Midwest Guest

Photo Friday

We recently caught ice carvers in action at the Plymouth (Michigan) Ice Spectacular.

Some carvers worked solo, while other carvers worked in teams to complete the crystalline creations on display in Plymouth’s Kellogg Park during the annual ice carving festival.

Check out the full story of our visit to the Ice Spectacular to learn more about the art of ice carving and to see a few more photos of the carvers and their work.

Related stories:

Cool carvings at Plymouth Ice Spectacular

Thanks to Debbie Dubrow of Delicious Baby for creating and coordinating Photo Friday to link travel photos and blog posts across the Web.

© Dominique King 2009

Chagrin Falls conundrum

Driving home from a conference east of Cleveland Ohio along a particularly beautiful stretch of Chagrin Road, I spotted a sign with an arrow pointing towards Chagrin Falls.

The sign immediately sparked my curiosity. I love waterfalls, but more importantly in this case, I remembered Chagrin Falls as the title of a tune by Canadian rockers, The Tragically Hip. I couldn’t help turning off onto the side road where the arrow pointed me to see the infamous Chagrin Falls.

Chagrin Falls sits in a relatively affluent area about a half hour east of downtown Cleveland. Centered around its namesake waterfalls, the village originally grew as a busy industrial area with businesses clustered around the ample water supply provided by the falls. A historical marker near the high falls lists an ax factory, a foundry, two flour mills, four woolen mills, two sawmills, three paper mills and a woodenware factory as part of the bustling business community in mid-nineteenth century Chagrin Falls.

Today, the factories are largely gone from the immediate area, and the village center’s business community consists largely of a few restaurants and small retail stores.

A wealth of well-preserved buildings dating from the mid- to late-1800s, a large park bordering the waterfalls and the falls themselves draw tourists and day-trippers to Chagrin Falls. In warmer weather, steep staircases lead from the street level to the lower portion of the falls for those wanting a closer look at the rushing water. But the village still seems to draw plenty of visitors during colder weather like the recent sunny, but snowy, day we returned to Chagrin Falls to stroll around town and take a few photos of the waterfalls.

You might wonder why such a picturesque village has the shame-faced Chagrin in its name, and the origin of the name is even a matter of debate among village historians.

The historical marker at the falls says the Chagrin River drew its name from a French trader named Francois Seguin, who traded with Native Americans in northeast Ohio during the mid-1700s. The Chagrin Falls Historical Society offers a couple of other possible explanations for the name, but says the most accepted story is that the name represents a corrupted and Americanized version of trader Seguin’s name.

Connections like the Tragically Hip’s obscure lyrics about a wandering spirit, the fact that Stone Temple Pilots/Velvet Revolver vocalist Scott Weiland spent part of his childhood in the village, and the possibility that Chagrin Falls resident Bill Watterson used the village as the primary setting for his popular Calvin and Hobbes cartoon mean that the village’s contemporary history may be every bit as fascinating and puzzling as its early chapters.

© Dominique King 2009

Cool carvings at Plymouth Ice Spectacular

Fanciful dragons, a hulking moose, graceful giraffes and Rodin’s Thinker were just a few of the figures gathered in Plymouth Michigan’s Kellogg Park late this month.

Plymouth’s 27th annual Ice Spectacular, described as one of the oldest and largest ice carving festivals, hosted an icy version of The Thinker and a crystalline menagerie of figures created by a cast of professional ice carvers, chefs, culinary instructors and local high school, community college and university students. Experiencing the warmth of Plymouth’s quaint downtown with the frozen scene in the park proved just the antidote for our case of cabin fever.

The 3-day fest featured over 100 statues carved from single ice blocks, many of them weighing as much as 330 pounds, as well as more complex carvings constructed using five to 100 blocks of ice.

The Ice Spectacular can be particularly beautiful at night, with the structures bathed in colored lights and fewer crowds to navigate out in the cold night air. We’ve seen the festival late at night during a few previous years as we returned home after a Plymouth Whalers Ontario Hockey League game, but this year we decided to make a special trip out to the Ice Spectacular during the day to see some of the carvers in action.

Much of the ice carving and student competition takes place during daylight hours. Visiting the event was a different experience for us, with the sound of buzzing chain saws filling the air and crowds inching along serpentine paths past the ice structures placed throughout the park.

Complex carvings can take the entire weekend to create. The Plymouth Ice Spectacular offers visitors the chance to watch the creation of these icy beauties from the beginning through the end of the process.

 Ice carvers completed a variety of tasks as we toured the festival on Sunday, the third day of the event. Some carvers carefully measured blocks of ice. Others lifted the blocks into place and joined them with other blocks by using a little warm water to melt the ice and letting it re-freeze to create a bond.

