If you look carefully, you'll see me working on my laptop...(Don't judge me.) :-)
Whee! I finally have some posts of Michigan to post, thanks to Sara Johns' generous offer to let us copy her Flickr pics.
BTW, I got to meet *Sara Johns* AND *J. Linda Williams*, y'all! Sara is shown in the photo above with the amazing UberLibrarian George Bishop. Sara is President Elect of the American Library Association's AASL division--the American Association of School Librarians-- and Linda was president last year.
(This is the equivalent of meeting Robert Plant for other people. Or Yo-Yo Ma. Or K-Fed, if you're weird.)
Michigan was fun and cold and beautiful and I GOT TO WEAR MY SCARF AND GLOVES and for the first time in my life, I'm really excited to watch a *televised* football game (I always get a little excited about the ones I attend in person, especially when it's my students or nephew on the field...or when my baby was in the CHS marching band!). Today at 2:30 is the Game of the Year between undefeated Michigan and undefeated Ohio State; last weekend, the whole town seemed to be gearing up for Game Day, and I think a little of the anticipation wore off on me!
Carbs ahoy!
Cheese curds are REAL! (And delicious.) I'd always considered cheese curds the "jackelope" of the food world because I'd *heard* about them, but had never actually seen them served...
Check out the high-tech conference room!
I can't tell you how cool and interesting this was...
Oh, and I didn't just come home with Game Fever, either...I'm sure I put on a few pounds after all the amazing food. ProQuest took great care of us...Zingermans and Bella Ciao are burned into the part of my brain reserved for Great Food Experiences. Oh, and the pizza at Cottage Inn? Possibly the best I've ever had...with golden sesame seeds toasted right into the buttery crust.
But the BEST PART of all was being able to attend the Library Advisory Board meetings of ProQuest...and not just because they served great coffee and had their own private pond and we were able to see Canada geese and ducks (and one heron!) come in for landings outside the conference room windows. Everyone was so smart and funny and creative and even if they never ask me back I don't care...it was an honor and a half just to be asked! I'm insane crazy for eLibrary and have had an account, either a personal one or one provided by my school district, since about 1998 (back when they were owned by Infonautics!).
Bella Ciao, baby!
Our terrific waiter & bartender! We had the second floor to ourselves...
Bella, bella!
Ann Arbor was so cool. It even reminds its citizens to respect nature by not dumping waste into the city's ornate drainage grates...
What a wonderful weekend. Michigan rocked.
GO, WOLVERINES!!
P.S. Run, do not walk, to see Will Ferrell's Stranger Than Fiction. Emma Thompson was amazing, as usual, and you will love it. (Look for the cameo by Tom Hulce, Mozart in 1984's Amadeus!)
***Update: Here's a snip of an email that came in about an hour before the game from my friend Cali Gonzales. (Remember that name...he's an amazing author who flew to Abilene to speak to my seventh graders two years ago. We're currently working on getting him back via Distance Learning!) He and his wife met while attending the University of Michigan...and the story of his entire South Texas family's trek to The Mitten State is one of the funniest I've ever heard!
Sandie is stuck in an inservice until 4, so she's missing the first half of the game. I told her I'd think of her at kickoff!
Pizza at the Cottage...now that brings back some memories. I think I'm the only cowboy you'll ever meet who had the grilled chicken/feta cheese pizza. It was great, especially when the north wind is blowing just outside the Inn. It's a good place to fall in love...
I think Michigan is the best place I've ever lived...that wasn't home.
Just so you'll know: I just sold a 2800 word feature to Sport Fishing magazine. If Texas Fish and Game is comparable to Texas Monthly, then you could say I just sold a story to Time.
***
So now I'm watching football and buying a copy of Sport Fishing magazine? What's next? Waders? A truck? Ammo? (Oh, hold on...I've actually purchased ammo...don't judge me!) :-)
2 comments:
Great pictures, and all the talk of food made me hungry. Had a muffin for breakfast as we are beeing treated for Brunch later :-) Anyway, went to the Saltgrass Steak Restaurant last night and had a great steak. Actually I think it was the best I have had since beeing in the States. And, no, we didn't get to a movie as we were late leaving the Saltgrass :-(
Sounds like a great trip. Who knew librarians wore such brightly colored shirts? If I didn't know better, I'd say librarians are dropping the glasses' chain and knitted sweaters for laptop blogging and Heineken.
Final thought: You live in West Texas, for which there is now a prime time tv show about high school football. Texas is the home of Texas A&M, the 12th man tradition, the Dallas Cowboys, and (I hate to say it) last year's national champion, T.U. And you had to go to Michigan to get football fever? Mike must be shaking his head.
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