Forgotten Cities Tour 2011, Part II

 Fourth Stop:  Detroit

You can hear it humming.  See it coming.  Feel it everywhere you go.  It's tomorrow morning, the future dawning with a bright and shining glow.

It's the land where golden chariots, are molded out of dreams.  Detroit.  It's Detroit.

Detroit was what started the whole Forgotten Cities Tour.  And Kelly with a "y" and Kelli with an "i" are the only two people I know with enough passion and patience to wait a whole year to make the trip happen.  Kelly needed to go to Michigan, Kelli was the only one willing to take a weekend trip to Detroit and actually be excited about it, and so together they planned.  And dreamed.

Our main Detroit dreams: see the smoke stacks from Happiest Millionaire, support the Detroit economy, and meet Eminem.  

We started out by driving to Belle Island for the best view in town.

The island was appropriately named because it was almost as lovely as another Belle I know...

Just like our baby Belle, Belle Island was exquisite, breathtaking, and magical.

We enjoyed the view...stuck our feet into Lake Erie...

Frolicked in the fountain...played with statues...

   

This guy was not as happy as Mr. Pittsburg...

he was quite stern really...

And we saw our beloved, dreamy smokestacks...

And Kelly supported the Detroit economy...
It was eerily quiet in the city.  I want to say quiet like a ghost town, but I'm going to be positive and say quiet like a sleeping giant - don't worry Detroit, when things get worse they get better!  You'll be back to your old glorious, industrious, golden chariot self in no time!

We never met Eminem, but we did have a peaceful, dream come true morning, and that was enough.

Side note: we played a game in Detroit and surrounding areas to see how many non-American cars were driving around.  I think we only counted 4 or 5 - way to go, USA!  Way to support our guys!

Fifth Stop: Kalamazoo

It's here in Kalamazoo we found our mascot.

We didn't find much of anything else, but Homer Stryker was enough.

At the age of 4, Homer was in a farm accident and loss the use of his ring finger and his pinky finger on what would become his pitching hand.  He overcame that obstacle to lead the University of Michigan to the Big Ten Championship (when things get worse, they get better).  Despite everyone wanting to recruit "Strike" like it was nobody's bidniz, he turned down all offers to pursue the dream of becoming a physician and medical innovator.  I would like to follow Dr. Stryker's inspiring example and become more like him...except still maintain the use of all my fingers.

Sixth Stop: South Bend

Game Day!



The Fighting Irish were playing Air Force that day, which made parking a little difficult, but at least the campus was kind of quiet to walk around cause everyone was at the stadium.  Plus, we got to see a stealth plane and the Goodyear blimp.  Score!



The library:

Every BYU frisbee-loving student would drool at the sight of Notre Dame's campus and it's wide open lawns.

Sacred Heart Chapel:

Seventh Stop: Kokomo

We got there fast, and then we took it slow.

Not really.  We got there fast, and took it fast.  So fast that we didn't even get out of the car to take a picture.  I know we were trying to be fair to all the cities that no one wants to visit...but Kokomo...well, let's just say that next trip it's going to be a KokoNo.

Eighth Stop: Indianapolis

Do you ever feel like certain places have very specific sky colors?  I think DC has a monopoly on pink clouds against a baby blue sky.  Oregon has a consistent orange sunset that I've never seen anywhere else.  California's sky is a dusty blue with a marigold sun.

Well, sometimes I imagine the colors of the sky for certain places and I like to discover how close my imagination is to the actual thing.  I always imagined Ohio to be a deep bright blue sky with a bright white yellow sun and I was spot on.  As for Indiana, I might as well have just taken a picture of my imagination: dark navy blue that slowly fades into a pink, red horizon, all with a hint of purple.  It was perfect.

Since April, there is only one way to describe us:  Nascar fans for life!

We drove to the Indy 500 track, and when we got there, the light to the gate was green, so we drove in and actually drove on the track!  Well, only for about 10 seconds until a guard turned us away - but still, we were practically a race car for 10 seconds..

Ninth Stop: Columbus

In Columbus, we completed our college tours with a quick drive through Ohio State University.

They get the award for college sign that looks most like a high school billboard.

We also got to see the Columbus Ohio temple, which was just an itty-bitty cute thing.

Columbus was by far my favorite stop, because we got to see Kate the Great.

We got to meet her William (who is wonderful and wonderfully deserving of Katie), and catch up, and giggle, and go to church, and reminisce, and share one of the most entertaining testimony meetings we've been to in a long while, and talk about hopes and dreams and plans for the future.  

Truthfully, Katie and her family are some of my favorite people on this planet and it doesn't matter what I do with them, I'm always happy.  They feel like home and love and golden childhood memories and I almost teared up when it was time to leave Columbus.

Come visit us in DC soon, Kate!

And that concludes our Forgotten Cities Tour 2011.  

We saw some great seldom remembered cities and made some unforgettable dreams.

And yes, I did wear stripes every day on this trip, so what!
Is there symbolic significance to it?  Maybe...maybe not...you decide.