That time we went to Michigan!

I have a lot to write about since the last time I posted, so grab a snack and settle in.

Let’s see… going back to last Wednesday. The plumber finally got here about 15 minutes before the end of the 5.5-hour arrival window and figured out it was just a burnt out switch on the water pump that had to be replaced, which was better than the entire pump. He also figured out the switch had gone bad because it’d been turning off and on way more than normal due to leaking in the expansion tank, which is rusting through in several places. The tank replacement could wait until Clark gets time to do it, but the switch had to be replaced immediately if I wanted any water in the house before we left for vacation.

So, $312 later, I had running water again. Clark later said he could’ve replaced that switch himself for a lot cheaper, but I pointed out it would’ve been several days before he got a chance to do it, so I had to handle it my way — by writing a check haha.

I still had some errands to run in town, and then I cut our grass. I really didn’t want to but I couldn’t let it go another week. It was so freaking thick due to, No. 1, all the rain we’ve gotten over the last month, and No. 2, the fact it’d already been two weeks since it’d been cut. That was the closest I’ve heard the lawnmower come to conking out, it was getting so bogged down.

And then I met my brother, his wife, my mom and my younger sister at the Sharptown carnival so we could watch Kaylee enjoy all the rides.

I think she was getting tired of smiling at everyone’s stupid phones!

Back home, I got my stuff packed and was in bed around midnight. Clark got home from his business trip right about then.

Thursday started off on a bad foot before the sun even came up. It hadn’t been 15 minutes since Pepper had made Clark let him out to go pee when Pepper started making that gross lip-smacking sound that means he’s about to puke, which he did, first on our bedroom floor and then in the living room. It wasn’t even 5 a.m. yet and I was cleaning up dog vomit.

Clark had to get up about then anyway, to pack his own stuff and then go into his office for a bit to catch up on some work before we had to leave for the airport.

I went out for a short run after I got back from dropping him off at work. It was just a 3-miler. I wasn’t even gone a half-hour, but when I got home, Pepper had pooped in the floor. He was really making it easy to leave — I was looking forward to not having to clean up anything that had spewed out of a dog for a few days!

I managed to get everything pulled together, picked up Clark, picked up my sister and got us to the airport, where we met Mike, with plenty of time to spare to catch our flight to Detroit.

And then we were on VACATION.

The flight was really short, which was awesome. We got our rental car, a Kia Sorrento (full-size SUV, which worked out great), drove into the city and were checked into our hotel near the riverfront by 5 p.m.

Thursday night, we took a short walk to Corktown, a neighborhood near downtown, and started at Batch Brewing, on the recommendation of my friend Angie, who lives in Detroit.

While we were there, I texted her to see if she was around, and she not only met us at Batch, she chauffeured us around to a few other bars we’d have probably not found otherwise. The Detroit Shipping Co. was the most hipster bar I’ve ever been in — it was inside a bunch of old cargo shipping containers, and had a DJ playing house music haha. On the other end of the spectrum was a dive bar called The Bronx, decorated with vinyl bar stools and wood paneling so old you could practically still smell the cigarettes from when you used to be able to smoke in bars.

It was fun getting to see Angie too. She’s come out to the East Coast a bunch, but that was my first time hanging out with her on her home turf. She’s also about to move to Florida.

Friday morning, I went for a run along Detroit’s waterfront, and partly along the Dequindre Cut, a two-mile greenway developed along a former rail line. I wound up covering 5.3 miles.

The Spirit of Detroit, in front of a municipal building/courthouse at the end of Woodward Avenue.

Underground Railroad monument depicting former slaves looking across the Detroit River to Canada.

Looking up the river toward the GM Renaissance Building on the right.

Graffiti under an overpass on the Dequindre Cut.

Race car graffiti under another overpass.

Later that morning, Clark and Mike both had work to do, so Julie and I spent the next several hours on our own.

First we got a late breakfast at The Dime Store.

