quietann

So, Ben and I got back from our honeymoon a few days ago. We drove out to Detroit (which took longer than we thought it would) in Ben's "Escort on Steroids." (It's a European Ford Escort designed as a rally car... very high performance and loads of fun to drive.) The first night we stayed in Syracuse and had a hard time finding a room because the town was full of firefighters! They were having the "New York State Firefighters Convention" -- which I imagine was a very special event this year, after 9/11. In my brief exposure to them, I concluded that (a) they like to have fun, (b) they like to eat, and (c) they like to drink beer (Ben caught a glimpse of a ff's hotel room, which contained 4 coolers and 3 cases of beer, plus whatever was in the coolers). I didn't see any lady firefighters...

In Detroit (Allen Park actually), we stayed at the Holiday Inn Express. It was a little pricey, but very comfortable, had a good free breakfast every morning, and had a jacuzzi in the room. As I had told people we would do, we locked ourselve in the room on friday night, and except for breakfast on Saturday, didn't emerge until Sunday morning. In case you're imagining wild escapades, well, no. We mostly slept :) and tried out taking a few cheescake photos of me. (They turned out rather well, some of them, and no, I am not sharing!)

Sunday was the Eyes on Design car show, which was nominally why we went to Detroit in the first place. Ben has a car that the Ford Design Studio has borrowed, and it was at the show. I spent most of the day hiding out in the VIP/Exhibitor's tent, because it was very hot and humid. The cars were interesting, for a bit. I especially liked one (a Simplex from the early 20th century) that had a built in jumpseat -- or I should say built out, because it was completely outside the body of the car! Another interesting set of cars was heavily modified hot rods, each with an example of the original car they were based on. At the end of the show, I snagged some mini roses off the VIP tables, and we got them back here OK and I planted them yesterday (all but one of the mini roses from our wedding got taken by friends. To anyone who's managed to keep one alive: they need to be in bigger pots, or preferably planted outside.)

to be continued..