Road Trip to Michigan

Oops! I forgot to blog before leaving for our jaunt up to Michigan. The ♥G♥ went to a conference for her work, and then she and I visited my family.

While we were there, I/she/we visited:

• The very well-researched and -assembled Holocaust Memorial Center in Farmington Hills, which gave lots of background on Jewish history, as well as some striking exhibits about the experiences of the Jews (and others) in Europe during the Third Reich. (At one point you turn the corner of a timeline and at the end of a dark, narrow hallway, you are confronted by a 30-foot-tall photograph of Hitler staring down at you menacingly. That description makes it sound hokey, but it's not.) Make the effort to go if you're in the area.
• The Curious Book Shop on Grand River Ave. in East Lansing, near the MSU campus. They have a freakin' ton of cool used books, as well as lots of old 30s & 40s pulp sci-fi magazines. I got a couple of books by S.I. Hayakawa, a biography of Orwell, a book about rivalries between Allied generals in WWII, a book on philosophy by Martin Gardner, and some other stuff. Again, stop in to browse if you're ever passing through.
• Bronnner's Christmas Wonderland in Frankenmuth, where we got some cool X-mas ornaments (like Santa riding a flamingo, etc.). If you like Christmas stuff, this is the place.
• The Redford Theatre in Detroit, an old-time movie house that was showing Singin' in the Rain. It's real cool -- It was done in a Japanese motif in the 20s and 30s, and recently they've been restoring it. Plus, S'ITR is my favorite movie musical. Definitely check both out! (The theater and the film.)

So, glad we went, but glad to be home.