Michigan/Ontario - Motor City to Essex County

8th November 2008 to 13th November 2008

Detroit, Saginaw, Toronto, Windsor

Planes, Trains, & Automobiles...
When most people go on vacation, Detroit isn't always the first thing that comes to mind. So why was I visiting Motor City? My friend Bruce lives in suburban Detroit and my relatives are only a couple hours away in Saginaw. At the same time, the annual bus show was being held on the Canadian side in Windsor.

Inner city Detroit can be scary at times, but I was quite impressed to find some nice areas in both the inner city and the suburbs. The city of Dearborn is home to one of the largest Muslim populations in the United States. I had a chance to try out one of the local restaurants called Al-Ajami. Not far from this restaurant is the Henry Ford Museum. It can take more than half a day to explore the museum, but it's well worth it. to add on a tour of the Ford Rouge Assembly Plant. That's where Ford F-150 pick up trucks are built for the US, Canadian, and Mexican markets. I was very fortunate to have my own "private tour". They run on a 20 minute intervals and apparently 37 people went ahead of me on an earlier tour. So when my turn came up, it was just me, myself, & I. It felt very strange being the only person sitting in a large theatre watching a presentation and having three hosts catering to me. Anyhow, for the remainder of my stay I checked out Bruce's model railroad club, did a brief walk around Downtown Detroit and it's RiverFront. We even rode the Detroit People Mover, similar to Vancouver's SkyTrain except it's a much smaller system. The People Mover is also affectionately known by some of the locals as the Mugger Mover or People Mugger.

Buses & Casinos too!
After crossing over the Ambassador Bridge to Windsor, I headed to the Trans-Expo bus show at Caesars Casino. I didn't expect to run into anyone at the show, but to my surprise there was Scott from TTC, Alan from Vancouver, and Adam from Toronto. Before flying home to Vancouver, I stopped in Toronto to have dinner with my friend Masayo. It's been 2 years since I last saw her.

As you're browsing through the photos, you may end up humming along to Aretha Franklin's song "Freeway of Love".

Al-Ajami Restaurant (Dearborn, MI)	Redford Model Railroad Club (Redford, MI)	Bruce admiring the collection (Redford, MI)	Playing with the model railway (Redford, MI)
Abandoned Shopping Mall (Livonia, MI)	Grand River Avenue (Detroit, MI)	Bruce's work place (Detroit, MI)	Bruce's work place (Detroit, MI)
Rosedale Park Neighborhood (Detroit, MI)	Grand River Avenue 'McDonald's 5 1/2 blocks away' (Detroit, MI)	Approaching Downtown (Detroit, MI)	What's left of Tiger Stadium (Detroit, MI)
MGM Grand Casino (Detroit, MI)	Michigan Central Station (Detroit, MI)	Michigan Central Station (Detroit, MI)	A walk on the RiverFront (Detroit, MI)
You are here (Detroit, MI)	Looking across the river towards Canada (Detroit, MI)	GM Renaissance Center (Detroit, MI)	Vintage car display inside Renaissance Center (Detroit, MI)
Vintage car display inside Renaissance Center (Detroit, MI)	Transformers Bumblebee (Detroit, MI)	Detroit People Mover (Detroit, MI)	The historic Westin Book Cadillac Hotel (Detroit, MI)
Guardian Building foyer (Detroit, MI)	Guardian Building entrance (Detroit, MI)	Underground Railroad Monument Part 1 (Detroit, MI)	Underground Railroad Monument Part 1 (Detroit, MI)
LEFT - Canada, RIGHT - USA (Detroit, MI)	Top Row - Me, Tom Bottom Row - Al, Abbie, Wendy, Audrey, Kelly (Saginaw, MI)	Grand River Avenue (Farmington Hills, MI)	Michigan Avenue (Dearborn, MI)
The Henry Ford Museum (Dearborn, MI)	Liberty & Justice for All Exhibit (Dearborn, MI)	Rosa Parks Bus (Dearborn, MI)	DC-3 in Heroes of the Sky Exhibit (Dearborn, MI)