City 14: Detroit, Michigan, or, “How about I buy you a city block for Christmas?”

Our Honeymoon, or, How We Got to the Midwest One Interview at a Time:  The Northeast Cities According to Me, the One Who Wanders the Cities While Peter Completes the Interviews
 
Disclaimer: This should by no means be used as a real resource to the northwestern cities.  While I am an observant person, I have no background in city development, nor do I have expertise on the cultural or historical background on these cities.  For the most part, I am reviewing these cities based on my personal preferences, as we will be moving to one of these cities in the spring.  And, if you are hoping for a lot of artwork (as this is my art blog), sorry to say, but you will be sadly disappointed if you continue to read this blog in the upcoming two months.  Apart from my photographs of the cities, I doubt I’ll get to very many art and craft projects.
 

Our hosts' cat looked like an aye-aye lemur.

Streets of Detroit.

Abandoned.

Used to be a car manufacturing plant.

Henry Ford's house.

Beautiful building down town. 

I have to admit, I’m exhausted.  At this point in our trip, we’ve been away from home for almost 8 weeks.  Eight weeks living out of a suitcase (actually, it’s more like various items used for carrying clothes, including a cardboard box and hamper), eight weeks sleeping on strangers’ beds, friends’ floors, and even once (only for a couple hours), in the car.  It’s been an adventure. 

And yes, it’s been a while since the last post.  We’ve actually been in Minnesota for the past two weeks, and been procrastinating writing this one last post about the trip. Yes, I’ve been busy with other things here in MN, that’s part of it.  But, I also know that Detroit rustled up many feelings within me that I knew would be difficult to express in words, and thus, I’ve been putting off the difficult task.  But let me try.

Detroit.  At first, it seems like you have driven into a scene from an apocalyptic movie.  It seems that more buildings are boarded up than are lived in.  Business seem nonexistent.  People are missing, you feel.  Even some of the tallest buildings downtown are abandoned.  Falling down, forgotten.  And yet—you have been deceived!  You realize that there are new things being built all over the place.  People are in the process of renovating so many of the buildings!  People are moving into these buildings.  There is life, and lots of it!

But my, I feel that I am not adequate to fully describe Detroit and all of the things happening there.  It’s our number one choice for so many reasons (Peter has been obsessed with the city for the past year—he even visited the city last spring!)  There is hope, and as cliché as is sounds, there is a “place” for us as community members.  There is the possibility to personally make a difference because there is no one there right now!  But if you build it, they will come, right?  In Detroit, there’s the possibility of opening a business and become a part of the local economy.  It is the place, as someone that Peter quotes all the time (sorry I can’t remember his name!), “…Where the embers of the American dream still burn strong.”  ModelD does a really good job of highlighting all of the happenings in the city.  100 Abandoned Houses is a beautiful and haunting website that captures the emptiness that you can sometimes feel in the city, but I always see potential as well!!!  HuffPost Detroit is the newest claim to fame in Detroit, as is the new rapid bus system that has been proposed in the city.  That, and the amazing urban farm plans, the beautiful architecture, the cute and clever businesses that are popping up in the area, and the opera.  These are all things that make me excited about Detroit.  Check it out and see for yourself!!!  Meet you in D-Town!!!

Whew!  And with that, I conclude my review of the cities!  We’ll find out where we go in March, and I’ll be sure to let you know where at that time!  Thanks so much for reading, folks!  

City No. 13: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, or, “The land of the dinosaur!”

Our Honeymoon, or, How We Got to the Midwest One Interview at a Time:  The Northeast Cities According to Me, the One Who Wanders the Cities While Peter Completes the Interviews
 
Disclaimer: This should by no means be used as a real resource to the northwestern cities.  While I am an observant person, I have no background in city development, nor do I have expertise on the cultural or historical background on these cities.  For the most part, I am reviewing these cities based on my personal preferences, as we will be moving to one of these cities in the spring.  And, if you are hoping for a lot of artwork (as this is my art blog), sorry to say, but you will be sadly disappointed if you continue to read this blog in the upcoming two months.  Apart from my photographs of the cities, I doubt I’ll get to very many art and craft projects.

Found this in a bathroom in Pittsburgh.  Thought it was hilarious, and of course, needed to share.

