As we awoke at the crack of noon, Sam and I had a nice lunch, the proceeded to the Bay City Recreation Area, directly on Saginaw Bay. Wow...what a difference from Traverse Bay. First, there were ZERO people on the beach...okay, maybe a few with their kiddies...but certainly nobody near the beach. This was for good reason - there was no water. The tide was quite a ways out, and on top of that it was drizzling rain. It looked like an apocalyptic scene. We saw buoys laying on the sandbars, as well as boats. Sam wondered if there was an oil spill. Anyways we made our way to the nicely done visitors center, where an even nicer park ranger told us the history of the bay. There is a very large marshy area around it, hence why it looks deserted. Also, the tides are affected by the wind. All made sense, but still creepy.
From there we headed down to Lansing for our next game. This would be the Lugnuts, and their downtown stadium was really nice. Quite sizable too. They dug it WAY into the ground, and there were high walls on both sides of the field. Felt like we were in a pit. The game went well, but about the 7th inning the skies opened up, and we left. First rainout we had experienced, so there's a first. From there we made it back to the hotel (a HoJo invaded by dozens of Chinese students...I guess), and eventually to bed.
The next morning was just as unproductive as the last...just the way we like it :) Sam had been asking to go to an Olive Garden for the entire trip...so that's where we ended up. A bit frustrating that it was located by a mall, but all was well. Afterwards we went back to Lansing to visit the Michigan Statehouse for spell, then off to a movie. We saw The Candidate, which was quite vulgar. Humorous too...but lots of rough language and cgi-enhanced humor (like a baby getting hit, etc.).
From Lansing we made our way to Detroit for the most challenging part of our trip. Always an adventure entering a big city. In our previous trips, this always proved the case. We visited Detroit to see Purdue play in the Pizza Bowl last December, and that was no fun getting to. At all. This was a little bit better, but GEEZ, they really stuck this park in a road maze!
We parked in an adjacent underground lot, and went into Comerica Park, home of the Detroit Tigers. I will admit this is a VERY nice park. It looks much more imposing on TV, but like any other park, gets a lot smaller in person. Same applies here. I was taken with the engaging scoreboard and wonderful view of downtown Detroit. NEVER thought I'd say that. Detroit is still a very rough city, but this part of it has done well with the Tigers and Lions playing next door. Of course I represented my White Sox proudly by wearing the appropriate shirt and hat. Only a couple of folks had an issue with it, although Sam almost picked a fight. Atta boy. The Tigers did end up winning the game, with Prince Fielder hitting not one but two, two-run homers. The last was an epic blast. Rats. That makes three Tigers games we caught this year counting spring training...and hopefully no more!
Can't say I'm impressed with the Motor City. At all. The streets are a mess, the people drive like they are all high on crack, and did I mention the streets? There is just something raw and rude about the whole area, which flies in the face of the whole "Michigan Nice" we had experienced up until today. Can't wait to get out of here.
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