Detroit and Chicago: We Only Visit Cities Near I-94

Pitcher Anibal Sanchez and the Tigers take the field against the Kansas City Royals. The crowd turned ugly in the sixth inning when it was announced that Kansas City is not actually in Kansas.

We watched the Detroit Tigers lightly beat the Kansas City Royals 4-1 last Thursday. We try to go once a year, and this was our best chance. It was a fun game. Prince Fielder hit a home run, and Andy Dirks went 4 for 4.

J and I shipped the kids off to relatives and took a whirlwind overnight trip to Chicago to see the show "Book of Mormon". This was the delayed 20th Anniversary trip we didn't take in the spring. We stayed at the Palmer House Hilton, which was about a block from the theater. For dinner, we ate some yummy food at a nearby restaurant, Vapiano. Then we went over to the theater, saw the show, and walked a little bit before returning to the hotel. We saw lots of interesting city sights, like bus tours, homeless people (there's one for every corner!) and a rat running in the gutter of State St. Such a colorful place! We realized as we were walking during the day that the difference between large and small-medium cities is that large towns have the same stores as the small ones, plus one store per brand of shoes/clothing/luggage/make-up/electronic device.


Inside the Palmer House Hilton in downtown Chicago. I can't remember if this picture was the lobby or our room. I'll have to check.

"Book of Mormon" was really funny. It is a musical comedy that follows two young Mormons starting their mission in Africa. It is unlikely that Mormon missionaries use the kind of language, or engage in so many impromptu song and dance numbers during their missions as these characters did, but that's what the theater is for, isn't it? And I'll give the real Mormons credit - they advertise the church's website on the back of the Playbill, encouraging theater-goers to take a look at the real Book of Mormon.

With the kids still away, J and I had another anniversary dinner at Lena in downtown Ann Arbor. The restaurant is in the space where the iconic Parthenon Greek restaurant was.

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