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motss.con.xxvi, the annual gathering of soc.motssers in meatspace, unofficially started today. I met Bitty, John G., Ken, and Robert C. at the con.central hotel (the Holiday Inn at Plymouth and Green) between 1:45 and 2:45pm, and we decamped to Arthur and Bitty's for lunch (in my case, a no-bread ham-n-cheddar sammich, pickle, chips, hummus, and salsa, with a cookie chaser) and about 2.5 rubbers of bridge. Won a few hands, lost a few hands. Around 6 I headed back to the hotel with John G., Ken, and Robert C. so they could all unpack, nap before dinner, or both, while I hung out in the lobby to greet the other arriving guests.
Around 7:30pm we started gathering to go to our 8pm dinner at Zingerman's Roadhouse. The 13 of us (Arthur, Bitty, Emily, Emma, George, John G., John K., Ken, Max, Robert C., Robert W., and Stephen) were seated a bit after 8:30pm. I wound up getting the grilled asparagus appetizer and the barbecue sampler plate, plus a brownie sundae for dessert. After dinner, I dropped John G., Ken, and Robert at their respective hotels around 11pm and headed home before crashing around midnight.
Today's the day trip day. While Arthur went merrily insane with the logistics for getting people from Ann Arbor to Dearborn (for the Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village self-guided tours and lunch) and Detroit for the morning (9:30am–12:30pm) and afternoon (2:30–5:30pm) van tours), I just had to pick up Emily and John K. at their hotel at 9am, drive 'em to Cranbrook for a mostly-free walking tour, then get the three of us to Dearborn in time for lunch at 12:45pm.
The Cranbrook tour was fun. I didn't get back for Reunion this year (it's not a multiple-of-5 year), and it's a gorgeous campus. We wound up parking in the lower parking lot and walking up past the Oval to Alumni Court, checking in with both Alumni Relations and the Dean's Office. Checked out the Quad, several of the classroom buildings, the dorms, and the Friendship Arch. Hiked around the Institute of Art past the Fibonacci granite columns and over to the Science Museum before heading back to the Quad. Wandered through the Science building then to the natatorium and around the gym. I drove us to Kingswood (past both the boys' and girls' middle schools) and we wandered through the building there, then to Brookside for a visit to Pickle Island, and finally to the Cranbrook House and Gardens (where Emily and John K. were kind enough to pay my admission fee). A nice couple of hours of wandering through.
After the tour we headed out to Dearborn for lunch. We were the first to arrive, but the others (from the morning Detroit van tour and the Henry Ford Museum group) joined us. We had a tasty meal (I had a rotini-n-steak with garlic, onions, and sprouts as course 1 and a shrimp-n-scallops with garlic, onions, sprouts, and pea pods as course 2, both with reasonably mild gingery sauces). I then drove John K. and Emma back to the hotels and went off the air for a bit.
For dinner, we managed to somehow get all 19 of us at a long table at the Arbor Brewing Company. I wound up getting the Étouffée (very tasty) but passing on dessert. I headed home from there (as it made no sense to go out north and east just to head further south and further west).
Good, if long, day.
This morning I woke up too early in a mild panic about Monday's breakfast planning of all things. I'm not sure why my subconscious thought the restaurant in question has closed, but I checked the Googles and didn't see anything newsworthy. I swung by it on the campus/shopping district tours later this morning, and it looks like they've at least changed the name if not changed ownership. I took the water bottle out of the fridge to begin thawing it faster (it was still mostly ice). I also finished off the toaster waffles, maple syrup, and orange-peach-mango juice for breakfast before jumping in the shower.
Con-wise, today started with a walking tour of the U-M Central Campus, the State Street shopping district, and the Main Street shopping district. Most people chose to sleep in, but Emily and John K. joined me at the Cube in Regents' Plaza. We wandered around for about 2 hours before ending up at the Farmer's Market and then Zingerman's Delicatessen for lunch. (I wound up getting a corned beef and pastrami sandwich with muenster and swiss cheeses and two different mustards. Yum.) People seemed happy with their food.
