My cousin lives in Toronto and we were planning on having a weekend together with my bf and her new hubbie sometime in February. We want to drive, not fly, in order to keep the cost minimal. Since she would be driving through Detroit, is there someplace worthwhile near Detroit where we can meet up? I'm not a huge fan of Detroit inself, unless I've never discovered the true beauty of the city. I think a couple of girls on FH were from Michigan, and I'm hoping that either they or anyone else can help me out.
One more thing, we don't want to meet too far away from Detroit because we want my and her driving distance to be about the same.
I live about 30 mins outside of Detroit and you are right for the most part it is not that great, but I still love it for some reason. There is Greek town, which is really cool. That is were all the Greek restaurants (obviously) and the casinos are. It is started to become a real city with Ford Field and the new Tiger Stadium (Comerica Park), there is also hockey town and Second City (comedy group) not much for shopping though. If you stay in the busy part of the city you will be fine, but like any major city I would stay out of the bad areas (Cass corridor-bad news). There is also the Detroit Institute of Art which very cool too.
IF you wanted to go outside of Detroit about 30 mins North is Troy/Rochester Hills are and that is nice. There is a nice mall called the Somerset Collection. It is like two malls connected by a skywalk that goes over a busy road. It is worth checking out.
I would suggest meeting in Birmingham - this is right next to where I live, Bloomfield Hills, and is my regular stomping grounds. There are tons of restaurants, bars and boutiques (including a huge anthropologie.) Check this site out http://www.enjoybirmingham.com/
My two regular haunts are 220 Merrill Street and Dick O'Dows for eating and drinking - there's also some upscale night clubs (at least upscale prices - be prepared to shell out $12 for a martini at Blue Martini.) Somerset collection is nearby if you want to do additional shopping.
Royal Oak is another place that has a lot of restaurants, bars and boutiques - not as polished or expensive as Birmingham but still a great place to hang out http://cybersytes.com/royaloak/. My regular haunts here are Bastone's (a belgian brewpub with a fabulous forestierre (sp?) pizza (goat cheese and mushrooms) - they have a very happening night club called Cinc in the basement too. Gusoline Alley is another fave of mine - smokey hole in the wall - great beer - great juke box - pinball machine - very very diverse crowd - from bikers to hipsters to college prepsters - very cool place.
Let me know if you need any more information - I'm happy to help!
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Troy is a good area. You'll be just fine there. It's also centrally located - near I75, close to Birmingham and Royal Oak... Where are you looking at staying in Troy?
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"Fashion can be bought. Style one must possess." ~ Edna Woolman Chase