Midwest Guest

Photo Friday: Motown remembers Michael Jackson

Michael Jackson fans gathered at various places around the country, and even around the world, to remember the iconic music star in the wake of his sudden death on June 25, 2009.

Detroit’s Motown Historical Museum served as an impromptu gathering place for many fans in the first days following Michael’s death, and I remember seeing television footage of those fans singing his songs, sharing their favorite memories of him and watching a few Jackson impersonators trying to replicate some of the star’s dizzying spins and dance moves.

Fans left hundreds of stuffed animals, with many of them wearing Jackson’s single signature white glove, and other memorabilia outside of the museum to create a temporary memorial to Jackson.

What happened to all of those toys and other souvenirs?

You see it.

They gave the toys their own grave and headstone!

Detroit holds a special place in its heart for the kid from Gary, Indiana who wowed Motown exec Berry Gordy and snagged a Motown recording contract with his brothers.

Woodlawn Cemetery, 19975 Woodward Avenue southwest of Woodward’s intersection with 8 Mile Road (yup, the same 8 Mile immortalized in Eminem’s movie, 8 Mile) is the final resting place of many prominent people like civil rights activist Rosa Parks, David Ruffin of the Four Tops, the Temptations’ Levi Stubbs, poet Edgar Guest and, in two cemetery donated plots, toys left at Motown in memory of Michael Jackson.

Private companies donated the vaults and headstone.

I initially wondered why the museum didn’t donate the toys to needy children, but Tim said he heard that exposure to the weather for several days rendered the toys unfit as donations.

News stories say that Woodlawn officials suggested the burial to museum officials as a way to give area fans some closure, celebrate Jackson’s close connection to Detroit and safely dispose of the items in a respectful manner.

Tim was driving in the area and spotted a procession with two hearses carrying the memorial items and a few cars entering the cemetery. He realized what he’d seen after listening to the news later that day (so you now know who to credit/blame for this blog entry).

We went back later to find the memorial site, which is a short distance in from the cemetery’s front gate.

The Motown Historical Museum, which already proudly displays one of Michael’s sequined gloves, kept a few of the memorial items to use in a planned exhibit honoring Michael Jackson.

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 All rights reserved

Keweenaw history comes alive at Copper Harbor Lighthouse

Boat rides and lighthouses rank up there as a couple of my favorite things, so a visit to the Copper Harbor Lighthouse at the far reaches of northern Michigan’s remote Keweenaw Peninsula is a special treat for me.

 

 

A short ferry ride via a Navy motorwhale takes visitors out to the tip of the rugged Keweenaw Peninsula for tours of the lighthouse from late May through mid-October. The tour boat is a tough boat with a shallow draft and double-ended hull design that makes it especially maneuverable, similar to launches early light keepers used to reach more remote lighthouses.

 We’ve taken this 15-minute ride out to the lighthouse several times over the years. The boat’s captain gives visitors a short history of the lighthouse and the area, plus the ride over and back offers some nice vantage points for photographs.

 

 

The Copper Harbor Lighthouse is one of the oldest lights in Michigan, authorized by the government in 1847 after the 1844 shipwreck of the John Jacob Astor and the beginning of the Keweenaw copper rush.

The John Jacob Astor was the first commercial vessel to sail Lake Superior, bringing miners, missionaries and supplies to the area. It wrecked along the lake shore after unloading supplies for troops at nearby Fort Wilkins.

A 65-foot-tall tower served as the original Copper Harbor light station, constructed in 1848-9 for $4,800. That original tower soon fell into disrepair because of inferior construction.

The current sturdy brick light tower and attached keepers’ house was built in 1866. The “schoolhouse” style of the structure is similar in design to rural 19^th century one-room schoolhouses with its attached tower integrated into one of the end walls, much as a bell tower might appear at the front of an old schoolhouse.

The small stone keepers’ house built in 1849 became a place for oil storage, and that building still exists today just south of the 1866 structure.

An acetylene system replaced Copper Harbor’s Fresnel lens in 1919, making a full-time keeper unnecessary at the station.

 

 

The Lighthouse Service leased the brick lighthouse dwelling as a summer cottage in 1927. The Lighthouse Service found it difficult to maintain the light and the renters’ privacy because the winding tower stairs were the only access to the second floor and the light tower.

