Postcards from Greenfield Village, Michigan

Friday PM, December 4, 2009

It’s Friday night and we are in Dearborn Michigan having arrived earlier this evening from Louisville. Tomorrow we will tour Greenfield Village to see the Christmas decorations. The van ride up from Louisville was uneventful as we made it in less than 6 hours with only one stop (for 6 minutes) to stretch and use the bathroom. A big improvement over the earlier trip to South Dakota and the many stops we had to make. I’m not sure why that was but perhaps it was because Susie is travelling with us this time and all the guys just wanted to show off. Or, perhaps it was because they didn’t have the cooler of beer along this time. Yes, Susie (Earl’s wife) is with us this time as this was going to be our first ever “couples trip”. However, about half-way through this week The Barb decided she couldn’t go because she was still recovering from a bad head cold. Since the rooms were already prepaid, I immediately started thinking of what other FEMALE would be available to go with me in order to keep true to the spirit of this being a “couples’ weekend” and all. You know me, always willing to help the cause. I was really enjoying all the brainstorming involved in this pursuit and then that damn Tiger Woods debacle blew up down in Florida and there went my dreams down in flames. For red-blooded American males everywhere, I would just like to extend a big “THANK YOU, TIGER!!!” down Florida way. On the positive side, next year if this trip situation were to occur again, Tiger’s EX-WIFE will be available to go with me and with her new found riches, should be able to foot the whole bill. Again, THANK YOU, TIGER!! I just can’t say that enough.

Anyhow, Carlos was able to fill-in as my “date” for this trip. We are sharing a King bed which is not something we normally do on the guy trips. I’ll see how that works out.

Postcards from Greenfield Village, Michigan

Saturday, December 5, 2009 A cloudy and cold day

OMG, this morning it’s a frigging 19 degrees outside!! I really can’t complain though because I came prepared, even bringing my winter Tilley. And unlike this past summer (sic) trip to Michigan where I whined just all the time (The Barb, she’s a saint) I fully expected it to be cold in Michigan in December, but 19 degrees?!! And the prospects for it to get above 25 today are not very good. We are eating the continental breakfast at the hotel today and then off to Greenfield Village by 9:00am. I say we as there are six of us going; Susie and Earl, Carlos, myself and also Earl’s brother and sister-in-law (John and Nancy) who drove in from South Bend yesterday. They are staying in the same room as Susie and Earl at our hotel in Allen Park. Earl was very excited by that as it was a way to cut costs. I’m not sure who will be sleeping in the bathtub. Probably Earl, as he’s done it before on our trips. In yesterday’s postcard I forgot to mention that all of us went to dinner Friday at our favorite place “Buddy’s” in downtown Dearborn. I believe everyone enjoyed it. For those of you thinking “DOWNTOWN DEARBORN? NO WAY!!!!” I want to say no, this is not downtown Detroit. Dearborn’s downtown is very docile reminding me of Main Street in downtown Owensboro from the 60’s only Dearborn has many more eateries to pick from and more upscale modern. Very nice. If you are ever in Dearborn definitely try Buddy’s.

Since it’s so cold outside today I think I’ll send my “designated seat warmer” out to the van about 5 minutes before everyone else so he can warm up those cold leather seats. That would be Earl as even after all these years he’s still eager to please…

Postcards from Greenfield Village, Michigan

Sunday AM, December 6, 2009 About 25 degrees outside and partly sunny.

We made it through Greenfield Village on Saturday and even though it was cold we all dressed properly and didn’t really have a problem. I found out that the real holiday treat at the village is the night-time tours which were sold out for this weekend. That’s when they burn the lamps and have carolers, ice skating and animals all throughout the village. We took the day-time tour which was nice but not as “Christmassy” as the evening tour. Next year, I plan to come back for the evening show. The nice thing about the day-time tour was that there were only about 250 guests at Greenfield Village during the day. That made it very easy for us to get through the houses and exhibits without any interference from the crowds that are typical during the warmer months. It was like we had the village to ourselves.

After coming back to the hotel we all needed to warm up so we headed off to our respective rooms. Football games were on so I fell asleep watching that. About two hours later I woke up and found Carlos still watching games on TV. I left him in the room and went down the hall to the other room where I found everyone comfortably resting and also watching TV with the girls handing out drinks and snacks. I only stayed for about 30 minutes, enough to eat some more chocolate chip cookies and to chat some. When I got back to my room I saw Carlos was just starting to watch a movie on TV. I told him he should go down and visit Earl’s room because they girls were cranking out the supplies and they were having a party. Off went Carlos and I relaxed to watch the movie thinking he would be back soon. Two hours later, the movie was over and Carlos had never returned so I went off in search. When I got closer to Earl’s room I could hear loud noise and laughter. Upon entering I see what I had thought was a quiet party is now in FULL swing!! There are more snacks, wine chilling in the sink plus mixed drinks. Not only are there mixed drinks but there are also special drink glasses and wine glasses. I had no idea they brought all this stuff up with them in my van!! Whenever I go with just the guys all we have are chips and a cooler of beer. Somehow I feel I’ve been cheated and should invite the girls on more trips.

