{"id":804,"date":"2008-11-04T21:08:36","date_gmt":"2008-11-05T02:08:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jayandcarissa.com\/carissa\/blog\/?p=804"},"modified":"2008-11-04T21:29:21","modified_gmt":"2008-11-05T02:29:21","slug":"a-trip-to-detroit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.thisishappystuff.com\/?p=804","title":{"rendered":"a trip to detroit"},"content":{"rendered":"

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it’s been over a year since i’ve seen my dear friend in detroit, so when a four day weekend appeared in my schedule and round trip train tickets were discovered to be only $131 (including an upgrade to business class for one leg of the trip), i jumped at the chance.\u00c2\u00a0 the trip actually started with a bus ride where i discovered that the wheels on the bus song is true!\u00c2\u00a0 i noticed that the wipers on the bus were going ‘swish, swish, swish’ and that later the horn went ‘beep, beep, beep’ and the children’s librarian in me had to giggle to myself.<\/p>\n

the photo at the top of this entry is from chicago’s union station.\u00c2\u00a0 most of the train station is pretty depressing, standard mass transit fare–low ceilings, insufficient lighting, rushing crowds and cramped escalators.\u00c2\u00a0 but then there’s this great hall with soaring ceilings and wooden benches like pews and a relative hush.\u00c2\u00a0 granted, this is also the area where the unhoused take peaceful naps and hucksters ask you if you can spare a dollar or two so that they can buy a train ticket, but i still find the atmosphere so calming that i’d much rather hang out in this space than anywhere else in union station.<\/p>\n

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i find something charming about eating paper-wrapped sandwiches on a train, so i bought lunch at the train station, but waited until i was on the train to eat it.\u00c2\u00a0 it was actually surprisingly tasty for “food court food.”\u00c2\u00a0 and i made an impulse purchase at the sandwich shop that turned out to be the best decision of the whole trip:<\/p>\n

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this tub of jelly bellys (only 89 cents!) lasted me all the way there and all the way home.\u00c2\u00a0 it may become a travel tradition.\u00c2\u00a0 i mean, i got that fuzzy teeth feeling, but the variety of flavors kept me from popping them all into my mouth in giant handfuls and kept my tastebuds entertained.\u00c2\u00a0 my brain was kept entertained by reading the most recent popular vampire romance teen novel.<\/p>\n

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when i arrived, we enjoyed dinner at a local brasserie, then drove home and tumbled into sleep.<\/p>\n

the next morning, we visited the local farmer’s market.<\/p>\n

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i couldn’t resist the hotdogs as soon as i saw they offered sauerkraut as a topping!<\/p>\n

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remember this baby<\/a>?\u00c2\u00a0 he grew up a little.<\/p>\n

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and he got a little brother (whom he lovingly calls, “labula” or sometimes, “bulabula.”)<\/p>\n

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(does that quilt look familiar<\/a>?)<\/p>\n

later that day, we took the kids out trick-or-treating at some of the local businesses.\u00c2\u00a0 the two-year-old went as a devil.<\/p>\n

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at first, he didn’t really know what was going on.\u00c2\u00a0 he didn’t want to wear the horns and he didn’t want to carry his treat bag.\u00c2\u00a0 after two stores, he was running ahead of his parents, bag in tow.\u00c2\u00a0 although sometimes the handles got frustrating:<\/p>\n

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the other boy zonked out pretty quickly and missed out on the candy.<\/p>\n

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that evening, i had the distinct pleasure of meeting rebekah<\/a>–my first blog-to-real-life friend!\u00c2\u00a0 we met for dinner at cafe habana<\/a> for some really delicious cuban food, then we went to the creative arts studio<\/a> for some fun “adult night” crafting.\u00c2\u00a0 i had some trouble deciding which craft to try out, but in the end, i chose to do some more glass fusing (i’m an addict!)<\/p>\n

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rebekah chose to paint this great mug.\u00c2\u00a0 apparently, when after it’s fired, it won’t be red at all!<\/p>\n