A 62-foot steel light tower next to the brick tower and house appeared in 1933. The current electric light housed in that tower is visible for up to 22 miles.

The Coast Guard became responsible for the country’s lighthouses in 1939, and decided it didn’t want to continue rent the house at Copper Harbor. The Coast Guard sold the Copper Harbor light station and its buildings to the State of Michigan in 1957 for $5,000 (just a shade more than the cost of just the original tower more than a hundred years earlier!).

The Copper Harbor Lighthouse complex became part of Fort Wilkins State Park and opened as a museum in 1975.

 

 

Today, visitors to the Copper Harbor Lighthouse complex enjoy a guided tour of the lighthouse restored to appear as it might have around 1900, exhibits about the lighthouse construction and mechanics in the original 1848 keepers’ home and time to hike the area on a short interpretive trail. You can even see the mineral vein that led to the region’s big copper rush after Douglas Houghton, Michigan’s first geologist, saw it and concluded that it would be economically feasible to mine copper in the area.

Check out the Copper Harbor Lighthouse and more great Great Lakes lighthouses in my story Five Midwest lighthouses to love

© Dominique King 2009 All rights reserved

At the end of the road in Copper Harbor

Arriving at Copper Harbor on US-41 is truly arriving at the end of the road, as the Miami to Michigan road quite literally ends at the tip of the Keweenaw Peninsula—in one of Michigan’s most remote and sparsely populated areas.

Keweenaw County is well-known as a snowy and isolated place during the winter, and trees begin to show a light kiss of autumn color as early as late August. Temperate summer weather, beautiful scenery along the rugged Lake Superior shore and a wealth of opportunities to enjoy outdoor activities like canoeing, hiking and photographing lighthouses make it a favorite destination for us.

Keweenaw County had about 2,300 residents according to 2000 Census figures, and the year round population in Copper Harbor reportedly drops below 100 during the long, harsh winter.

But summer days are long in Copper Harbor as sunset can come as late as 10 p.m., so summer finds the town busy, but not overcrowded, with seasonal residents and tourists.

Copper Harbor has a few restaurants and older 1950s or earlier style motels and cabin resorts, so you don’t have to deal with over-priced and trendy food or accommodations.

 

 

We’ve stayed in Copper Harbor several times over the years—always at the Bella Vista Motel. Prices are very reasonable, and the motel is centrally located in this very walkable town. Make sure you book early and request a lake view room in the motel units. The Bella Vista fully lives up to its name, as you can see from this sunrise photo I literally shot from the back door wall of our motel room.

We also always walk down to the Harbor Haus Restaurant for our “fancy” dinner in Copper Harbor. The menu includes a lot of German specialties, with the décor and wait staff uniforms echoing the German theme of the restaurant. The Harbor Haus also has a beautiful Lake Superior view and the wait staff goes out to the patio each evening around 6:00 or 6:30 to perform a little traditional German dance to greet the Isle Royale Queen on its evening return from the even more remote Isle Royale National Park.

 

 

Copper Harbor owes its name to the region’s history as a copper mining area. Copper mines and ghost towns still exist near the area, but the town’s day as a bustling copper port are long gone.

The copper boom started in the 1840s and really grew through the years as demand for copper plumbing pipes and electrical wiring increased. Copper Harbor began its decline by the mid-1870s as the town’s economy became more fishing-centered, and then more tourist-centered as driving trips became more popular in the 1930s.

Today, Copper Harbor is a launching place for Isle Royale trips (we stayed here before and after taking the Isle Royale Queen out to the park for a several-day stay). The town offers easy access to attractions like the Brockway Mountain Drive, lighthouses (come back Thursday for a story about the Copper Harbor lighthouse), water sports, bicycle riding and hiking.

 

 

The Copper Harbor attraction I may enjoy most, though, is sitting out on the deck at the Bella Vista at the end of a long summer day to enjoy the serenity and quiet as the sun slowly slips below the horizon out on Lake Superior.

© Dominique King 2009 All rights reserved

Photo Friday: Chicago in winter

When we’ve visited Chicago in the past, it’s always been during our long Thanksgiving weekend. That means it’s always been cold, windy and sometimes snowy.

 

 

We’ve enjoyed some warm memories of the city—visiting museums, holiday shopping, watching the Santa Claus parade one year, seeing ice skaters at Millennium Park, strolling through Christkindlmarket and hitting somewhere like Buddy Guy’s for some great blues music. But I’ve always wanted to visit Chicago during the summer.