Pittsburgh skyline at night.  Amazing!  This is literally what you see as you enter the city.  Photo from http://www.wallmonkeys.com/blog/?p=16

So, I love dinosaurs.  Just something hat I happen to love, I’m a nerd like that.  I happen to love Jurassic Park I, II, AND III, just because they all have dinosaurs in them.  Judge me.  Fine.  I’m ok with that—dinosaurs are AWESOME!  Anyway, when I heard that the Carnegie Museum of Natural History had the largest collection of dinosaur skeletons in the country, I was (obviously) thrilled.  And it was AWESOME!  They had three T-Rexes (one was a female juvenile named Jane—the most complete juvenile skeleton in the world), many long necked Brontosaurus-types (I don’t think Brontosauruses actually are a real species anymore, are they?  They found out they had made up a species out of a combination of bones?), and the largest collection of skulls from the Triceratops family that I’ve ever seen.  So cool.

But enough about the dinosaurs.  You want to hear about Pittsburgh, don’t you?  Well, first off, I must compliment Pittsburgh on its opening act:  The dismount from the highway.  We had been driving for hours.  HOURS, as we had driven directly from Boston to Pittsburgh—a ten-hour drive!  And road weary as we were, we were still incredibly anxious to finally get to Pittsburgh.  But even as we were seeing exit signs for downtown Pittsburgh, there was still no city to be seen.  We kept driving up the hill (picture a small mountain), and under a tunnel, and still no city—just residential homes and a few industrial businesses that were not very impressive to look at.  And then we drove around a little hill, and there it was!  Shimmering in all of its glory, a rather large city!  Skyscrapers and all!  A complete city had been hidden from our sight during our entire drive “into the city” and the final presentation after the buildup was unbelievable.  Pittsburgh was awarded many extra points for that display.   

Despite all of the beauty that Pittsburgh’s downtown provided, the surrounding “boroughs” as they were called were in various stages of disrepair.  Once an incredibly wealthy city, the current state of it requires words like “urban renewal,” “gentrification,” and “up and coming” to describe it.  Much like Detroit (the upcoming city) but not to the same extent, Pittsburgh lost many of its inhabitants, and what has been left for the past decade has been vacant business buildings, boarded-up homes, gang and drug related crimes and homicides, hopelessness.  Until now.  Artists and small business owners have now been coming in for the past few years to make those abandoned buildings their own.  People are moving into neglected neighborhoods, and there is a loyalty and sense of pride that these people have for their city.  It was an amazing experience to see these people’s visions coming to life.  

Coca Café was a favorite, located in Lawrenceville.  They serve breakfast and brunch only, and it was easy to understand why they’ve made this their specialty.  The food was amazing, and the building itself gets amazing morning sunlight. 

We also had an opportunity to check out an art walk called “Unblurred” that takes place the first Friday of the month.  With most of the stops located on Penn. Ave. (an area that feels somewhat shady), it was interesting to see how warm and inviting all of the galleries were, and to see how different I felt about the area once we’d walked the whole thing.  En route, we found an amazing glass-works school, and a great café (that we made plans to eat at later, but never returned to.  Oops) called Quiet Storm. 

Pittsburgh is definitely one of my favorites thus far.  Creativity, beauty, and a sense of movement fill the air.  There are people living there that care, and who are working with each other to make it what they want it to be.  So inspiring.

City No. 11: Blanton, Massachusetts, or “How we stayed in a house built in 1760!”

Our Honeymoon, or, How We Got to the Midwest One Interview at a Time:  The Northeast Cities According to Me, the One Who Wanders the Cities While Peter Completes the Interviews
 
Disclaimer: This should by no means be used as a real resource to the northwestern cities.  While I am an observant person, I have no background in city development, nor do I have expertise on the cultural or historical background on these cities.  For the most part, I am reviewing these cities based on my personal preferences, as we will be moving to one of these cities in the spring.  And, if you are hoping for a lot of artwork (as this is my art blog), sorry to say, but you will be sadly disappointed if you continue to read this blog in the upcoming two months.  Apart from my photographs of the cities, I doubt I’ll get to very many art and craft projects.

 
Now this city is not really a city as much as a place where people live—on their own lots—spread out.  Peter had made reservations at this bed & breakfast in Blanton, called “Baird’s Tavern” a while ago, and the stay was meant to be a forced vacation for the two of us.  And it was!  Thank goodness, after all of the moving and shaking, we got a peaceful night’s sleep, and some time to just sit and read.  We did not have internet-connection, and phone service was a little inconsistent, so we were pretty much incommunicado!  Wee! 

