Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.
Skip navigation

Arrived in Detroit - but I rather be in Canada

Dec 25: Arrival in Detroit

Well, the flight went well. Actually, better than I expected.

The players are doing their own thing this afternoon and will gather at 6 p.m. for the team dinner. Come to find out, the team dinner is in the same location as the fan dinner at 8 p.m. So they better leave some food us or else they'll have full players but hungry fans! LOL

The bar at the hotel is STOCKED, which is good for those of us who want to enjoy a beer and/or vodka-tonic after a long day of flights.

But one problem: no alcohol sales since 9 p.m. last night - and they won't start selling until 7 a.m. tomorrow morning. No bar, hotel, casino, etc. in Michigan is selling anything. State law.

So, looks like I will be taking a taxi ride under the Detroit River and heading to Canada to pick up a bottle of wine and a six pack.


View of Canada from a 53rd floor hotel room - Caesar's Palace is staring right at me!


View of Detroit from a 53rd floor hotel room - Desolate parking lots are staring right at me!

THE HOTEL - Huge place - very, very huge

The hotel is quiet... very quiet. It's nothing like New Orleans. It's probably because there are very few Owl decorations and the hotel is spread out. The hotel lobby is on the third floor, and there's over 60 floors in this place. So trying to find someone is like the Lions trying to find a win this season. :)

When you get dropped of by taxi on the first floor, you walk into the first floor lobby. It is there that I have found an Owl decoration, and the only one that I have come across so far.



The hotel room is comfy and warm. It's cold outside, but not bitterly cold.

Some prices:
Miller Lite: $4.50
Corona: $5.00
Nachos: $8.00
Meatloaf with garlic mashed potatoes: $28
Internet in your room: $12.95 a day
Room price: $135.00
Taxi ride: $52

Y'all happy you stayed home yet? LOL I'm going home BROKE!

The River

The Detroit River is nice, actually. It isn't iced over completely, so you can see thin chunks of ice floating down the river.

Bored in Detroit

So what is there to do in Detroit on Christmas Day? I got the scoop from someone who I feel would know best: my cab driver.

He claimed to be a former two-sport star in high school and six-time Gold Glove boxer, turned adult entertainment dancer, turned luxury cab driver.

He said the bars are OK, but no one is selling anything on Christmas Day. The casinos have "everything, just like Vegas would," so that's probably where I'll spend my night.

And just for the Dirty Birds, I asked about adult entertainment (and clearly after he told me what he did a few moments before, he opened the door to such an inquiry). He said that Canada has "different laws" than the US. I'll leave the rest of what he said to your imagination. So take it as you will.

Players roaming around the hotel on their down time

I ran into Frantz Joseph who said he is ready to play. Let's hope the entire team is ready to play! I also saw Willie Rose. Everyone else I didn't recognize from a distance.


Airport
After coming home from the New Orleans Bowl last year, the San Antonio Airport had flags, banners, etc. welcoming alumni, fans and players from the Alamo Bowl participating schools.

The Detroit Airport - nothing. Nothing at all. Maybe it was just the terminal I came in on, but you wouldn't know there was a bowl game going on ... and neither did my "luxury cab" driver.

What's Next?
Hopefully I'll be able to lure someone to the casino with me later tonight. First up is the team dinner at 6 p.m. and I plan on waiting outside the restaurant and high-fiving and shaking hands with all the players as they walk in.

Then, the "fan" dinner is at 8 p.m.

After that, who knows where the night will take us. We knew coming in that Detroit was no 'Nawlins. But I didn't think it would be this desolate.

-$'07

Trackbacks

There have been no trackbacks yet

Rating

Unrated