This week, I get my wish as I attend the BlogHer and TBEX conventions!

Meanwhile, here are a couple of shots taken from our room at the Hilton a couple of Novembers ago. The city looks beautiful, even in November, but I’m expecting a little more sun and warmth this trip!

 

 

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 All rights reserved

Victorian splendor in Toledo’s Old West End

It was easy to imagine elegant ladies and gentlemen strolling along Scottwood Avenue past beautiful Victorian homes at the turn of the 20^th century as we strolled that street earlier this month.

Scottwood Avenue, anchored by the colonial revival-style home of glass mogul Edward Drummond Libbey, is part of a twenty-five city block historic neighborhood in Toledo, Ohio unknown to many history and architecture enthusiasts. The neighborhood, however, notably contains one of the largest collections of intact late-Victorian homes in the United States.

We first discovered the Old West End a dozen or so years ago when we decided to spend a weekend in Toledo.

We love staying at bed-and-breakfast inns, so the online listing for a B&B; near the Toledo Museum of Art sounded like the perfect place to stay. The B&B; we stayed in that weekend is regrettably no longer in business, but block-after-block of stately Colonial, Georgian, Italian Renaissance, Queen Anne, Dutch Colonial, French Second Empire and Arts and Crafts homes still line Old West End streets.

Settlers first began to build in the area during the early 1800s—first a log cabin or two, then a tavern and store by 1830. By the 1870s, the area became popular among affluent Toledo-area residents seeking to escape the core city. Major growth continued in the area until the 1910s.

Edward Libbey arrived in Toledo from Boston in 1888, where his family owned a glass company. Edward moved the company west to Toledo for the area’s ready supply of natural gas, sand, strong transportation network of railroad and steamship lines, economical building sites, willing workers and less competition than out east. The Toledo-based Libbey Glass Company still manufactures and sells glassware, dinnerware and flatware for commercial clients and individual consumers today.

Edward Libbey married Florence Scott in 1890, and the couple commissioned architect David L. Stine to design a spacious home at 2008 Scottwood Avenue.

Perhaps the couple’s most enduring legacy was founding the Toledo Museum of Art in 1901 within a block of their home—a museum today ranked among the country’s top 15 museums and renowned for its comprehensive collection of glass from ancient to modern times.

The Libbey House Foundation purchased the National Historic Landmark home in May 2008. A sign in front of the house says the group plans to open the renovated home to the public for receptions, historical interpretation and guest rooms for visiting artists sometime in 2009. The Foundation’s Web site has a few photos of the home’s interior, but no definite opening date for public tours and events.

The Old West End experienced a decline as the 1920s arrived. Highway construction during the 1960s decimated large swaths of the elegant neighborhood.

Old West End residents fought to keep the neighborhood viable. Part of the area joined the National Register of Historic Places in 1973 as an Historic District, which expanded in 1984.

By the time we discovered the neighborhood, it appeared to be undergoing a gentrification of sorts as newer residents worked to restore some of the homes to their late 1800s/early 1900s glory. Today it’s possible to purchase one of these homes for as little as $80,000, according to many of the real estate listings I found for the neighborhood because of the housing market bust and foreclosure crisis, although the immediate neighborhood still looked well-kept and there were signs of a few renovation projects when we last visited the area.

Toledo’s Attic has detailed histories of a few of the Old West End homes and the Historical Old West End of Toledo site contains a lengthy list of links to historic photos of Old West End homes still standing and others long demolished.

The Old West End hosts a annual festival in June that features house tours, an art tour and a “King Wamba Parade”. I’m sorry we missed this event, as the King Wamba Carnival Parade celebrated its 100^th anniversary this year as a celebration of Toledo’s short-lived 1909 Mardi Gras festival. Wamba today celebrates the neighborhood’s cultural and ethnic diversity.

Want to learn more? Check out these books about Toledo's history, architecture, glass industry, and art museum:

Glass in Northwest Ohio by Quentin R. Skrabec Jr.

