Tour de Toit

 Last week I participated in the Tour de Troit, a 30 mile non-competitive bicycle ride around Detroit.  This is my third year doing the ride which just happened to fall on my 40th birthday.  The ride raises awareness of biking as a mode of transportation; publicizes the growing greenways network in the City of Detroit and all of Southeastern Michigan; and raises funds for greenway development in Detroit, including the Southwest Detroit Greenlink.

Although the ride is non-competitive, there tends to be an abundance of spandex toxicity; that is, folks who seem to take the ride far too seriously.  In an effort to combat said spandex toxicity my friends and I have formed Team Lounge Leopards.  We wear uniforms in my favorite shade of leopard and pipe tunes from the basket of my bike by the likes of Dean Martin, Ella Fitzgerald and Frank Sinatra.  We have also been known to carry a case of PBR in a cooler on Daddy-o's bike.  Must stay hydrated you know!

Since the ride was part of my 40th Birthday Celebration Extravaganza, I felt the need to accessorize my bike helmet more so than the usual flower clip that I normally wear.  In a rare stoke of genius, I came up with an idea so grand it would make headlines all over the state.  Behold...

AP Photo/Detroit News, Todd McInturf

Team Lounge Leopards



The beast has been spotted!

The Tour starts at the Michigan Central Station.  This was once the main passenger rail hub of Detroit.  Since the last train rolled out in 1988 the building has come to symbolize the blight that has plagued the city.  To read more about the history of this beautiful building click here.

Michigan Central Station

The tour winds it's way around the city through Corktown, the university district, the old Packard Plant, Indian Village and Belle Isle.  Some parts of the city are so run down while other areas are a shining jewel of what once was.  I often think about what the city was like in it's heyday.  How families were once so proud of the beautiful homes they worked so hard to build.  The same homes that remain abandoned burned-out shells of their former glory. 

 

Packard Plant then.

 

Packard Plant now.

 

Historic Indian Village homes.

The revival of Corktown is one of the success stories coming out of Detroit right now. This effort has been fueled by the growth of Slows Bar B Q. This block of Michigan Ave is a bustling hub which includes Astro Coffee and Sugar House. We went out for some craft cocktails at Sugar House to celebrate my big four-oh. I could drink here all day if they would let me. 



Corktown revival
 

The day was a blast and I am so fortunate to have been able to spend it with my family and friends.  I can't wait to do the tour again next year! 

'Til we meet again,
Ms. Adventure

DIY Tropical Curtains

My favorite picture of my Auntie Hilda was taken during a Christmas celebration sometime in the 1950's.  My Auntie looks beautiful and Uncle Earl is quite dapper but the star of the scene are those amazing curtains in the background.  I really wanted to recreate that same feeling in my living room and dining area.  After much searching, I was unable to find just the right curtains which meant I was going to have to make them myself.

Let me start by saying I am NOT a seamstress.  That being said, I was super excitied to find a detailed online tuorial on Textile Love.  So detailed in fact, that it was broken down into three seperate entries. They can be found starting here.

After determining the amount of fabric I needed I placed an order with Barkcloth Hawaii.  Nyna is great to work with and made sure I was happy with my order.

Trimming the panels to proper length.

 

My dining room table proved to be the perfect work surface.  With both of the extensions in place it was nearly long enough to accomodate my unhemmed panels.

All ironed and ready for the lining.

 

For the curtain lining I cheated and used off-white flat sheets that I purchased from a local retailer.  They were really affordable and already hemmed so that saved me a few steps.

 

Just like the picture on the tutorial!

 

The instructions called for a blind hem down the sides of the curtain panels.  I've never even switched out the foot on my sewing machine so this seemed like a daunting request.  I was sure I would severly mess this up and ruin my fabric.  I resorted to a strategy I almost never use...I read the instructions for my sewing machine.  Let me tell you it was like some sort of voodoo.  Everything worked like a charm and looked fantastic!   



Wow!  That actually worked!

My curtains are designed to soften the room.  They don't close over the windows but hang at the edges of the windows.  Privacy isn't an issue and the view is far too nice to obscure.
 

 

I'm so excited with the final result! The pinch pleats were much easier to do than I had anticipated. All in all, it was a lot of work but totally worth it.

 

 

 

'Til we meet again,

Ms Adventure

 

Blues City, USA

Our train pulled into Memphis bright and early, just shy of 7am.  My family had no desire to visit Memphis but it was along our rail route, the train was stopping there anyway, Graceland was only a few miles away and with the promise of copious amounts of BBQ pork, they begrudgingly agreed to spend a few days.


We decided we would walk the mile or so to our hotel as the weather was absolutely gorgeous.  I was pleasantly surprised by all of the vintage neon signs we saw along the way.  We arrived at our hotel around 7:30am and presented ourselves to the front desk.  We were far from the 4pm standard check-in time.  Lucky for us the manager was staffing the desk and not only offered us an early check-in but also upgraded our reservation to a 2 bedroom suite!  Needless to say, if you are ever in Memphis, we highly recommend the Memphis Downtown Residence Inn.

The hotel has a wonderful roof top deck with a hot tub and great views of the Mississippi River.  On Wednesday nights the managers host a wonderful cook out for the hotel guests.  Great food and fantastic hospitality!






After getting settled into our room--actually it was a fully furnished 2 bedroom apartment with a full kitchen.  Wowsa!  We headed over to Sun Records; The Birthplace of Rock N' Roll.  This tiny studio is where Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison and Carl Perkins started their careers.  The tour was great!  We couldn't believe how much music history was packed into such a small space.


