Linus Paul
(Posted a few days late) We are in Chicago yet again to see our new grandson Linus, now 3 weeks old. We haven’t done much beyond what we came to do, which is to hold Linus and stare at him in wonder.
En route, we stayed in the lovely Mississippi River town of LeClaire, Iowa and the unlovely Super 8 (lumpy pillows, a noisy portable frig that was loud enough to keep me up). In Chicago’s Edgewater neighborhood, home to Linus and parents, we went on walks with and with our baby and pugs and E&R, stopping once briefly at the Helix Cafe on Clark, with a big used bookstore next door.
Two years ago, when I wrote a cover story about the Raccoon River Valley Trail for Rails to Trails magazine, the trail was looking good. Now it’s even better, as promised two years ago. Where the trail intersects with gravel roads, the section you ride over is now paved – rather than gravel, which is a huge improvement. There is also new landscaping here and there – some with new amenities such as picnic tables — which is also greatly appreciated.
Some new and old dining in the Detroit area this trip. New included a very lively ( for a Monday night) Mexican Restaurant in a humble, post-industrial neighborhood of downtown Detroit near the Ambassador Bridge (to Canada) called Mi Pueblo. I had good steak and shrimp Fajitas and a cheap margarita.
The next night we celebrated my birthday ( yes, the one in April, again) at Bella Piatti in snazzy Birmingham near the Townsend Hotel . I had excellent Scaloppine Saltimbocca (veal medallions, Parma prosciutto, fresh sage, white wine, lemon crushed potatoes). We shared a delicious Involtini Di Melanzane (Grilled eggplant rolls, seasoned ricotta cheese, tomato sauce.)
The old favorite was The Stage Deli in West Bloomfield, where I had a delicious “small” Mark beltaire salad ( with strips, on request, of corned beef, turkey and Swiss cheese with a creamy white ranch dressing and a bowl of kreplach soup. Yum!
Why have I never been to Kalamazoo? I’ve passed it dozens of times while driving on I-94 driving between Chicago and Detroit, as we did yet again yesterday. This time we were hungry so we stopped at Bell’s Eccentric Cafe, home of the craft beer that is one of Dirck’s favorites. The cafe turned out to be in an old cavernous yellow brick building near the railroad tracks and was packed on a Sunday afternoon. We had a baby glass of beer, since we were driving, and Korean pork tacos and jambalaya. All good and a fun brew pub atmosphere. We also stopped in the gift shop to get a little something for Dirck.
The Iowa countryside was a welcome tonic yesterday after a few weeks of being cooped up in my office. The hills of central and west-central Iowa were covered in a thick blanket of tall green corn and looked lush against the blue sky.
TakeBetsywithyou 