The crowd seemed most fascinated with the carvers who wielded chain saws, picks and other tools to carve the blocky ice into beautifully detailed creations.

Plymouth’s Ice Spectacular event initially started after the son of a local hotel owner attended a similar event in Japan and saw it as an excellent opportunity to attract visitors during the traditional post-winter holiday lull in business. With an average annual attendance of 500,000 and as an American Culinary Federation-sanctioned event, the festival attracts plenty of crowds to the park and to Plymouth’s eateries, stores and quaint downtown.

Free hand warmers from Grabber proved to be a hot item the day we visited. I appreciated the heat, generated by the warming packets tucked into my mittens, as we walked a few blocks to visit the Plymouth Coffee Bean Company for an Ice Fest Mocha (flavored with raspberry and mint syrups) before bidding adieu to The Thinker and the rest of his frozen friends.

Related stories:

See a whale of a game!

© Dominique King 2009

Photo Friday

Horses definitely seem to rule in Mesopotamia Ohio, where the Amish make up more than 60 percent of the population.

I wrote about this charming small town in northern Ohio a few days ago, but here are a few more photos from our recent visit there.

Automobiles and buggies commonly share the road in this region of Ohio, and it’s possible to gas up your car at Mesopotamia’s 1940s-vintage gas stations on a day other than Sunday. But the town does reserve special spaces for their hard-working equine residents.

Thanks to Debbie Dubrow of Delicious Baby for creating and coordinating Photo Friday to link travel photos and blog posts across the Web.

© Dominique King 2009

Cars star at North American International Auto Show

Cars seemed to be the stars at the 2009 North American International Auto Show (NAIAS), and isn’t that the way it should be?

Focusing on the cars is a welcome change of pace at a show that increasingly seemed to focus more on theatrical gimmicks in recent years, diverting attention from the real purpose of the show—showcasing the creativity and ingenuity of car makers, while allowing potential car buyers the chance to compare products and, yes, kick a few tires. Members of the press may miss the elaborate buffets at press previews and product reveals that included gasp-inducing displays like the bungee-jumping executive who dove from a balcony for an announcement about his company’s products at one previous press preview. But those of us interested to see the latest cars and learn what vehicle we may purchase next can appreciate an approach with fewer frills.

While this year’s show admittedly included fewer cars overall, car fans still found many new models and information about the newest alternative technologies at the automotive companies and their drive to survive and thrive in today’s challenging economy.

Show cars included plenty of flashy red sports cars like Camaros, Mustangs and Challengers that all seemed to draw large enough crowds around them that it made taking decent photos of the vehicles difficult.

While the enthusiasm generated by the sporty cars makes me wonder if the car-buying public is really ready to go green with their driving habits, those wanting a greener alternative find plenty of options on display at the NAIAS, like battery-electric Global Electric Motorcars from Chrysler, a variety of hybrids and the cute Chevrolet Beat concept car. The mini size of some of these vehicles seemed to give some show-goers pause, like the woman I overheard wondering how she could manage to get a few bags of groceries home in one mini model that appeared to have no trunk or storage space.

I’ve read reports of thinner crowds at the public show days and at the Charity Preview, a formal pre-show event raising money for local children’s charities. Couple the decreased attendance with the political pressure to produce profits with increasingly green products, and it’s easy to understand the anxiety within the automotive industry.

But there still seemed to be a bit of the old spark of enthusiasm as car buffs checked out displays like cool cutaway versions of vehicles and engines, Wii games and interactive computer consoles featuring programs highlighting the new vehicles and innovations, and presenters extolling the features of the new-model vehicles as the usual cadre of folks roamed the show floor, continually dusting and wiping fingerprints off of the shiny new vehicles.

The moment that spoke most about the true spirit of the show (and the Detroit region in general) occurred for me, oddly enough, at the Volkswagen exhibit, where a small black VW Beetle parked in front of a “Caraoke” screen literally rocked as two young girls seated inside of the car sang along at the top of their lungs with the old Gloria Gaynor tune “I Will Survive”.

And so, I think, we will.

© Dominique King 2009

Mesopotamia: Land between two Ohio rivers

A spot of land between the Cuyahoga and Grand Rivers in Ohio takes its name from the ancient land between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in what is present-day Iraq.

We recently visited Mesopotamia in Ohio, a village about 50 miles east of Cleveland and more than 6,000 miles from Iraq. The town seemed deserted on this quiet Sunday with its largely Amish population occupied with observing their Sabbath.

Mespo, a nickname bestowed upon the town by some locals, covers 36 square miles with a population of 2600, which is about 60 percent Amish. 