Toledo: A History in Architecture 1890-1914 by William D. Speck

Toledo: The 19th Century by Barbara L. Floyd

Toledo: The 20th Century by Barbara L. Floyd

Toledo Museum of Art (Maps & Guides) by Paula Reich

© Dominique King 2009 All rights reserved

Things To Do
Toledo

Sizzling Concert of Colors does Detroit proud

 

 

Detroit has an amazing array of musical talent—both new and vintage—and that fact was never so evident as it was last Saturday evening as musician and producer Don Was took the stage during Detroit's Concert of Colors to introduce acts ranging from the dapper and frisky Sir Mack Rice (whose music career is still going strong after more than 50 years in the business!) to Mick Bassett and the Marthas (a band led by the 21-year-old Grosse Pointe native that Was said he discovered while checking out MySpace pages looking for new Detroit-area talent).

Was took the helm of last year’s Super Session I, fielding an eclectic bill of homegrown performances that thrilled the festival crowd and left them clamoring for an encore.

This year’s Super Session II demonstrates that Detroit has an amazingly deep talent team as an all-new line-up of diverse Detroit talent hit the stage.

I’m hard-pressed to name a favorite moment from the revue. Was it hearing one of my favorite Detroit blues divas, Thornetta Davis, with a sound system that finally did her magnificent pipes justice? Was it Sir Mack Rice, brought back onstage after Was decided to break his “one-song rule” to have Rice follow his classic “Mustang Sally” with a hot, hot, hot version of his “Respect Yourself” (ably supported by Thornetta)? Was it the quirky Question Mark with a mini-medley of a cool arrangement of “Stand by Me” and his classic “96 Tears”? Was it a reawakening of Teegarden & Van Winkle to, in their first appearance onstage together in years, lead the entire revue in a sing-a-long of “God, Love and Rock & Roll”?

 

 

Thornetta Davis and Sir Mack Rice

 

There were just too many great moments to make a choice!

Let’s just say that Don Was and the killer cast of musicians he assembled for this revue did Detroit proud and, as someone remarked, this was just the kind of positive experience our region needs right now.

As if that weren’t enough, Super Session II was just one slot on a two-day Concert of Colors schedule of diverse music and good vibes.

It’s always difficult to decide which shows to see during each year’s Concert of Colors, and even though this year’s festival was an abbreviated version of prior four-day festivals, the choices were no easier.

Candy Band, was a lot of fun as they got the crowd to sing along with old songs and nursery rhymes performed with a punk twist.

 

 

Candy Band

 

I loved Aaron Neville and his Quintet’s smooth take on so many classics, including: “Tell it like it is”, “A Change is Gonna Come” (which got one of the most enthusiastic crowd responses) and a H-O-T sax solo of “Besame Mucho” from his brother Charles Neville.

We caught shows ranging from Galitcha’s Eastern Indian folk, Mali blues and rock from Vieux Farka Toure, alt-rock Yo La Tengo, the Latin Funk of Grupo Fantasma, Native American folk from Joe Reilly to a rip-roaring show closer with Nathan & the Zydeco Cha Chas.

 

 

Vieux Farka Toure

 

We worried when the Concert of Colors lost Chrysler as a major sponsor due to the crappy economy this year, but we’re overjoyed that organizers managed to pull together enough support to stage a two-day festival and keep the Concert of Colors as a free event.

It’s been a tough year for a lot of people here in the Detroit area, so those who helped make this happen for Detroit this year really do deserve special mention.

Meijer stepped in as the lead sponsor this year, and corporate sponsors included Comerica Charitable Foundation, AT&T, DTE Energy, Ford Motor Company, HAP, New Detroit’s Cultural Exchange Network and Yelp. Media sponsors Metro Times, MyDamnChannel, WDET 101.9 FM and WHFR-FM 89.3 supported the event as well.

The Arab American National Museum, New Detroit, Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO) and ACCESS (Arab Community Center of Economic and Social Services) deserve tons of credit for having the heart and determination to make the Concert of Colors happen.

 

 

Nathan and the Zydeco Cha Chas

 

The two-day festival was over all too soon, but that just makes us anticipate future Concert of Colors even more!

Missed it? Check out my Concert of Colors preview over at The Urbane Life to see more about this year’s festival or check out the Concert of Colors Web site.

Want to hear more great Detroit talent? Check out MyDamnChannel for clips from the 2008 Concert of Colors Super Session I and watch the site for future posting of clips from the 2009 Concert of Colors Super Session II.

