This is our first real trip since Covid, yes, we had our Fall Foliage trip, but I couldnt really see and was in pain most of the time; and then there was the trip to Block Island that wasnt but ended up being 5 days in Portland, Maine (never really a bad thing. But this, this is our first trip on a plane since Covid. You would think that nothing ever happened, the plane was booked, OHare was crowded as ever. The only real difference was that everyone had a mask on.
This was also our first flight out of T.F. Green Airport in Providence (actually its in Warwick). It is literally the easiest airport to fly out of. No line to check out bag, TSA precheck, again no line. The normal security check didnt even really have a line. It took us 20 minutes from our apartment to the gate at the airport.
United does not have a direct flight to Detroit, Delta does, but United we had to change in OHare (more on this later). I dont like to fly Delta for two reasons, first I dont get miles and second Delta actually stands for Doesnt Ever
Leave The Airport. Anyway, our flight was uneventful, the landing a bit bumpy and the snack box not very satisfying. We had a little over layover in Chicago, so I unfortunately did some work. I have two laptops on this trip, my work laptop and our blogging laptop. I am not thrilled that I to work on a vacation, no matter how short, but that is the price you pay to be a Partner in a NYC CPA firm. I rather just celebrate Jerrys birthday, which is the real reason for this trip, that and I check Michigan off my states I have visited.
This was basically just a travel day, no sights planned and only a nice dinner on the agenda. That brings me to the suitcase. It was an easy travel day for us, but our main piece of luggage took a trip across America. At OHare, instead of making on our flight to Detroit, the suit case decided it needed to see Mount Rushmore and was off to Rapid City, SD. Next, it decided the Rockies were in order so off to Denver. As I type it is on its way to Detroit at
last. If only we got miles on United for the suitcases journey. It is hopefully showing up at the hotel late tonight. It has everything we need in it, from tooth brushes to all clothing. Breaking News, the suitcase has landed in Detroit.
That brings us to the hotel. We are at a Doubletree downtown, not in the best part of downtown, and if I had known better would have booked us into an Intercontinental more centrally located, but here we are and it is clean and easy walking to transportation. We checked in and went to the room to drop off our carryon luggage. The room was hot as hell, they had not turned the AC on so it was a bit like a Sauna. Even after 4 hours the room only dropped from 76 to 72. Now, after dinner it has reached a much temperature.
After check in we went to get a bite to eat. The Anchor Bar, just around the corner from our hotel. It is pretty much the only nearby place to get something to eat at 2 pm. When we walked in, we were the only customers in the place.
The food was nothing to write home about. I had a Tuna Melt that had more mayonnaise than tuna. Jerry had some sliders and onion rings. The onion rings were frozen then deep fired, so not hand batter and pretty bland. They had 2 types of cheese, American and Provolone. There is no point to American cheese, highly processed and no flavor. The Tuna Melt was supposed to Cheddar, but they didnt really have cheddar only American and Provolone, at least the server was honest about it.
After our lunch, I spent about 3 hours working and Jerry was off to do a bit of exploring and get some wine for the room (of course our cork screw was in the sky or Denver or who knows where).
Our bags had not yet arrived by the time to go to dinner, so we had to wear what we traveled in, not a pretty sight. The restaurant of choice for the evening was not within walking distance nor was it reasonable accessible via public transportation so we had to take a cab.
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