Just about everyone we talked to who had ever been to Detroit told us that there is absolutely nothing to do and see. It would be a waste of our time. But I stubbornly kept thinking "how bad could it be? It's a major US city! Surely there must be SOMETHING worth seeing. So many people wouldn't live there if it was such a dump, right?"
There's no other way to say it. Detroit really is the crappiest place I've ever been to. This one picture sums up Detroit better than any other picture could.
If it weren't for all the automotive jobs forcing people to keep living there, I honestly think it would be abandoned. There isn't too much to show from our time in Detroit. We visited the Henry Ford Museum, but that was pretty lame.
We wanted to get a tour of an assembly line while it was in production, which would have been pretty cool, but they were all shut down that day.
We drove out to see the Palace at Auburn Hills, but even that was far away in the middle of like a mini desert or quarry yard with nothing interesting about it.
There were pockets of downtown that seemed to have been done up nice and modern looking, but still, that's just the financial district where there is no sign of life on non-work hours.
It wasn't all a total waste though. We stopped at The Fly Trap, a "finer diner" that we saw on the Food Network. It's a diner but serves very inventive and high quality foods with some dishes bordering on fine dining on taste (presentation is still 100% diner).
This salmon burger blew my mind. It had some crazy flavours going on in there.
This is their take on a pho using a lemongrass based veggie broth. Very delicate flavours. Very refreshing.
They also have standard diner fare, but the flavours are kicked up just a notch from what you're used to.
We left Detroit and made out way for Toronto.
Look, you have to be in Windsor to even see the little stretch of the Detroit lakefront that doesn't look like crap.
Our stay in Toronto was pretty busy as we had a lot of wedding planning to take care of so we didn't get to have too much fun, but we did get in a couple of things.
Ribfest in Etobicoke
And a street dog at Mel Lastman Square (I ALWAYS get a street dog when I come to Toronto).
After leaving Toronto, we drove back the long way around the lake and stopped through Cleveland. Cleveland is a stark contrast to Detroit. The city is open, clean, and beautiful. We were both really surprised and impressed by how nice it was.
Donna likes to take pictures next to big things that should be small things.
It's true. Cleveland rocks.
Stopping at Cleveland wasn't an unplanned accident. We had been wanting to come here for a long time for two reasons: Lola and Cedar Point.
Lola is the flagship restaurant of Iron Chef Michael Symon.
We made reservations a few weeks before this trip and we COULD NOT WAIT!!
We didn't get to order the tasting menu since you had to order it in advance... so we made our own!
These were definitely in my top 5 of the best oysters I've had. The lemon sauce was very unique.
Crispy shrimp on a bed of polenta with chiles and cilantro.
Lola's signature dish, the beef cheek pierogie with wild mushroom and horseradish creme fraiche. It is the most tender and succulent meat you've ever had. I am all about the beef cheek now.
Mystery soup (we forget what it is but it had lobster in it). Incredible.
Black bass, clams, mussels, saffron potatoes, and olives in a fish stock based soup.
Pan roasted scallops with white beans, red peppers, cilantro, and pancetta. Absolutely, without a doubt, the best, most perfectly cooked, tastiest, insanely good scallops ever.
Even the french fries blew my mind. There was so much rosemary taste in it, it must have been fried in rosemary oil or something, in addition to all the herbs sprinkled on it.
The desserts: zucchini cake and sorbet trio. The backlit table at the bar really threw off the exposure meter on the camera.
Where all the magic happens.
The next day we went to Cedar Point, the biggest, baddest amusement park of them all.
We don't have too many pictures from inside the park, but this one ride needs special mention. The Top Thrill Dragster.
0 to 120mph in 4 seconds! I can't even describe this properly. You just need to see this first person POV video.
The Millenium Force was incredible too. It's just so long, so high, and so fast!
As we were driving through Indiana on our way home, we got a bad case of the munchies. We were very close to South Bend so Donna called up her favourite Notre Damer, Benji, and scored a food tip. We made a quick detour into South Bend to eat, drive through Notre Dame, and head back on home.
Pizza at Bruno's, what must be a Notre Dame campus favourite. It was one of the best pizza's I've had in a long time. Thanks, Ben!