Another great variation on eggs Benedict — smoked salmon, cream cheese and chives in place of Canadian bacon.

Then we rented bikes and rode to Belle Isle, an island in the river. On the way, we found this bar:

We did a lap around the island too. Julie really wanted to see this marble fountain:

On the way back, we rode the entire Dequindre Cut both ways.

By the time we racked the bikes, Clark was done working and had gone to the Detroit Brewing Co., so we met him there. On the way, we saw some more graffiti I really liked.

Yes, there were plenty of abandoned buildings in Detroit, but a lot of spots are coming back to life. Clark said he got weird looks from coworkers when he told them he was going to Detroit on vacation, but I have to say, I enjoyed exploring the parts I got to see.

Anyway, our next stop was the Grand Trunk Pub, in a former ticket office for a railroad.

Looking down at the bar from a second floor balcony.

Our last stop Friday night was The Grey Ghost for dinner. Clark thought I picked it because it reminded me of Pepper (weimaraners are nicknamed Gray Ghosts) but I swear it was just on a list of recommended restaurants. Except for one weird roasted cabbage appetizer, everything we tried was delicious, and I was absolutely stuffed when we left. I was also more than ready to hit the hay. So we called it a relatively early night and went back to the hotel.

Saturday morning, I slept in. I intended to run, but it was one of those days where I woke up and I just knew it would do me more good to stay in bed. So I did.

Later that morning, Julie and I walked back down to Corktown for breakfast at Bobcat Bonnie’s, and then all four of us got in the car and did some more touristy stuff.

First up was the Ford Piquette Avenue Plant.

I read about this place in Autoweek several months ago and immediately put it on the list of things I wanted to see.

It was built in 1904, the first factory the Ford Motor Co. owned. (The company had previously operated out of a rented space.) Several of Ford’s “letter cars” were built here, most notably the Model T, which was also designed here and introduced in 1908 as a 1909 model.

Inside, examples of every car built here between 1904 and 1911, when Ford moved to a much larger complex and the building was sold to Studebaker, were lined up on the second floor.

A 1909 Model T Touring.

In the driver’s seat of the only car in the museum we were allowed to touch, a 1915 Model T.

I didn’t take any pictures on the third floor, which had more antique vehicles, because they were setting up a wedding reception for later that afternoon. Congrats, Kelsey and Bryan!

We then drove past the Motown museum, which was in the same part of town, but it looked pretty packed, so we didn’t stop, and instead went to The Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation in nearby Dearborn.

I went in here thinking it was going to be JUST a Ford history museum, which would be fine, but it was a LOT more.

The museum was full of exhibits exploring innovation in all kinds of different fields — railroads, cars, aviation, agriculture, furniture and even civil rights.

It took hours to get through all the different exhibits. There was a lot to see!

One of several presidential cars on display, this was John. F. Kennedy’s car. The plaque said it was retrofitted after he was fatally shot, to add the roof for more protection, and was used by the next two presidents.

THE 1987 Thunderbird Bill Elliott was driving when he set what is still the fastest qualifying lap in NASCAR history — 212 mph — at Talladega Superspeedway. (They could go faster today if they didn’t have restrictor plates, but they’d be too dangerous to drive without them.)

Neon fast food signs from the 1950s and 1960s.

The actual Montgomery, Ala., bus Rosa Parks was on when she refused to move because a white person sat down near her, sparking a year-plus bus boycott. This museum outbid several other institutions, including The Smithsonian, to get it.

Amongst all this significant stuff was something I never thought I’d see in a museum:

MY FIRST CAR!

OK, so this is a 1989 Honda Accord DX, while I had an ’87 LX, but close enough. It’s parked near a ’91 Ford Explorer, a ’94 Dodge Ram and a first-generation Prius, all part of an exhibit showing the progression of U.S. automotive innovation.

