Shakespeare in the Plaza

I love Shakespearean Theater but I hate reading Shakespeare. It is one of those art forms that needs to be live and not just read in a book during High School English. My brother acted in several Shakespearean plays in college and those were always great to go see. When Kimberly-Little Chute Library announced they were doing Shakespeare in the Plaza, I couldn't wait to attend.

Shakespeare in the plaza was exactly that. William Shakespeare performing in the plaza in front of the Little Chute Library. It was a one man show with plenty of audience participation -- before and during the show.

Before the show, William sauntered over by where I was sitting and introduced himself. I shook his hand and was chastised for it. Apparently it isn't polite for a male to touch a female's hand (that he wasn't betrothed to) back in William's day. I got a quick lesson in the proper way of being introduced to a male in the 1500's. I thought that was the end of that. William began his show and I sat back to enjoy it.

Pretty soon I was being singled out to go up on "stage" as the fair maiden. Of course I had to pretend to look the part and primped on stage to get into character. William demonstrated the fine art of introducing himself to the fair maiden -- by placing his hand under mine and bringing his head to down to lightly kiss the air above my hand.  I'm sure I was 50 shades of red by the time this was done.

The rest of show went by in a blur. He had audience members be characters in his plays.. a dog, Romeo.

At point two people were hurling 16th century insults back and forth at each other.

And to cap off the show, there was the epic sword fight scene from Romeo and Juliet.

Despite the cool weather, it was a great evening. I think the library was disappointed in the low turnout but for those that thought about going and let the weather sway their decision missed a good show. I know this was no where as amazing as Shakespeare in the Park in NYC or even Milwaukee is but for the little village of Little Chute, it was pretty darn exciting. I will be back the next they host an event like this. History, comedy, and swords what's not to like?

1992. Go to the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn

One of the things I knew I wanted to do if I was ever in the Detroit area was go to Greenfield Village which is at The Henry Ford. Going to The Henry Ford was an easy sell to the hubby since he is a Ford guy through and through.

The Henry Ford consists of four parts -- The Ford Rouge Factory Tour, The Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation, Greenfield Village, and Giant Screen Experience. You can buy tickets to one or all the experiences. We opted for doing the Factory Tour, the Museum, and the Village especially since we only had about 3-4 hours to experience it all. If you opted for the all inclusive pass, you received admission to all 4 experiences plus unlimited rides at Greenfield Village and the Insiders Tour at the Museum. I didn't realize the extras it included and might have thought about getting since the rides at the Village can add up quickly.

We decided to start the day at the Ford Rouge Plant. To get there, we boarded a bus for a 20 minute bus ride to the plant.

The plant consisted of 6 parts -- 2 different theater experiences, a visit to the observation deck, a self paced walking tour of the plant, the legacy gallery, and an living laboratory tour outside.

Even though we were on the first bus leaving the Henry Ford, another tour bus arrived at the same time as we did and we ended up on the geriatrics tour.

The hubby really enjoyed the whole experience. He loved seeing the Ford 150 Truck assembly plant. We did not do the outside tour -- somehow we missed it probably because the bus was waiting.

Once we got back to the Henry Ford, we went through the museum. You could spend all day in the museum and not just the hour or so we had. Besides cars, there were planes, trains, and agriculture machinery manufactured by all different companies.

Kennedy's Limo and the Popemobile were in the museum.

The hubby was ecstatic to finally see a Tucker, a car with three headlights, since many were not built.

Inside the museum was also a couple of restaurants including a drive in that I would loved to eat at. Maybe next time.

My favorite part, and the hubby's least favorite, was Greenfield Village. Greenfield Village is recreation of a early 1900s village complete with replicate houses of famous people or even the real house including the Ford House.

We saw Edison's Laboratory where he created many of his famous inventions.

The hubby really liked the working Round House.

You could ride in a Model T (for a fee) or other old school modes of transportation (for a fee).

Because it was quite hot and the village was HUGE, we didn't get to see everything. I think the village isn't really the hubby's cup of tea but for the history geek in me it's amazing.

Maybe next time, I will leave him to explore the museum and I'll explore the village without him.

If you are in the Detroit area, check this out. It is AMAZING. I would recommend at least doing the Museum and the Village. Plan on spending all day at the Henry Ford -- it well worth it.

Baseball Stadium Tour 2017 - Comerica Park

The last stop of our summer baseball stadium tour was Comerica Park in Detroit. This was another one that we wanted to hit this year. Based on where we were coming from it made sense.

When we got tickets, we also bought parking for one of the parking garages ($25) which was literally right across the street. Getting in and out of downtown Detroit was a breeze -- if you don't count the construction and out dated GPS. So much so that the hubby said he knows why Packer fans flock to Detroit for the Packer/Lion game.

Ford Field is right next store

Comerica Park is a mix of old and new. It's family friendly with a baseball Ferris Wheel and Tiger carousel.

The history of the Tigers is displayed on poles around the main concourse and statues in the outfield. I love going to these parks and seeing how the team's history is displayed because baseball is just not today or yesterday but the history of some of these teams span decades upon decades.

While on this current Stadium Tour, I've seen racing pierogies and now in Detroit racing cars. Unlike the T-Rats that have mini cars, these were people dressed up as cars -- most of them were Chevy's I think. Then there was the Dunkin Donut Race on the scoreboard.

We signed up for the designated driver program and got a free soda. For lunch we got $6 hot dog meals -- a hot dog, mini soda, and a bag of chips. Plus we had our free sodas for later. I was getting pretty sick of hot dogs but these weren't bad. It was nice they offered lemonade along with the usual Pepsi products especially since I don't drink much soda and don't like Pepsi. We could have had Little Caesar's Pizza but we get that at home.

This was the first game in three days that did not have a rain delay and second in six days if you count the Babe Ruth World Series. It was also an inter-league game since the Dodgers were in town. I always find it interesting to watch the National League have a DH when at an American League park but it's more interesting to see these American League pitchers try to bat.

Comerica Park is very nice park. We would definitely go back especially since it's so easy to get to. I'm glad the hubby has decided to start this adventure of checking out all the ball parks because besides being on the bucket list, it is always fun to see where other team's play -- especially ones that are relatively close to home.