We’re in Michigan!

Tuesday, September 17, 2024

 

Up this morning a bit before 3:30 am … we hate being rushed at airports, and as we’ve never flown into or out of KCI (Kansas City International) we had no idea what to expect.  Add to that the fact that we’d be going in in the dark, and we wanted to leave plenty of time.

 

So … up, showered and out the door of the hotel by 4 am.  The airport was about 20 minutes away from the hotel, and at that time of the morning, there really wasn’t much traffic at all.  We decided that as we were only going to be away a bit more than 2 full days, we would park at the Terminal Lot ($28/24 hours) rather than mess with their economy parking lot, which is out in the open and includes bus rides.  So … into the new (and apparently the airport is just 2 years old!  It’s really spectacular!) terminal and walked right up to TSA Pre-Check and we were through!  (Although please don’t get me started into describing how stressful merging two suitcases into one fly-only carry-on can be…) But, apparently, I did okay, as we made it through with no problems!  Yay!!

 

To the gate, and voila, leaving at 6 am, our plane was already there!  (The benefits of leaving VERY early!). We boarded on-time, around 5:25 am, although we did have to wait a couple of minutes for a tardy flight attendant, and soon we were on our way!  The seating was interesting – 2 on one side, and three on the other.  But the flight was only about ⅔ full, so no problems with luggage or seating.  Also, took just a little less than two hours, and suddenly, we were coming down into Detroit!

 

Wound our way around the huge Delta terminal (thinking Delta may be a hub here!) and made our way to the Budget rental shuttle pick up point.  Only had to wait a minute or two for the van, which then delivered us to the lot.  As a Fastbreak customer, the driver let us off in Zone 3, and we got to pick the vehicle we wanted!  Then, just had to take a photo of the license plate, and we were good to go!  Incredible, really!  We selected a nice large Nissan Rouge SUV with about 21,000 miles on it, and Georgia plates.  It drives really well!  Out of the lot and on to the freeway and heading north through Detroit.

 

We ran into some stop and go traffic getting into downtown Detroit, but once past that, no problems getting out.  As we hadn’t had any breakfast yet, I found there was a Big Boy restaurant in Fraser (!!) so headed the GPS there for breakfast.  Turns out, the restaurant was brand new – it was GREAT!  I was able to get a Big Boy Combination with blue cheese dressing and French fries, and R got their fried shrimp dinner with cole slaw and hash browns.  We were both very happy campers!

 

From there, we then headed up to my brother and sister-in-laws, in Ray, Michigan, about 15 miles north, arriving about 11:30 am.  SOOOO good to see them, as well as their really cute pup, Toby!  We visited for a few hours; SO great to catch up!  Then headed to our hotel – Hampton Inn/Chesterfield, where we are now comfortably settling in room 400.  We’ll be here tonight, see relatives tomorrow, and then head to an airport hotel tomorrow night before our return to Kansas City on Thursday morning (but not quite so early…)

 

Me with Marie!

And with younger older brother, Tom!

So … more later, when we figure out the rest of the day!

Lots of love,

 

m

xxx

 

Hello!  Back to Tom & Marie’s at 5:30 and out to dinner at Apple Orchard’s, which is just a couple of miles from their place.  Excellent food!  I had their Shrimp Chardonnay – shrimp dipped in flour and sauteed in a Chardonnay, garlic and butter sauce, served with mashed potatoes and frizzled onions.  Also, a salad with blue cheese dressing.  R had perch Chardonnay, served the same way, only he had his with home fries, which looked a bit odd to me, but he said were good.  For dessert, I made an attempt at an enormous piece of lemon meringue pie, and R finished off a nice piece of apple pie – although they did try to decorate it with whipped cream, which he managed to scrape off …

 

At dinner!

Salad with -- surprise! -- blue cheese!

Somewhere in there are perch!

And I think a shrimp is recognizable too!

Half the lemon meringue pie!

R's apple pie, with the remnents of whipped cream scraped off!

Back to their house about 7:30, and to our hotel by 8.  It has been a REALLY long day, considering that it started a little after 3 am this morning (KC time), so I am now getting ready to post and hit the hay!!

 

Love to all!

m

xxx