Everyone is talking and laughing and having a great time. Susie offers me another cookie and a chair as she goes to freshen up Carlos’ mixed drink. Carlos mentions that he normally is not a mixed drink drinker but I don’t see that slowing him down any. The girls seem content with the wine and have brought the heavier stuff for the guys and keep offering me some cheese but I stick with the cookies. Two hours later it’s getting late and since we have to get up early for the trip home I decide it’s time to get Carlos down to the room as his comment “I don’t normally do mixed drinks” is coming more frequently now as Susie keeps on refilling it for him. The King bed turned out to not be as roomy as the night before as Carlos took up 3 quarters of the bed as I clung to my little section on the edge. Had he encroached any more I was prepared to take corrective action. The good thing was the bathroom night light kept him from crashing into the wall like he did on Friday night.

Since we made good time on the trip home we stopped off in Cincinnati to see the IKEA store. Everyone liked it and wants to come back for another look when there is more time. It’s a big store and we only spent about 30 minutes there.

Until next time,

Mike A.

Subject: Postcards from Lexington, KY

Thursday, November 12, 2009 A sunny but crisp cool day.

We started our trip to Lexington from Mike H’s house. I’d already planned ahead as since I was not going to be doing the driving for a change I decided I would just sit in the back seat and let Mike drive while Earl navigated. Mike and I made such a good driver/navigator team on the South Dakota trip that I thought it would be good to let

Earl do a little “cross training”. After watching Earl struggle setting up the Garmin I was starting to wonder if that was such a good idea. As the trip goes on I soon realize that the bond between a driver and a navigator is special and requires two individuals who work together well in order to make the team a successful and finely tuned entity. That apparently is not going to happen on this trip. I don’t think Mike H and I sniped that much at each other on the whole South Dakota trip and we’ve not even made it out of Jefferson County. But hey, I’m in the back seat relaxing so let them snipe.

Our first stop is Woodford Reserve where Mike H will complete all the stops in the Kentucky Bourbon Trail. Earl and I had completed our distillery tour back in July but were more than willing to go again since we knew it meant more taste testing. There were only 6 people on our tour (The first one of the day) and at the end we helped ourselves to as many of the chocolate bourbon balls that we could stand. Since we had not stopped for breakfast we figured this would keep us until lunch.

We next went to the ALLtech headquarters building which is somewhere in the Lexington metro area. I’m not exactly sure where that is as the Garmin led the way and since I was sitting in the back just being a passenger, I was pretty much brain dead about the whole “getting there” experience. Gee, now I understand why Earl looked so comatose on the South Dakota trip as being a back seat passenger doesn’t do much to enliven the brain. After meeting Mike’s daughter Katie outside the main building, she took us to lunch stopping off on the way at the ALLtech farm where they have bison and other livestock they use in testing their various feed products. After lunch it was back to the HQ building for a tour. Very nice place and we all were envious that people would actually work in such a well designed and appointed building. And they seemed so happy too! They even had a replica of an Irish Pub in the building which they use as a meeting place. This Irish Pub theme would come up again and again on the tour as each ALLtech facility we toured had some sort of Irish Pub on the premises. Turns out the owners of ALLtech are from Ireland and added these pubs to their buildings to add a touch of home. And they were all working pubs too, as the ALLtech company also produces a line of beer ales and bourbon. Now I’m beginning to understand why the employees all seem so happy.

After touring the HQ we went across the road to the ALLtech golf course on Connemara Farm. There was a stately farm house on the grounds that served as the pro shop and office and also had another Irish pub in the back. They were all friendly and gave us samples from the bar. I could see where this was heading so I took the bottled water as I figured I might be needed later as the designated driver. After hanging out in the pub for a while Katie took us on a tour of the golf course in a couple of the carts. I drove the one cart with Earl and Katie drove the other with her dad. About halfway through the tour we noticed the cart I was driving had a “do not use” sign on it. I kept expecting it to break at any moment but it made it through the rest of the tour with no problems. It was a cool and windy day but being as I had on my winter Tilley I kept warm. I know Mike and Earl were envious though they didn’t say anything. I wouldn’t be surprised if one of them showed up this winter with their own Tilley, especially Earl now that he has that lump sum retirement money burning a hole in his pocket… It would look just great in that red sports car I JUST KNOW he is probably contemplating purchasing.

After the golf course tour we went downtown to ALLtech’s brewing facility to take that tour. They have TWO Irish Pubs at that location!! Again, both working pubs. Our tour guide served up samples of their products at the one pub and I must admit I sampled them too and even liked the bourbon ale one. Our guide was named Ann who is one of Katie’s friends having transferred down from HQ on Monday to start as the tour guide. Even though she was brand new in this job she did a great job and didn’t seem nervous at all which I could not say for myself had I been doing that job at her age. Actually, now that I think of it, Earl, Mike H, and I were the oldest people on all the tours today which is a definite twist from our experiences out at Mt Rushmore. Note to self; Take more trips out west next year.

The day concluded with us driving by Billy Gillespie’s house which was out in the vicinity of ALLtech’s HQ. Being the big UK fan that he is, Earl got out and walked up to the front door and looked into the window as we took his picture. Billy was not home. Probably out on a recruiting trip…

Until next time,

Mike A.