I just got home from Detroit, MI where I spent a few days attending a volunteer leadership conference. What a fun time! It was my first trip to Detroit, and because of what is often broadcasted in the news, it was honestly not top on my lists of places to visit...ever. Because our flight got in so early on Thursday morning, we got to enjoy some free time outside of the conference to visit some neat places.
Here are some of the highlights (friends, food & fun) from our trip!
I met my counterpart M, from Spartanburg, at the airport for our 6:00am flight... Needless to say, we made it to Detroit in plenty of time to grab breakfast!
We checked into our hotel (where we could actually see Canada from our window)...
and headed over to The Hudson Café for breakfast...
and headed over to The Hudson Café for breakfast...
where I enjoyed the Graham Cracker Crusted French Toast ~ way more than I'd ever eat for breakfast any other day!
Due mainly to copyright laws, unfortunately no photographs of any kind were allowed inside. It's quite unassuming from outside, but what a treat once you step inside. The story of Berry Gordy, the mastermind behind Motown, is certainly an inspirational one. The museum, opened by his sister in the 1980s, houses many of the original furnishings from the height of Motown in Detroit ~ think, the actual sofa that Marvin Gaye would sleep on when he had a late night recording and the real dining room table that served as the original "packaging & shipping department" for the early Motown back in the day. I'm a sucker for things like that!
We even got to sing a song in Studio A, surrounded by photos of the likes of Diana Ross, Stevie Wonder and The Temptations recording in that very same space, preserved and mostly unchanged...
Definitely make it a point to stop by if you ever find yourself in Detroit ~ you won't be disappointed...
We grabbed lunch near the hotel and caught a bus tour of Detroit organized by our conference hosts. First stop was the Guardian Building, a beautiful example of art deco architecture...
From there, we toured Belle Isle Park, literally a beautiful island park designed by the famous Frederick Law Olmsted, and definitely a spot I'd like to bring my family back to.
Then, on to Heidelberg Street ~ interesting to say the least. Got to hand it to Tyree Guyton, seriously...
He took his crime-ridden street and flipped it around. Though it might not be everyone's view of "art", a few strategic polka-dots placed on abandoned houses led to the creation of a nonprofit organization, The Heidelberg Project, charged with improving the lives of people and neighborhoods through art and turned this street into a quirky tourist destination...
Tyree's mother still lives in this polka-dot house on Heidelberg Street...
We returned from the bus tour and freshened up for the Opening Reception where we reconvened with our other South Carolina girls and grabbed a quick photo with THE Martha Reeves of Martha and the Vandellas Motown fame. "Dancing in the Streets" during a "Heatwave" anybody???
On Friday we had a full day of sessions, and I was unfortunately feeling under the weather. My counterparts headed out to the Traffic Jam and Snug, set to be featured on Guy Fieri's "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives" later this fall... I really, really hated to miss out.
After a good night's sleep, I was thankfully feeling back to normal. I don't like getting sick, and I really don't like getting sick when I'm away from home. That just stinks!
On the last day of the conference we had another full day of sessions...
but were able to enjoy great views of both Detroit and Windsor, Ontario, Canada, as well as the Ambassador Bridge that connects the two, from the RiverWalk during our free time.
A couple of the South Carolina ladies had to head home that afternoon due to other obligations, but those of us that remained enjoyed a fabulous Closing Reception complete with a superfun Robin Thicke look-a-like DJ (seriously) and beautiful evening views cruising the Detroit River aboard the yacht, Ovation...
M & I caught our 10:00am flight out of Detroit Sunday morning & landed at our local airport in time to grab lunch with our families...
Until our next adventure!
