Motor City Ricochet Meetup, August 15-18

In December, I wrote a post announcing this meetup, but there have been so many changes in the itinerary that I decided to start a fresh post. Ricochet member @EKentGolding and his wife, Darlene, live near Detroit and are my co-hosts. They have offered their home to be our party headquarters, so do make sure to thank them when you see them. And Darlene says everyone has to go home by midnight. She must have heard about those parties that went until 2:00 am at the Montana Meetup.

After spending some time looking at the hotel choices that are in the same part of town as E. Kent, I chose the Best Western Detroit Livonia (16999 S Laurel Park Drive, Livonia, MI). You may stay wherever you wish, but if several of us are staying in the same hotel, it gives us the opportunity to do some ride-sharing and save money on parking fees.

Here is our new and improved itinerary. Some of the items don't have an exact time yet, but I will update the itinerary as things get more precisely dialed in. I will also list some alternate places you may want to check out if you don't want to do some of the items listed in the itinerary.

Thursday, 08/14: I’m sure most people aren’t going to show up until Friday, but a few of us will hit town Thursday night. We will be going to at Raj Palace at 6:30 pm. 37116 Six Mile Rd, Livonia, MI. Note: we were originally going to Alloush Grill, but had to switch two nights around.

Friday, 08/15: Edsel and Eleanor Ford House. This is the grand home and gardens of the late aforementioned Fords. The guided tour of the main residence is $20 and can take groups of up to ten. They recommend buying your tickets at least two weeks ahead of time. My suggestion is that we buy tickets for the Guided Tour - Main Residence for 12:00-1:00. We'll probably meet up at the location about 10:00, so we can explore the gardens and whatnot for a while before the guided tour of the mansion.

After we are done there, we will visit the Detroit Institute of Arts, which is regarded as a world-class art museum.

Dinner at Alloush Grill at 6:30 pm. 37091 Six Mile Road, Livonia, MI. Note: this has been changed, as we had to swap around our Thursday and Friday locations.

Saturday, 08/16: Woodward Dream Cruise! This is a day-long parade of classic cars that winds through 8 or 9 towns. The Dream Cruise starts at 9:00 am, but E. Kent recommends that we be there by 8:00 to find a parking spot. Perhaps the most practical thing would be for all of us who are going to the Dream Cruise to meet somewhere beforehand and carpool as much as possible, so we don't have to find as many parking spaces. Maybe we'll change to a different designated meeting place, but my suggestion for now is at the hotel where I (and possibly other Ricochetti) are staying. Best Western Detroit Livonia (16999 S Laurel Park Drive, Livonia, MI).

People who don’t care to spend a whole day at the car cruise may want to visit one of the places on the list of alternates below. I don’t think we are going to designate a place to get together for supper this night. Many people will be doing things other than the Dream Cruise, and I don’t know just how long some of us will stay at the Dream Cruise. Everybody can figure out what they want to do for supper with their immediate group, then we’ll all get together at E. Kent Golding’s house for drinks and dessert at about 8:00. I will share the address with the attendees via PM, when we get close to the start of the meetup.

Sunday, 08/17: Darlene reckons people would enjoy browsing the Eastern Market in the morning. It looks like things get going there on Sunday at 10:00 am, so let's plan on meeting at that time at the Eastern Market Welcome Center. If someone wants to have lunch, there are numerous places available there.

Take the Detroit Big 3 Architecture Tour from 1:00 to 4:30. This covers some of the grandest architecture in Detroit: Michigan Central Station, the Guardian Building, and the Fisher Building. If you want to do this, you probably don't want to wait until the last minute to buy your tickets.

Finish the afternoon with the tasting room at Detroit City Distillery.

Then we congregate at the home of our hosts for an evening of easy food (!!!) and drinks, possibly ordering in from Buddy’s Pizza. Probably starting at 7:00 pm.

Monday, 08/18: We are going to Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation, at 10:00 am. Don’t want to spend all day at a museum? From the museum, you can take the Ford Rouge Factory Tour.

In the evening, we are going to watch the Detroit Tigers play the Houston Astros at Comerica Park. The game starts at 6:40 and we’ll be eating at the ballpark. If you want to get seats in the same neighborhood as us, shoot for Section 115 and Row 43.

Alternate activities:

Belle Isle
Cranbrook House and Gardens
Meadow Brook Hall
Michigan Flight Museum
Roush Automotive Collection

That's the plan, as it exists today. I hope we get a lot of members coming to this meetup. This may be your only chance to ever meet the elusive @Arahant, who rarely leaves his cave! Please let us know in the comments if you are coming and for which days. Also, let me know if you mind sharing your mobile phone number with the other meetup-goers. Don't give me your phone number in this thread, we can have a group phone number exchange via PM, when we know who is going.