After lunch a few people wandered through the Farmer's Market across the street, another few went to the U-M Museum of Natural History for the 1:30pm astronomy show, and another 6 headed off to Gallup Park to rent canoes and paddleboats for a couple of hours. I chose to head home and nap a bit (and cool down from the walking around, exacerbated by the 9+block walk back to the car from lunch). Managed to get about 90 minutes of nap in before heading back to con.central around 5:30pm.
Dinner was at Mark's Carts and Bill's Beer Garden. We all managed to get there safely and more or less on-time (which, considering the parking situation downtown, was an interesting challenge). I wound up, over the course of the not-quite-3 hours we were there, having a meatza pizza from a2 Pizza and a meat bun trio (one each beef, chicken, and pork belly) from San Street. Bid a fond yet sad farewell to Emily and John K., who're off to Montreal early in the morning and won't make it to dim sum. Towards the end of our stay a drunk gentleman (Todd) brought his drunk girlfriend (Meredith) over to meet Yr Panda, because she loved his hat and pearls. Many photos were taken (see George's Facebook feed, I'd expect). We managed to get out of the Beer Garden without further molestation and to con.central by 10:10pm or so; I immediately got into my own car and drove home, arriving just after 10:30pm. And so, off to bed.
The end's in sight for this year's motss.con. Today started with 14 of us at dim sum at Asia City: Arthur, Bitty, Chris, Emma, Frank, George, Isaac, Jeff, John, Ken, Robert C., Robert W., and Stephen. Our table escaped at $17/head in part due to ordering a couple of premium items (the squid and the duck); the other table came in at a lower per-head cost (I suspect they had less food per person as well as fewer premium items). The general consensus was positive (yay!); I certainly felt stuffed on the har gow, shu mai, both shrimp and pork rice noodles, sticky rice with sausage and pork, pan-fried noodles with sprouts, the aforementioned squid and duck dishes, BBQ pork buns, and sesame balls.
After lunch most (11) of us went to the Matthei Botanical Gardens (Stephen adjourned to the hotel; Frank and Robert W headed on their way out of town). We wandered around for a couple of hours, mostly in the conservatory and children's garden, though a couple of us did go on the hiking trails for a bit. We left around 3pm to go back to our hotels or homes and cool down (it was 90F and mildly humid and very sunny). I was home by 3:30pm, and cooled off with a cold shower and rehydrated by 5pm or so. I had time to catch up on TwitBookPlus and DW/LJ before heading back downtown for dinner at the Blue Tractor BBQ and Brewery (though to save on parking costs I parked at the U-M Thompson structure and walked the 1/2 mile/10 minutes to the restaurant). 12 of us made it (the 11 from the Gardens plus Stephen). I wound up getting the combination plate — brisket, pulled pork, chicken, and ribs, with cheddar grits and balsamic baked beans — which was very tasty (though some of the beans were a little al dente).
After dinner, we chatted a bit both inside and outside the restaurant. Max called me so I put her on speakerphone and everyone yelled Hi to her. Everyone there was planning on being at the Stragglers' Breakfast in the morning so I didn't have to say goodbye-until to anyone. I headed back to campus and got home by 9:45pm. Wrote up this penultimate con entry, updated the web site, and will soon be off to bed.
This morning began (and ended) with the Stragglers' Breakfast at the Northside Grill. Ken and I were the first wave at 8am, joined by John, Robert, and Chris in the second wave, then soon thereafter by Bitty, Arthur, Emma, and George in the third wave. We'd all finished and moved outside to free up the table (the place was packed) shortly after 10am, when Jeff and Isaac showed up. They stayed to eat and Emma and George kept them company (and were later dropped off at the train station) while Arthur and Bitty drove John G. and Robert C. back to the hotel to pack thence to the airport. Me? I headed home to collapse. (Luckily I took today off for the con and tomorrow off to recover.)