What i forgot to tell you in my last post is how amazing the food experiences were in Detroit and how lame i am for not taking more food pictures. In one of those "here's what we have to offer!!!" magazines about Detroit, i saw a food ad and we loved the place so much we ate there 3 times. Sweet Loraine's a place we never would have gone to had i not seen the menu -- Vegetarian Meatloaf?!? Amazing. And, i have to say - the best veggie burger. Ever.



Went to the Botanical Gardens. How could i not take a few pictures?







This one represents my extreme fear of bees... and how i needed to try to take some pictures of a big fat one.





I called 911 last night when the crakling of a fire woke me up after i had just gone to sleep... at about 2:15am. Kinda scary. The house behind us and over one had a fire in it's garage/carriage house.

It's been close to a month since we got back. And just now, i got round to getting a coupla snaps up...




Isn't this what comes to mind when we think of Detroit?




This is what an empty urban neighborhood looks like. This one was once called Poletown.




View of downtown from Belle Island, with the landmark "Ren Cen" in all its glory...




Ceiling of the Belle Island Conservatory.




A cherry in the Belle Island Conservatory.




More plantlife in the Belle Island Conservatory.




Excellent mexican food in the Mexicantown neighborhood, not too far from downtown and the massive construction around the Ambassador Bridge. Old train station in the background...




Aren't cows cute? How can humans eat them? This one was a loud heifer in the working farm section of the Henry Ford Greenfield Village.




Wee baby lamby, just a few days old...




View from a bubble in a pane of glass in a historical house in the Henry Ford Greenfield Village.




Dark shot of an old plane in the Henry Ford Museum...




Bus that made Rosa Parks, well, a hero to many. I have to admit, i am a sap. Sitting there in that bus made me cry.




Young male elephant at the Toledo Zoo... mom is in the background.




A meerkat in the Toledo Zoo.

Looking at them all now, i realize i don't take what one could call traditional holiday snaps....

Look away, work again.

Refresher SCIP-R class tonight. Scheduled to be done with my boss and a long time staffer. While there, boss' iphone tells her that an individual is making accusations against me. I was expecting it because i used planned ignoring for Monday's attention seeking behaviors. Still stings a bit, though.

Friday, i "drop my t" and go from being a DAT (developmental aide trainee) to a DA (developmental aide). It's a big deal. And, apparently, the biggest single raise in pay i will probably ever get. I made it a whole year.

But has it been worth it all?

We got back late last night. Had a lovely time in Detroit. Yes, i said lovely. Hard to believe one could have a lovely time there, huh?

I will probably post a few pictures once i get all the upacking and laundry done, squeezed in before i go back to work... But, in the meantime, a few observations.

Detroit, bad reputation that it has, is surpisingly free of litter. Driving around, good neighborhoods and bad, there was hardly a scrap of litter.

Detroiters take pedestrians having the right of way seriously. Cars always stopped, no matter the neighborhood.

Detroit's child population has the same good manners their parents have. Please, excuse me and thank you were used.

Lots of streets that a driver is unable to make a left turn onto. Instead, there were these weird turnaround u-turn thingies. One would, for example, be driving down 9 mile and want to make a left onto Woodward. Instead, one would have to make a right, quickly zip over to the 3 lanes to the left one and wait inbetween the medians at a uturn thingie... that had a light. Very odd.

.. and all other e:peeps who like to take some pretty snaps now and then. And yeah, that totally includes you, e:Libertad!

Botanical Gardens has a photo contest. You both should enter some pics...!!