheesh, one seldom really sees Giant New Things to Learn as they come down the pike straight at one. 

These photos are from my phone, Len's phone, and our camera. So I got to play with two on-line albums of photos and then, surprise-surprise, the end product was "too big" - so today I got to run all the photos through Photoshop to make them smaller pixel-wise.  

So after a very cool weekend seeing and learning new things I got to come home and do it for three more days. 

Have a good weekend.

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I am amazed at how much you can pack into such a short time.
Mary Beth's picture

So were we!... Belle Isle was unique - all those places to explore and things to do in one general area. We parked in one place to see the Aquarium, Conservatory, and Maritime Museum. We drove and parked again for the Art Fair. Driving to the Detroit Institute of Art took about 15 minutes from Belle Isle. The highways made no sense to us - not our city - but at the same time Google Maps (the directions lady..) told us what to do - and because the city's population is half what it was 30-40 years ago - traffic didn't slow or snag. Big city amenities with mid-sized city driving.

Thanks for that photo essay on Detroit. Carol C. took me there many years so I could see where she came from. We did many of those same things and it was fun to revisit them. Yup, I'm sure that woodchuck's dad was from Escanaba.....

My mom's sis and family lived in Detroit, one of my cousins still lives near there. We visited quite a few times when I was young and I remember the vibrant city it was in the 1950s. I also remember Belle Isle which was to me a magic place. I was last in Detroit in 1974 when I was traveling for work -- it was already in decline and yet the local woman with whom I was working took me to some interesting places. I especially remember a jazz club where we saw a well known musician perform. I am glad to hear that there are some encouraging things happening there - and that Belle Isle is still a neat place.

You already mentioned this, but here’s a recent post: https://www.freep.com/story/money/business/2018/08/15/michigan-central-station-corktown-cost-740-million/994867002/

We had a woodchuck living under our fence. Surprisingly big creatures!

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