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my other friend, anna, couldn’t decide what craft to do, so i loaned her my camera to play with and she got some great shots around the studio.\u00c2\u00a0 this was my favorite:<\/p>\n

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“after”photos are available here<\/a> (thanks, rebekah!).\u00c2\u00a0 i had so much fun meeting rebekah.\u00c2\u00a0 i was a little nervous beforehand, but it turns out that there’s something comfortable about meeting someone whose blog you’ve read for awhile–you already know some of the things they like to do and the conversation can skip right past small talk and dive right into discussions of things you know they’re currently working on (thanks for the free-motion quilting tips and hints!\u00c2\u00a0 i love the way your common threads quilt turned out.)<\/p>\n

sunday was a lovely cozy day at home.\u00c2\u00a0 we made beef stew and homemade bread.\u00c2\u00a0 in the afternoon, anna ran out to buy a few groceries for dinner and on the way home, she saw that one of the houses she had been keeping an eye on had an open house.\u00c2\u00a0 she stopped and had to go in and … she fell in love.\u00c2\u00a0 as soon as she got home, she told me about it and i walked over to the house and took lots of photos.\u00c2\u00a0 since i don’t know if she’ll actually get the house, i’ll just post this one:<\/p>\n

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lots of really great architectural details!<\/p>\n

we stayed up late each night, chatting and catching up.\u00c2\u00a0 what a treat!<\/p>\n

the next morning, it was time to head home.\u00c2\u00a0 i love that train travel is so unfettered.\u00c2\u00a0 the location where i caught the train didn’t even really have a station–just a sidewalk and a small shelter (like a nice bus stop).\u00c2\u00a0 you wait there for the train and when it stops, a train employee hops out, puts out a stepping stool and calls for people to board.\u00c2\u00a0 they don’t even check your ticket until the train is on its way again.\u00c2\u00a0 i splurged (all of $13!) to sit in business class on the way home to see if it was any better.\u00c2\u00a0 here’s the scoop about the perks of business class on amtrak:<\/p>\n

1.\u00c2\u00a0 more foot room and recliner-like leg rests and seats that recline further than in coach.<\/p>\n

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(i brought slippers to wear on the train.\u00c2\u00a0 comfy!)<\/p>\n

2.\u00c2\u00a0 unlimited free coffee, hot chocolate, and hot tea, plus one free soft drink.<\/p>\n

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this hot chocolate, while made from a simple powder-in-a-packet mix, was mixed in the most theatrical manner i’ve ever seen.\u00c2\u00a0 he poured it rapidly from cup-to-cup until it was sufficiently mixed–reminded me of an energetic bartender–only with hot chocolate.\u00c2\u00a0 here’s a photo of hank, the cafe master:<\/p>\n

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3.\u00c2\u00a0 free copies of the new york times (no photo–i didn’t really read mine).<\/p>\n

4.\u00c2\u00a0 electrical outlets for each passenger.\u00c2\u00a0 i was able to re-charge my phone and work on my laptop freely.\u00c2\u00a0 coach also has some outlets, but maybe not as many.<\/p>\n

another thing i love about train travel is the scenery–quaint train stations (have you ever seen a quaint airport?\u00c2\u00a0 i think that might worry me in air travel…)<\/p>\n

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the grey clouds just made my train ride seem all the more cozy.\u00c2\u00a0 beautiful fall scenery rushed past my window.<\/p>\n

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one more silly photo–i loved the train’s “symbol” for soap!
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hmmm…. looks like needlepoint inspiration to me!<\/p>\n

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it’s been over a year since i’ve seen my dear friend in detroit, so when a four day weekend appeared in my schedule and round trip train tickets were discovered to be only $131 (including an upgrade to business class … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,3,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-804","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-autumn","category-fun-stuff","category-stuff-that-makes-me-smile"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thisishappystuff.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/804","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thisishappystuff.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thisishappystuff.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thisishappystuff.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thisishappystuff.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=804"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/www.thisishappystuff.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/804\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":812,"href":"http:\/\/www.thisishappystuff.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/804\/revisions\/812"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thisishappystuff.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=804"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thisishappystuff.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=804"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thisishappystuff.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=804"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}