I’ve visited Mesopotamia several times, but I’ve always been reluctant to take photos out of respect for the reported Amish aversion to being the subject of photographs showing recognizable faces.

However, when we found ourselves in a deserted Mesopotamia, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to take a few photos of the charming town itself.

The 1840-vintage End of the Commons General Store anchors the quiet village, taking its name from the long grassy commons centering the town. You can buy a handful of “penny” candy or browse through the store’s stock of bulk foods and Amish-theme souvenirs during store hours Monday through Saturday.

A small ice house attached to the back of the village’s general store explains the history of ice-making in the area. Many area Amish residents still use block ice throughout the year to prevent their food from spoiling, and some still procure their own block ice by cutting large chunks of it from area ponds and rivers during the winter.

Mesopotamia’s history as a settlement stretches back to 1799, with the first clearing of land there. By 1800, the first cabin stood at the site. In 1903, Mesopotamia saw its first Amish settlers as the Yost Byler family moved to the area. Other Amish settlers followed, drawn by the availability of affordable land suitable for dairy farming, maple syrup production, barn building and cheese making according to an historic marker in the village.

By 1974, the Mesopotamia Village District earned a spot on the National Register of Historic Places.

Village visitors can also admire Sir Pierpont of Mesopotamia, a large wooden horse named for the settlement’s founding father Pierpont Edwards. In 1798, Edwards of Connecticut paid $2,500 for 25 square miles of wilderness that eventually became Mesopotamia Township.

The equine Sir Pierpont and his wooden buggy stand 14 feet tall. Artist Chris McConnell’s creation contains 2300 board feet of lumber, 30 pounds of screws and bears billing as the World’s Largest Horse and Buggy.

We bid the prancing Sir Pierpont adieu as a gentle rain began to fall and we left town, sharing the road with a real-life Amish horse and buggy as we headed west towards big-city Cleveland.

© Dominique King 2009

Photo Friday

We set out one beautiful autumn day this past October with the intention of geocaching at Wolcott Mill Metropark in Ray, Michigan.

We expected that we might also take a few photos of the park’s historic and picturesque grist mill.

What we didn’t expect to see was a large Civil War reenactment taking place at the park that weekend.

There were too many folks around the area where we intended to geocache, so that meant a change of plans. We ended up spending a bit of time watching the reenactment activities and taking a few photos of the event.

The historic grist mill setting contributed to the feeling generated of stepping back into the 1860s. I did catch a jarring juxtaposition of old and new when I saw this scene of a Civil War-era tent headquarters next to large electrical high-tension tower and quickly grabbed the shot.

Thanks to Debbie Dubrow of Delicious Baby for creating and coordinating Photo Friday to link travel photos and blog posts across the Web.

© Dominique King 2009

A taste of Spain in Cleveland Ohio

We loved Basque cuisine when we visited the Basque country along the French and Spanish border a couple of years ago. I especially enjoyed the emphasis on seafood and a variety of peppers, while Tim seemed to enjoy the cured ham that we saw hanging in the open air nearly everywhere we went during that trip.

Our enjoyment of Basque cuisine made me wonder about the specialties in other parts of the region, so my curiosity was piqued as I drove towards a freeway entrance in metropolitan Cleveland Ohio and spotted a sign for a restaurant specializing in “Flavors of Spain”.

Marbella Restaurant takes its name from the seaside resort town in southern Spain and had only recently opened when I first spotted it on the way home from a writers’ conference. I decided that dining at Marbella was a must-do the next time I returned to Cleveland with Tim in tow.

Once we’d both checked out the restaurant’s extensive Web site, we couldn’t wait to book a table for two at Marbella.

Marbella, opened in 2003, is the “sister” restaurant to the award-winning Mallorca in Cleveland’s downtown warehouse district. Marbella’s site describes the menu at both restaurants as a mixture of Spanish and Portuguese cuisine.

We anxiously awaited our next trip to Cleveland.

The day finally arrived when we found ourselves back in the eastern suburbs of Cleveland and arriving at Marbella Restaurant for our long-awaited meal.

The menu included an extensive selection of items listed by both their Spanish names and the English translation.

It was difficult to know where to begin.

Even though I’m a huge fan of well-made gazpacho, I couldn’t resist starting off this meal with Sopa De Ajo. This thick and smooth garlic- and bread-based soup turned out to be a great decision to start the meal on a cold winter evening. Fortunately, Tim loves garlic as well and chose the same starter.