And if you really want to be part of the team that makes a 2010 Concert of Colors a reality, consider making a donation to be a Concert of Colors “Groupie”. Groupies receive perks like reserved seating at Main Stage shows and a T-shirt. People may ask why pay for a “free” event—but we jumped on this deal when organizers first made it available a few years ago, and it’s worth every single penny to support this event.

© Dominique King 2009 All rights reserved

Photo Friday: Calder in Toledo Ohio

Regular readers of Midwest Guest may remember our visit to Grand Rapids, Michigan earlier this year. We wrote about that city’s 40^th anniversary celebration of Alexander Calder’s iconic sculpture, La Grande Vitesse, and its status as a Grand Rapids landmark.

I knew there were a handful of Calder’s major public art pieces in Michigan, but I recently realized that Ohio has a Calder of its own when we visited Toledo.

 

I spotted the bright orange stabile in front of the Toledo Museum of Art and immediately wondered about the piece.

We stopped to wander the Sculpture Garden in front of the museum and discovered that the sculpture was a scale-model of Calder’s 1972-73 Stegosaurus.

 

The larger version of Calder’s Stegosaurus stands in front of the Wadsworth Atheneum, a major art museum in Hartford, Connecticut.

Calder lived in Connecticut for many years, purchasing an old farmhouse in Roxbury in 1933. He began creating the large outdoor sculptures during the 1930s, and became well-known for such work by the time he created Stegosaurus near the end of his life.

The Toledo Museum of Art purchased the intermediate scale model of Calder’s Stegosaurus as the centerpiece for the 21-piece Sculpture Garden surrounding the museum. Museum officials dedicated the outdoor art display in 2001 to celebrate the Museum’s centennial.

 

Toledo’s Stegosaurus, like the larger La Grande Vitesse in Grand Rapids, anchors its setting with a pop of vibrant color.

The compact size of the Toledo piece makes it seems especially accessible and engaging to me, and we enjoyed taking photos of the work.

 

Read more about our visit to see Calder’s La Grande Vitesse in Grand Rapids, Michigan and find out more about this fascinating and innovative artist at the Calder Foundation site dedicated to his life and work.

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 All rights reserved

Biking northern Michigan’s Betsie Valley Trail

Riding my bicycle around my suburban neighborhood is nice enough for a quick after-work trip, but I love making a day of it—taking my bike, a snack and a book or notebook on a trail where I can enjoy some great scenery and not have to worry about competing with cars for the road.

 

 

Riding the Betsie Valley Trail between Beulah and Frankfort in the northwestern part of Michigan’s mitten is easily doable for casual bicycle riders and easily my favorite trail ride.

Betsie Valley Trail is flat and paved or a hard limestone-gravel surface for the 10 miles between the two towns, following the Betsie River (crossing it twice) and the shores of Crystal Lake for much of the route.

The first six miles of the trail out of Frankfort is asphalt and perfect for bicycles, roller blades or wheel chairs (the only motorized conveyances allowed on this stretch). The remaining trail is a compacted aggregate (gravel) surface and posed no problem for my hybrid Trek.

 

 

Stops along the way include a platform overlooking the Betsie River and, near the trail’s terminus at Elberta, an Audubon Society-built wooden viewing platform overlooking wetlands where you might be lucky enough to spot some marsh birds like herons or ducks.

You might even be lucky enough to spot other critters along the trail, as I did one afternoon when I saw a large porcupine scurrying into the woods as I passed by.

The entire trail runs 22 miles from Frankfort through Beulah and on to Thompsonville, but I’ve yet to ride the trail between Beulah and Thompsonville because it wasn’t entirely finished when I first rode the trail. I was also unsure how well my bicycle (and I) would handle that many miles of gravel and the gradual incline for the five miles out of Beulah south to Thompsonville. This stretch also becomes a snowmobile trail from December through March.

I start my trail ride at a parking lot in Elberta, riding to Beulah and returning to Elberta, with a side trip out to Frankfort and Lake Michigan, to complete my 20-mile trip.

 

 

I particularly like the stretch of the trail that runs right by Crystal Lake—past some great-looking summer homes and at least one patch of beach where you can park your bike and cool off your feet with a quick wade in the lake.

Beulah marks the half-way point of my trip. The Beulah Trailhead and Visitor Center building is a replica of a former railroad station and a handy place to stop for trail information or a rest room.