Apparently, this bed and breakfast was originally a tavern that had positioned itself very strategically next to the road that connected the towns.  Because people traveled using horses, it would take days to travel from town to town, so people needed pit stops along the way—like this tavern!  And though “taverns” had drink at the time, mostly it was for food and to provide a place to sleep for the night.  The thing about this place that is worth noting after hearing its history, is that the road doesn’t exist anymore.  Now its a parking lot surrounded by trees.  Though the highway is nearby, the remnants of the old throughway and of days past are preserved in the tavern.  A place that, according to the owner, could house 55 men a night (who would sleep on sheepskin laid down on the floor—feet to the fire), where food was cooked in huge fireplaces (after childbirth, the leading cause of death to women—large sleeves are not conducive to safe fire-place cooking—who knew!), where babies were birthed in the “birthing room” (which was also the place where food was prepared… “hopefully not at the same time!” remarked the owner), and where men played “pennies in the corner” (that’s the name I gave it—NOT historically accurate) so much that they rounded large potholes in the corner floorboards, and it had to be re-floored to remedy that specific issue caused by the game. 

The history of the house was incredibly interesting.  Our sleep was very peaceful and quiet, and breakfast was delicious (blueberry pancakes, yum!).  If you ever find yourself in the area of Blanton, Massachusetts (which might be a bit odd, it’s not really a “I was just in the area!” kind of place…) definitely stay here!  The Baird Tavern.  Thumbs up. 

City No. 10: Albany, New York, or, “Gosh, we’ve been on the road for a while”

Our Honeymoon, or, How We Got to the Midwest One Interview at a Time:  The Northeast Cities According to Me, the One Who Wanders the Cities While Peter Completes the Interviews
 
Disclaimer: This should by no means be used as a real resource to the northwestern cities.  While I am an observant person, I have no background in city development, nor do I have expertise on the cultural or historical background on these cities.  For the most part, I am reviewing these cities based on my personal preferences, as we will be moving to one of these cities in the spring.  And, if you are hoping for a lot of artwork (as this is my art blog), sorry to say, but you will be sadly disappointed if you continue to read this blog in the upcoming two months.  Apart from my photographs of the cities, I doubt I’ll get to very many art and craft projects.

The third point is pretty obvious...

View from our hotel.

Brilliant sunset, and satellite dishes.

Periwinkle sky.

Beautiful buildings.

P. in his puffy.

To be fair, we were only in Albany for one night and part of a day.  We had a chance to walk around and see all of the amazing architecture that resides in the city.  People are living in BEAUTIFUL places.  From what we could see from the street, many apartments on the main drag had 10-12 ft. ceilings, elaborate woodwork, and beautiful brick exteriors!  The city itself was small and lived in, meaning we didn’t see many too many vacant store-fronts, and there were many places that looked like if they had been vacant, there were businesses that had the paperwork completed and the plans drawn up to move in soon.  It had a very local vibe—didn’t see many chains at all, and all of the local businesses were really cute!!! 

Albany is really cute.  Not on our list of cities to consider (no interview there), but if I had to consider it, I would consider it worth checking out.     

 

City No. 9: Binghamton, New York, or, “How I finally saw the new Muppet Movie”

Our Honeymoon, or, How We Got to the Midwest One Interview at a Time:  The Northeast Cities According to Me, the One Who Wanders the Cities While Peter Completes the Interviews
 
Disclaimer: This should by no means be used as a real resource to the northwestern cities.  While I am an observant person, I have no background in city development, nor do I have expertise on the cultural or historical background on these cities.  For the most part, I am reviewing these cities based on my personal preferences, as we will be moving to one of these cities in the spring.  And, if you are hoping for a lot of artwork (as this is my art blog), sorry to say, but you will be sadly disappointed if you continue to read this blog in the upcoming two months.  Apart from my photographs of the cities, I doubt I’ll get to very many art and craft projects.

 

This one will be short, as our trip to this city was incredibly short.  But I must mention that it was lovely to spend time with Pat and Corie.  They were some of our closest friends in Asheville and they will be sorely missed.  But that made our visit with them that much better!  We spent Thanksgiving Day with Pat’s family (his mom, dad, aunt, and extended relatives).  Started the festivities by tossing around the Frisbee, then went on to the meal-eating.  Delicious sweet-potatoes, mashed russets, salad embellished with sweet pears and cranberries, dinner rolls.  Then for desert there were many different kinds of pies.  I chose the homemade pumpkin pie.  Delicious! 

To finish off the day, we then went to see the new “The Muppets” movie!  Such a trip back on memory lane.  “Am I a man or a muppet,” was my favorite song.  If you haven’t seen it yet, go.  Or at least rent it when it comes out.  If you loved the muppets at some point in your life, it is worth the 1.5 hours that you’ll spend watching it. 

That’s it for Binghamton!  Nothing really to say about the city itself except that it’s kind of "suburby" and it has a theatre (which was awesome)!