-- Contrasting Neighborhoods --
When I was driving around the Georgia Street Community Gardens in east Detroit this morning, I noticed the area was suffering. There were a lot of cute houses, but also a lot of boarded up houses and buildings.
By contrast, I drove a few minutes to the east, towards the Detroit river, and the neighborhoods were much different around Grosse Pointe. The houses there are huge and on large lots. The neghborhoods are upscale, and there is even a yacht club. It was quite a contrast after just driving a few miles.
-- Fort Wayne --
Keeping with my interest in visiting historical places, I decided to visit Fort Wayne, which is located on the river near downtown Detroit. I didn't know anything about the fort, but I saw online that they have a visitor center, so I thought I'd go learn about it.
Fort Wayne is a national historic site and free to visit. The girl at the gate took down my name and told me I could park and walk around, but not drive.
The visitor center was closed, and most of the buildings were in severe disrepair -- collapsing roofs, broken windows, and deteriorating brick walls. It really made me appreciate all of the nice visitor centers, staffed with rangers, with completely restored historical buildings, that I have visited on this trip.
The fort was originally built in the 1840s to protect against an anticipated British invasion from Canada that never happened. It was later used to hold Union troops during the U.S. Civil War, and has been put to other purposes, like housing the Civil Conservation Corps during the depression. I can't say I learned much here, though.
The Fort entrance has thick walls and doors, and a long passageway to the courtyard that has a barracks and powder building.
There is also a 6 foot high Native American burial mound outside the fort walls... so Ohio wasn't the last of the Native American mounds for me on this trip after all.
-- Hart Plaza --
Hart Plaza is a nice area on the waterfront in downtown Detroit, between the Renaissance towers (headquarters of General Motors that I visited yesterday) and the United Auto Workers - Ford Joint Trust building.
It has a water fountain and large "Transcending" ring sculpture -- complete with a scateboarder jumping on it today. ☺ The plaza is located beside the walking path along the Detroit river, and has a view of Canada across the water.
-- Fall Vegfest --
After visiting the plaza, it was time to leave Detroit and head west towards Lansing. I read about a "Fall Vegfest" happening today in the city of Farmington, which is a suburb of Detroit, so I stopped there for a late lunch.
All the foods at the vegfest were plant-based. I had some Indian food -- a chickpea dish, a tofu dish, and some fried vegetables. They were good. The chickpea sauce and had a little kick to it.
I later noticed a booth with ribs, and asked how they were made without meat! He told me they use jackfruit. They have a restaurant in town, and the ribs are really popular! Too bad I had already eaten. They were out of ribs anyway by that time. The booth next to them had gyros made with wheat instead of meat.
-- Michigan State University Campus --
East Lansing is a University town. It is the home of Michigan State University. When I was searching for things to do in Lansing, my search results included a pinball arcade, so I went there to see if they had any of the pinball machines my nephew helped design, but they didn't have any of them.
I liked the atmosphere around town. Michigan State University has a beautiful campus. I think I could like living here. (Granted, I'm visiting in a really nice time of year -- not the dead of winter!) I walked across campus and enjoyed the trees and lawns. They have a carillon bell tower, just like BYU, where I went to school.
I spent some time updating my blog in the university library. Seeing the students studying and walking around town late at night reminded me of my college days. They are good memories.
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