 

 

My favorite stop for a cold ice tea, a snack and, on a hot muggy day, a few minutes in air conditioning is the Phoenix Café in downtown Beulah. This indie coffee house boasts a full menu of sandwiches and salads, WiFi and a bike rack right outside to park your ride.

Getting all the way back out to Lake Michigan entails weaving through Cannon Park and a series of connecting parking lots behind the businesses on Frankfort’s main drag, but taking in the Lake Michigan view is a nice way to end the ride before returning the quick mile back to Elberta and the car.

© Dominique King 2009 All rights reserved

Conquering the Sleeping Bear Dune Climb

Climbing the dune at Sleeping Bear National Lakeshore always seems to be on those “must-do” lists for residents and tourists.

I’ve been up to that area of northwestern Michigan many, many times over the years—but climbing the dune was one thing I hadn’t done. I felt the urge to tackle the climb every time we drove by the dune, but I never could talk Tim into making the time to do it.

Tim proudly proclaimed that he climbed the steep sand dune as a high school student, adding that he’d done it once and didn’t feel the need to make the climb again.

OK. So I’ve been out of high school for a good number of years.

Still…I yearned to make the climb.

So it was, when Tim left me alone up north as he had to return to work before I needed to go home, I found myself in the parking lot at the foot of the dune and contemplating the climb.

A clear sunny day? Check!

A full bottle of water in a shoulder carrier? Check!

Sunglasses? Check!

Bandana as a headband? Check!

My trusty point-and-shoot camera? Check!

I elected to wear my hiking boots for the climb up. This ended up being one of my best decisions as the climb became steeper. Wearing the boots allowed me to drive the toe of my boot straight into the dune with each step—sort of creating a stair-climbing effect.

 

 

I got warmer and warmer as the sun beat down on me, but an hour of steady effort propelled me to the top of the dune where I lingered to drink in the view and relish the thought that I’d achieved a goal I’d long wanted to accomplish.

The Dune Climb is 260 feet to the top. Compare this to the largest dune on the Atlantic coast, Jockey’s Ridge in North Carolina at a little over 100 feet. Even at a less than 20-degree incline, the Sleeping Bear Dune Climb is a pretty strenuous undertaking!

A 1-1/2 mile trail at the top of the Dune Climb leads across more sand and dunes to a view of Lake Michigan, but it’s a hike estimated to take about 3 hours round trip and only for the most experienced and energetic hikers.

I figured I’d accomplished enough for one day!

 

 

I snapped a few photos and simply enjoyed the view as I listened to others’ strategies for going back down the dune.

Some climbers decided to run down the hill. Others returned to the parking lot far below at a slow saunter.

Some climbers shucked their shoes at the foot of the dune before making the climb in the first place. Others carried the shoes they wore up in order to feel soothing warmth of the sand on their feet as they made their way down the dune.

 

 

The National Park Service site advises climbers to wear shoes, or to at least take a pair of shoes with them. The sand can get hot in the summer, and sharp shoots of underground dune grass can stab your feet in certain areas.  

I decided to sling my tied together hiking boots over my shoulder as I walked down the hill.

So, back at the foot of the hill I proudly proclaimed to myself that I’d climbed the dune once…but I wasn’t sure when, or if, I needed to do it again!

© Dominique King 2009 All rights reserved

New at The Urbane Life

Check out some of my latest articles at The Urbane Life:

Natural Oasis in Madison Heights-This story is about one of my favorite local walking trails in suburban Detroit.

Good Eats: Veggie out at Ann Arbor’s Seva-This is another one of our favorite Ann Arbor, Michigan restaurants. I always like to say that Seva is the vegetarian restaurant to take people that claim to be real meat-and-potatoes fans, and some of the comments I got on this post bear that thought out!

Hudson Mills, biking without the hills-This Ann Arbor-area park has a great level bike-hike loop. It’s my favorite place for a leisurely bicycle ride and a stop for a picnic by the Huron River.

Concert of Colors: Celebrating diversity in Detroit-Super producer/musician Don Was fields another stellar revue of Detroit talent as part of a two-day festival that brings the world of music to Detroit as a way to celebrate diversity and promote unity. We look forward to this festival all year long, and it’s a definite must-do if you’re anywhere near the Detroit area this third weekend in July.

The Urbane Life is a community blog for Urbane Apartments, a growing group of apartment buildings, luxury lofts and condos in metropolitan Detroit.

© Dominique King 2009 All rights reserved