Shuffling off to Metro Detroit for fun and games, great shopping and pizza

   One-Tank Trip for Nov. 10/18

  

   (c) By Jim Fox

   “Detroit. It’s Go Time” is the new advertising slogan for Metro Detroit and there are many good reasons to go there especially at this time of year.

   After living up to its previous slogan of “America’s Great Comeback City,” Greater Detroit is booming as its downtown continues to be transformed.

Downtown Detroit viewed from Windsor is dominated by the seven skyscrapers of the GM Renaissance Center. (Jim Fox photo)

    Among the reasons to go back include sports, theatre, fine and eclectic dining, new hotels and businesses along with holiday-themed events and all those motor-vehicle attractions.

   Did I mention shopping?

   A favourite pastime for Ontarians is Black Friday shopping on Nov. 23 – joining the Michigan crowds the day after “their” Thanksgiving.

   The Detroit Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau says the “retail romp” includes a “downtown collection of independent and brand-name shops as well as walkable shopping districts, outlet centres, megamalls and upscale collections.”

   They suggest finding the “best presents” at the Mall at Partridge Creek, Village of Rochester Hills and Canadian favs – Great Lakes Crossing Outlets with 185 stores, Somerset Collection and Fairlane Town Center.

Kid’s favourite, an inflated Captain Underpants, will appear in America’s Thanksgiving Parade.

   Cheers for you, too

   Join the crowds of loyal Detroit sports fans cheering on the home team just over the border from Windsor.

   Football’s Detroit Lions play at Ford Field while hockey’s Detroit Red Wings and basketball’s Detroit Pistons both play at the new Little Caesars Arena, all downtown.

   It’s said that ‘everybody loves a parade,” so what’s not to like about this iconic march known as America’s Thanksgiving Parade on Nov. 22.

   Ranked as one of America’s largest and most spectacular parades, this holiday tradition dating back to 1924 along Woodward Avenue attracts hundreds of thousands of spectators.

Getting around downtown Detroit is easy on the elevated People Mover transit line. (Jim Fox photo)

   More tourist tips
   Detroit’s theatres feature classic holiday shows with Michigan Opera Theatre’s The Nutcracker, Nov. 24 and 25, and Too Hot to Handel, Dec. 1 at the Detroit Opera House.

   The company will also present Amahl and the Night Visitors, an opera offering a different perspective on the Nativity story, Dec. 10 at the Grosse Pointe War Memorial in Grosse Pointe Farms, Mich. and Dec. 22 at the Macomb Center for the Performing Arts in Clinton Township, Mich.

   The Fox Theatre has ELF the Musical, Nov. 20-25; Charlie Brown Christmas Live on Stage, Dec. 15; Christmas Story: The Musical, Dec. 20 to 22; Mannheim Steamroller Christmas by Chip Davis, Dec. 16; and Moscow Ballet’s Great Russian Nutcracker, Dec. 17.

   More than five-million LED lights illuminate trees, buildings and 100 animal sculptures for Wild Lights at the Detroit Zoo in December.

   Take a trip back in time at Holiday Nights in Greenfield Village next month.

Model T rides are offered through Greenfield Village during Holiday Nights. (Barbara Fox photo)

   There will be Santa and his reindeer, roasting chestnuts, bonfires, carollers and singalongs, skating and a fireworks finale.

   Take a look at how “auto barons” lived at estates adorned in retro holiday splendor at Meadow Brook Hall and the Edsel & Eleanor Ford House.

   Noel Night in midtown Detroit on Dec. 1 involves 100 institutions offering free open houses, horse-drawn carriage rides, holiday shopping, family craft activities and performances by music, theatre and dance groups.

   Rochester’s “quaint buildings” sparkle with more than one-million points of light during the Big, Bright Light Show, Nov. 20 to Jan. 7.

   The Plymouth Ice Festival, Jan. 11 to 13, has ice sculptures, carving events, a dueling chainsaw competition and playground.

   The U.S. Figure Skating Championships glide into Little Caesars Arena Jan. 19 to 27.

   Celebrating all things automotive is the North American International Auto Show, Jan. 19 to 27 at Cobo Center downtown.

A Buddy’s “Henry Ford” pizza served with a smile by Janine Braun. (Jim Fox photo)

   It’s been a slice

   Before heading home, visit the iconic Buddy’s Pizza for the original square Sicilian-style pizza voted among the best slices in the world prepared as they were in 1946.

   The menu features pizzas named after the Great Lakes, with Ontario being Motor City cheese blend, cilantro, Canadian bacon, grilled pineapple and Buddy’s BBQ sauce.

   Now with 12 locations, Buddy’s recently opened a restaurant at the Detroit Zoo in Royal Oak.

buddyspizza.com

   To plan a getaway and more details: visitdetroit.com; 1-800-DETROIT (338-7648).

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Jim Fox can be reached at onetanktrips@hotmail.com

For more One-Tank Trips: http://1tanktrips.blogspot.ca