Pelee Island

While in Canada last weekend, Kyle and I headed out to Pelee Island! I had been to Point Pelee National Park before, but not the island. It is actually very close to Sandusky Ohio, and surrounded by one of the great lakes, Lake Erie. We took a huge ferry boat there from Kingsville Ontario and it took about an hour and a half. I had never been on a ferry boat so huge before, it actually hauled cars on the bottom deck along with all of our bikes. The only other ferry boats I had been on before were the ones to Mackinac Island and to Boblo Island (which doesn't exist anymore). 

The island itself is about 23 miles around and is used primarily for farmland, although there is a cemetery and a vineyard on the island. There are some  shops and restaurants spread throughout the island, as well as roadside stands and nature trails. There are also a lot of people who live on the island so there is also a school and a few supply stores. Bikes are a major source of transportation on the island and are considered vehicles so each one has to include reflectors and a bell and riders have to signal when they pass just like motor vehicles.

Biking along Lake Erie reminded me of Mackinac so much! It started out so cold that morning but the temperatures quickly rose to 75 degrees and it was perfect. Every single beach house and cabin we passed along the ride we wanted to buy haha. One of my favorite things we stopped for on our ride was the Stone-man. He was designed by the students of Pelee Island school in 2009 as a "stone testament to island perseverance". So we gave him some love. 

This tree was very photogenic as you can see. The next stop was the Pelee Island light house! As soon as we saw it on the map we knew we had to check it out. We biked all the way to the first point of the island and then we took a little trail on foot to get to the beach. We spent a good fifteen minutes or so just skipping rocks before we got to the lighthouse, it was a lot of fun! I am so easily entertained, throw rocks at the water? sure!

We then proceeded to bike the rest of the island, hike a nature trail and then head back to town. We thought the ferry left at 6pm, but it didn't leave until 8pm. We then decided to bike out to get something to eat for dinner and ended up biking all the way back across part of the island. We had yummy veggie pizza and bean salad from a little shop and also picked up some molasses cookies from a roadside stand(which were amazing!). We biked all the way back to town again and decided to grab a beer and wait for the ferry to arrive. We also tried a drink called a Caesar, which is very similar to a Bloody Mary, I think the only difference is they put pickle juice in it and salt the rim of the glass. When we went to Sarnia Bay fest last year, people were ordering them like crazy so we thought we'd give 'em a try. It was pretty good, but I think I will stick to my beer.

The "we just biked over 30 miles on gravel and up and down hill" pic. It was so funny, at the bar/restaurant we were waiting at, these drunk women came up to us and yelled at us for reading at the bar instead of talking to each other! I was (still am) reading Ulysses and they told me James Joyce was boring. Geez! We just laughed at them and headed to the boat. We ended up sitting on a bench on the back of the boat all by ourselves for the ride home so it was like we had our own private area! It was the perfect ending to the perfect day.

M-force Orient watch giveaway winner!!

And the winner of the Orient watch giveaway is..... Courtney Erin!! Congrats and thanks to everyone who entered this giveaway!!

Americans in Canada

I have soooo many  photos to share from our trip this past weekend that it is insane! However, I am super busy today (second summer class already?!!) So here are a few randoms that I really love. I will try very hard not to bombard you guys with so many photos in the next few posts but we had such an amazing time and we still didn't do everything we wanted (that is usually the way it goes right?).

Haha, waiting to cross the bridge on a Friday night, a little crazy! Right now the entrance to the bridge is a mess on the Detroit side. There have been plans to build a second bridge for a few years now from Detroit to Canada, and it has been a battle because the bridge owner, Manuel Moroun, holds the monopoly of commercial  truck  traffic. The Ambassador Bridge can be pretty picturesque, just not when you are holding your camera outside of the car window while someone is driving. I love driving across it because it is such a short distance between two countries. You can clearly see both Detroit and Windsor at the same time, split between the Detroit river. There is also a tunnel, but who wants to take the tunnel?

We stayed in a the Sturgeon Campground in Leamington, Ontario and I did not take any pics of the campground, fail! I actually wish that I took more of Leamington but we barely spent anytime downtown. I did take a few pics of somethings that I thought were pretty cool though. There is a giant Heinz factory right before downtown and I kid you not, it smells like ketchup. It was windy on Friday and as we drove past Kyle and I both just looked at each other and wrinkled our noses, ew! I am more of a mustard girl myself, but getting a big whiff of ketchup was pretty funny .

I really liked this little cafe/dinner/convenience store called Blondie's that we stopped at. The employees were really nice and it was full of these little old men sitting around eating and reading newspapers. Naturally Kyle and I fight right in hehe. They had this giant train set hung up on the ceiling that ran throughout the entire store. I know that if I lived in Leamington I would be at this place all the time. I am not sure if it is a Michigan thing, or just a Sara thing, but I absolutely love dinners. Seriously, you can always count on them to have the same basic things and delicious coffee.

We also ate this awesome place"Paula's fish fry" that was located right outside of the campground. The place looked like it had been decorated in the 90's and then never updated since, I loved it! The waitress basically just sat and chatted with us the whole time because we were the only ones in there (it was really late). We shared yellow perch, sweet potato fries, corn, rolls, and rice. We also tried this tasty beer Rickards because Kyle and I are all about the beer and the coffee hehe. I really liked it, but I tend to like most beer. Except when fruit is added, that is just weird.

Alright I promise to have a better post tomorrow but now I gotta go scrounge up some food for dinner and get started on my homework.