While Marbella’s dinner menu includes plenty of meat, poultry and pasta selections, the real star of the show is the seafood. We’ve eaten at the restaurant several times and were happy whether we chose one of the evening specials or a regular menu item, but be sure to try the restaurant’s signature Paella Vallenciana at least once. This paella includes lobster, shrimp, mussels, clams, chorizo sausage, chicken, white fish and vegetables mixed into, or topping, saffron rice.

Marbella’s site warns diners that the restaurant’s portions are huge and that many diners plan to take leftovers home to eat later. This is no exaggeration—especially when it comes to the paella. If you’re from out of town and staying overnight, try to make sure you book a hotel room with a mini fridge and microwave oven or convince a dining companion to share paella with you. The portions are truly huge and the food is just too good to waste if you can’t eat it all at one sitting.

Marbella offers an extensive wine list that includes many Spanish wines. I usually opt for a glass of the house-made sangria with my dinner.

Many of the restaurant’s servers appear to be Spanish or Portuguese, and during one visit, we heard a server at a neighboring table good-naturedly allowing his customers to practice their Spanish by conversing in that language with them.

We unfortunately live several hours’ drive from Marbella Restaurant, so we only get there once every year or so. However, fans of the restaurant, or Spanish cuisine and culture in general, can find a lot of interesting reading, instructions for subscribing to an e-mail newsletter and links to other sites about Spanish food, wine, travel and culture at the restaurant’s Web site.

© Dominique King 2009

BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibit at the Detroit Zoo

Winter is my favorite time of year to visit the Detroit Zoo and take photographs.

Winter also seems to be a favorite with competition judges for the prestigious Wildlife Photographer of the Year contest, who named Steven Winter the winner of this year’s top title and cash prize.

Check out Winter’s work at the Detroit Zoo as the zoo plays host to the North American debut of the stunning wildlife photos named as winners of the annual photography competition sponsored by London’s Natural Museum of History and BBC Wildlife Magazine.

Winter, a photographer for the United States’ National Geographic Magazine, won the judge’s approval with a striking nighttime shot of a snow leopard prowling through a snowy winter evening.

The exhibit features Winter’s beautiful “Snowstorm Leopard”, as well as 82 other inspiring shots by photographic winners from a variety of adult, youth and special award categories.

Stops at the Detroit Zoo and the Royal Alberta Museum in Edmonton, Canada constitute the entire North American leg of this tour, which features numerous stops in Europe. So, we’re incredibly fortunate to have this exhibit at our zoo here in Detroit, where we began hosting it five years ago.

The show, established 40 years ago, drew 32,351 entries for the 2008 competition. The exhibit showcases the 83 winning images taken by 72 photographers from 28 countries.

We’ve viewed the shows a couple of times in the past, and I can say the illuminated, large-format images featured in the exhibition are breathtakingly beautiful. Strolling through the zoo’s softly-lit Ford Education Center, the back-lit wildlife images seem ready to leap from the walls and prowl the zoo grounds.

Captions detailing photographers’ stories of capturing their shots or explaining the significance of wildlife’s place in our world accompany each photograph. We easily spend a couple of hours at the exhibit, lingering before each beautiful image and wondering how to impart even a small part of the soul and beauty of those photographs in our own humble attempts to capture such fleeting moments of wild beauty.

Take a little of the magic home with you by purchasing the hardcover photo portfolio published by BBC Books. The books include each stunning image in full color with the photographers’ notes about capturing the image and the photographic equipment used to take the images. If the zoo gift shop doesn’t have the book when you visit, you can order it through your local book store or online. This year’s 160-page “Wildlife Photographer of the Year: Portfolio 18” costs $45 (U.S.) and has an April 1, 2009 publication date.

The exhibit runs at the Detroit Zoo until April 26, 2009 and is free with regular admission to the zoo.

Check out my related posts about taking winter photos at the Detroit Zoo:

Photo Friday at the Detroit Zoo

Detroit’s Arctic Ring of Life

© Dominique King 2009

Photo Friday

Remembering Motown this week with posts about the Motown Museum and the legendary Funk Brothers also made me think about some other great Detroit-based artists. We’re fortunate to have a rich musical tradition here, and I’ve been fortunate enough to see some really great live music in venues and festivals around town.

Here are a few photos of soul singer Bettye LaVette and blues diva Thornetta Davis from the 2006 Detroit Festival of the Arts.

Bettye LaVette

Bettye LaVette

Thornetta Davis

There won’t be a 2009 Festival of the Arts because of the Midtown Loop Greenway construction. Festival organizers pledge a 2010 return for the annual festival.

Looks like I’ll rely on the 2009 Concert of Colors for my live local music fix this summer.

Thanks to Debbie Dubrow of Delicious Baby for creating and coordinating Photo Friday to link travel photos and blog posts across the Web.

© Dominique King 2009