Trying to pack as much in as possible, we headed over to the Civil Rights Museum.  The museum is housed in and built around the Lorraine Hotel where on April 4th, 1968, Martin Luther King, Jr was assassinated.  It was so surreal to be in the parking lot looking up at the balcony at the exact place where he was shot.  There was so much information and moving images in the museum.  I regretted not getting the audio tour.  It was far too much reading for the kids. I think they would have been more engaged if they were able to listen as we passed through the amazing exhibits.

Early the next day we headed out to Graceland.  Yes, Graceland was my main reason for wanting to go to Memphis.  It was fantastic!  Even Daddy-o was impressed with how well curated the collection was.  Not only did we tour tour Elvis' home but also his jets, car museum and archives.  The handsome devil duo had a good time as well.  They are still talking about Graceland and one of them picked Elvis as their Halloween costume!

We had built up a mighty big appetite learning all there was to know about The King.  There are several restaurants at Graceland but we wanted to eat some 'real' Memphis cuisine.  We had eaten so much BBQ pork leading up to this point we really just wanted some chicken.  I turned to the Yelp app on my iPhone.  Well hello Uncle Lou's!  Frankly, from the outside Uncles Lou's Fried Chicken doesn't look like much. The interior is pretty sparse as well but the place was packed with folks eating the BEST chicken I have ever tasted.  The staff was super friendly and helpful.  The chicken was fried with a light batter and then coated in a fantastic thin sweet, sour, spicy sauce.  It was so good that we got a giant tray of it to take on the train the next day!

 All in all, Memphis was a pleasant surprise for the whole family.  We would not hesitate to go back!

 

 

'Til we meet again,

Ms. Adventure

Ms. Adventure's Wild Ride

Oh how I love summer vacation!  We just returned from being on the road--or rather, on the rails.  This year we thought we would try a different type of journey.  We decided to step back in time and use trains as our main mode of transport.  Unfortunately, we live in a portion of the country that no longer provides passenger train travel.  No worries, I had a plan and yes it involved a car!

We drove to Milwaukee to start our rail adventure.  Milwaukee is approximately a six hour drive from our home.  We chose to leave from Milwaukee over Chicago for two reasons 1) traffic driving into Chicago can often be a bear and 2) parking in Milwaukee is easy and much more affordable. 

We boarded our commuter train and set off for Union Station in Chicago.  The first thing my kids noticed was how spacious the seats were.  The second was the power outlet which they were super excited about so that they could charge their iPods.  Yep, there we go traveling vintage.

My kids were stunned by the fact that were no seat belts and they could get up when they wanted.  Overall the trip to Chicago was uneventful except for the fact that we got stuck behind a Metra train and ended up 40 minutes late into Chicago.  We had to run to catch our train "The City of New Orleans".  I'm sure it looked just like a scene out of a movie!  

We had planned our journey in two legs.  Our first destination was Memphis, TN.  The ride from Milwaukee to Memphis lasted approximately 13 hours, we boarded at 5:45p and arrived 6:45a.  We reserved two roomettes to make our travels more comfortable.  The roomette is designed to sleep two.  During the day the roomette is set up as two seats facing one another with a fold out table between the two.  By night, the two chairs folds down into a bed and an upper bunk folds down from the ceiling.

Roomette Chair (The bunk can be seen in the upper left)

Hall of Sleeper Car

We had dinner in the dining car about an hour after we boarded the train in Chicago.  It was 10 o'clock at night in our home time zone which was quite late to be eating but since meals were included with our ticket price we gave it a go.  The food was large in quantity with the overall quality being pretty good.  I was somewhat shocked to see the prices on the menu.  Entrees hovered around $25.    I had the herbed chicken.

Yummm!

We retired to our little cabin directly after dinner.  After all, we were due to arrive in Memphis at 6:45am.  And off we went to sleep or at least we tried.  We were in a car toward the front of the train and wow, do they sound the whistle--all night!  I must say however, that on our return trip we were at the rear of the train and the horn was not an issue. 

My favorite car on the train had to be the lounge car.  It was wide open with large windows, chairs, side tables and booths.  We spent a lot of time in this car on our subsequent trips.  We played Uno, built jigsaw puzzles and ate some really great food that we brought along from great restaurants.

Lounge Car

It was such a pleasure to be able to have fun with our kids for the entire trip!  No worrying about getting lost.  No dealing with the hassle of an airport.  Yes, it took longer and ended up costing about as much as plane travel.  But the trip itself was part of the vacation not just a nuisance that had to be dealt with before starting our vacation.

Would I do it again?  You bet your billy goat I would! 

Look for the next post featuring the first of our destinations, Memphis.

Check out Amtrak to plan your rail adventure! 

'til we meet again,

Ms. Adventure

In the genes perhaps?

The other night I was going through old photos while making a picture book for my Grandmas birthday.  Shhhhhh....don't tell her.  It's a surprise.  I was pleasantly surprised to come across this photo

Check out that lamp!

I am not sure why my grandmother (in the blus dress) looks horrified.  Surely it's not because of the lamp.  If I had to guess, I would say that my father or one of my uncles had just done something truely inappropriate!

Indeed, they appear to be up to no good!  From L to R, Uncle Mark, my father and Uncle George.

I suspect these photos are from 1956. 

'Till we meet again

Ms. Adventure