~Toodles!

In Detroit 442 Maybe Baby I Can Drive with You.

Hello She is Sara readers! This is Lauren from Sparrow & Urchin.... I'm sure you've seen me around, I am common on this blog making bad faces. So Sara and Kyle are off having fun and I'm stuck here in Detroit without them... tear. But Detroit isn't that bad of a place. As a transplant to Detroit the first few years I lived here I completely immersed myself in learning everything I could. I love being a tour guide for people talking about the history of the buildings and being an advocate for the history of Detroit. Even though many times I disagree and dislike the politics that is present Detroit, I love the past of Detroit. So I'd thought I'd bring you on the adventures I had Detroit over the past couple days. There are always new things to find and learn in this 300+ year old 143 sq mile city that was once the Paris of the Midwest (because our downtown road map was copied from Paris' and it used to be beautiful)

So let's begin.





This week I discovered that we have a Russian Orthodox Monastery, St. Sabbas, so naturally I called up of my great friends Katerina who happens to be Russian so we could go check it out. We had to make sure we'd be allowed in because there are strict rules on proper dress in the Orthodox church, so we dressed in pants and covered our heads and made our way over there. What is funny is the monastery is in a normal neighborhood, it just surprises you. Unfortunately the gate was closed and Katerina spoke to one of the monks and found out it was closed to the public that day... Bummer. But we took pictures outside and peered through the gates at the gardens. We definitely want to go back to the Russian dinner they host every Thursday and to see the library the have, and Katerina said it was funny talking to the Russian Monk... Fun Fun!





Afterward we continued our adventure at Belle Isle on the Detroit River. Belle Isle was designed by Fredrick Law Olmsted, the same architect of Central Park, and is larger than Central Park and the largest city island park in the US. From the park you get great views of downtown Detroit and Canada, and can sit back and watch freighters float by. The park currently is in some disrepair, but the Friends of Belle Isle have done some great things over the past years by reopening the nature center and helping build new playgrounds and attractions. Sadly there are still many abandoned buildings on the island, including the Detroit Boat Club (that I've been able to get into), the Belle Isle Zoo (I've also been in the remains), and the Belle Isle Aquarium (which was the oldest continually operated aquarium in North America). While we were there we were excited to see a multitude of temporary installation artwork that students from Ann Arbor had done throughout the park. Some were great and some weren't but it was very enjoyable to see art on the isle.




To round out our day we drove by Michigan Central Depot, one of the most well known abandoned buildings in the US. It was designed by Reed & Stem along with Warren & Wetmore who also designed Grand Central Station in NYC. It is one of the largest train stations of the period but wasn't ever fully completed. In 1975 it was added to the National Registrar of historic places but in 1988 it closed. Since then it has become mecca for urban explorers and a visual reminder of Detroit's demise, once great but now in shambles. I've been a supporting member of Save the Depot groups and have had the opportunity to help push for the renovation and helped keep it from being demolished in '09. And right now the owners have hired a major contractor to start replacing the roof and the thousands of windows in the 18 story building. It was amazing to see work being done on this monolith.









At the end of the month the best way to explore and see the city is with Detroit's Critical Mass. This critical mass is much different then other cities, it's much smaller and there isn't much traffic disruption since Detroit is pretty much empty at 5p. So getting on a bike with some friends (and Tripp the dog in my backpack!) is a great way to learn more and meet new people. The ride was great this month and went around 27-29 miles in almost 3 hours. Tripp enjoyed the ride and many of the riders enjoyed him! And ending the night with a local brew at a bar makes you excited to be in the city.

So I hope you enjoyed this mini tour of Detroit! You can find more of my Detroit exploits here, along with some of my daily clothes, art, and life

Huggles,
Lauren

Song of the Day "Detroit 442" by Blondie

Play one more for my radio sweetheart

Okay this post is coming to you guys  a little early this evening but I just wanted to squeeze in another post before I take off on my mini-vacation this weekend. Monday night was an amazing night, Kyle and I headed over to Royal Oak to see Elvis Costello and the Impostors! I literally screamed when I saw that he was coming to Michigan a few months ago and I almost made Kyle pre-order tickets, but Kyle, sweet as he is, went down to the music theater and bought the tickets the morning they went on sale. The concert was a blast! They had a sort-of game show theme going on, including a giant wheel to spin that included 25 songs on it. During the show, random fans were chosen to come up and spin the wheel to pick the next song the band would play, and then they got to dance on stage during the song! There was even a cage that people could dance in and it was hilarious watching people dance all goofy in it.  I have been a Elvis Costello fan for years and I loved every song they played, even their cover of "Purple Rain"! Seriously, waaayy better than the original ;) I wanted to stay after and stalk the tour bus, but it was already late and Kyle wanted to get going. I still had an amazing time and will be sure to buy tickets again the next time he comes around!

I had to wear this outfit to the show because I honestly do not have many places to wear this dress. It is super short so tights are a necessity, and the material is really thick, yet it is sleeveless. I felt that this look was kind of inspired by Mr. Costello himself with the hat and scarf. I did get some strange looks from the yuppies in Royal Oak, but who cares! I liked it and it's not often I get to rock this vintage number.

Now Kyle and I are off to run errands for this weekend but stay tuned! I have some guest bloggers for you lovely readers and I am excited to see what they post when I get back!




Details
Vintage 60's dress & shoes-Etsy
Hat-F21
Tights-CVS
Scarf-gift

Song of the day "Radio Sweetheart" by Elvis Costello