We were at the museum almost until closing. There’s even more there we could’ve done if we’d gotten there earlier. I’d never even heard of this place before, but I would highly recommend it to anyone visiting Detroit.

Next, we took a short drive to Fair Lane, Henry and Clara Ford’s estate. The inside was closed for renovation but we could walk all around the grounds outside.

Then we drove to GM’s Tech Center in Warren, dedicated in 1956, but it was closed for the day.

So we drove back into Detroit, parked the rental car and took an Uber to Selden Standard. It was clearly a very popular dinner spot, as we had to wait 90 minutes for a table. But it was also another delicious one, and we all had a great dinner.

Sunday was RACE DAY, the whole reason we were in Detroit in the first place.

Clark and I went for a little run together first. We did another three miles along the river. He kept sprinting away from me to try to trick me into doing some speedwork.

We left the hotel a little after 9 a.m. The track was about a 90-minute drive away.

First stop was a Tim Horton’s, a.k.a. Canadian Dunkin’ Donuts, for breakfast. We also hit up a Kroger for beer and tailgating snacks.

The drive to the track was very smooth, and we sat in minimal traffic before we were parked, always a huge plus.

We got there about three hours before the 2:30 p.m. green flag and drank some beers in the field where we’d parked.

Michigan International Speedway is a big, sprawling place, and we were parked about as far away from our seats on the front stretch as we could’ve gotten. Luckily, they are aware of that, and had free trams running all over the place. We got to our seats in plenty of time for all the pre-race ceremony stuff.

Then they got the green flag and they were off!

Coming across the start line.

Going through Turns 1 and 2 for the first time.

Sometimes Michigan can be a pretty boring race — the field gets spread out on the 2-mile track and there’s not much racing going on — but there were a lot of cautions Sunday, which kept re-bunching the field.

In spite of that though, it was all Kevin Harvick, all day. He won both stages and then the race. I’ve now gotten to see him win at Homestead-Miami, Dover, Sonoma and Michigan. I only got to see Bobby win once!

Victory lap!

After the race, a lady sitting behind us took a group picture.

Julie, Mike, Clark and me.

Getting back to our car and then out of the parking lot was also a breeze. Michigan was by far one of the best tracks I’ve been to as far as overall experience went. And not just because my favorite (active) driver won.

So that was track No. 15 of 23, done. We haven’t decided on next year’s yet, but we’ve got Las Vegas, Fontana (southern California), Texas, Kentucky, Kansas, Loudon (New Hampshire), Watkins Glen (New York) and Daytona remaining.

Sunday night, we stayed at a hotel closer to the airport, outside the city, and just got some dinner at a restaurant within walking distance.

Yesterday, our flight out was at noon. When I went through security and stood in the body-scanning machine, I set off the metal detector — with my groin. A female TSA agent stepped up and said she’d have to search me. Have you ever been searched after your groin set off a metal detector? It’s… uncomfortable haha. But she didn’t find any weapons stashed in my waistband or in the inseam of my shorts (!!!), so I was released.

When I went to collect my carry-on stuff, another TSA agent was firing up my laptop, “because it was just sitting there by itself.” Sorry, I was too busy getting felt up by your colleague over there to grab my stuff the moment it came out of the scanner! Also, it was in a bin right next to my backpack, since they make you take out large electronics and send them through separate, and my flip-flops… not sure how he didn’t make the connection.

Anyway, after that weird experience with security, the rest of the trip home was fine. Clark and I were back at our house by 5 p.m., and not long after, Clark’s dad dropped off Pepper, who’d spent the day with Clark’s grandmother. I was so happy to see him! I’d really missed him, in spite of all the puking and pooping the morning we left.

Today was back to normal life. It’s still hot and humid here, so I got up early to do this week’s middle distance run, a lap around the 7.3-mile loop. It wasn’t a bad run, other than the two bathroom stops I had to make, first in a corn field and then in the woods. I ran an easy average pace of 9:14/mile.