FIFTY STATES AWAYAfter seeing some of Detroit yesterday and meeting some locals as we checked in, we decided this morning to grab lunch in the area before heading off. It turned out to be an interesting journey where we were further able to explore the suburbs and enjoy the typical quaint houses found in America. We lunched at a small local place called the Living Zen centre, which Ben had found out about, and it turned out to be an experience of its own. Upon our arrival we had to ring a doorbell and wait for someone to come and open the door to let us in, making us feel like we were entering some kind of secret lair. Once inside we headed on down to the open plan kitchen, shop and restaurant seating area. It was quiet down here very peaceful, very ‘Zen’ calming music was playing as we sat ourselves down. Enjoying a scrumptious meal whilst watching the talented chefs prepare some of the food they sold was a unique and tranquil experience.
After such a contrasting experience we headed out back onto the streets of Detroit discussing our overall impressions of the city. Although Detroit looks as though it was once a slightly more crucial city within the states, it now has a lot of closed down buildings and run down areas. What’s really stood out more than anything is the incredible spirit in the people we have met. The people of Detroit are positive and happy and trying their best to live in the best way possible, despite the city’s loss of industrial importance. It seems nothing can take the fight from them, a truly refreshing experience, definitely some of the fiestiest people we have met. It’s certainly left an impression.
Heading south from Detroit we took a short drive to a town called Oregon, in Ohio and checked in relatively early for us! We rested up and had some food before heading back out for our main activity. After a short drive we reached the Sudance Drive-In movie theater. Since arriving in the states we’d decided that this was something we definitely wanted to do and that it was an important part of American culture that just couldn’t be missed. It also turned out that Ohio has more drive in movie theatres than the other states, enabling us to finally try it out. Excitedly we parked up in our spot and waited for the film to start, it’s an odd experience in a way as you basically just shut your engine off and set it into what’s known as ACC mode here and tune the car radio to the given frequency to get the sound. We were slightly concerned about getting a flat battery from the few hours of film watching, but this turned out not to be a problem for us and the truck took it in its stride. We were here to see the latest Captain America movie, Cold War a thoroughly enjoyable experience, we were allowed to stay and watch a second film: Zootopia but after a couple of long days in a row we decided to head back and tuck up for the night. Who knows where we could be tomorrow.
