The alley is must visit place in Ann Arbor. The alley located at the East Liberty Street. Very…read moreclose to University of Michigan. The Alley entrance has three Dimension graffiti art. The walls, ceiling, and the floor. Great place for photo opportunity. The art is every day changing. Some art may be repainted over each other. Our visit also saw many paintings their new art. You can buy the paint can on the street and start your imagination art.

This is an interesting place. Graffiti artists showcase their talents or express their feelings…read moredrawing on both sides of the alley and also on the floor. I saw some interesting pieces. They are aesthetic, beautiful and there are some goofy stuff -funny and intriguing. It is an ongoing project. I saw young people with spray paint adding on new ideas. It's a fun place to walk around, read the art, and take pictures.

The little town of Blissfield is located in the same county in Michigan as our residence (Lenawee…read moreCounty). It's a place that's grown on me over the past couple of years. It's a little isolated as it's nowhere near a freeway (though it's on US223)...but that's part of its charm. We'll occasionally drive here for a half-day of enjoyment. Blissfield is a town of just over 3000 people and nothing of major historical significance has ever occurred here. So it's not a place where you'd expect to find a lot of high-profile things to do. And with that in view, you won't be disappointed or overly surprised to find out that's accurate. Having said that, however, Blissfield is a pleasant place to hang out for a morning or an afternoon. Blissfield's claims to fame, such as they are, are the antiques. While those are the major attractions, there's a bit more to it than that. To create the ambiance for a nice day on the town, strolling the vintage, diminutive one-block downtown area is a great start. As mentioned, there are a couple of antique shops that could keep you occupied for hours if you're into that sort of thing (and we are). There's a small Depot Museum with a few open hours on Saturdays that could be a fun stop. There are also several boutique shops on Lane St. that are worth patronizing. My favorite is The Packrat where you can find some fun stuff. One of the best things to do in Blissfield is to spend time in their two lovely parks, Ellis Park and Bachmeyer Park, that straddle opposite sides of the River Raisin. These parks are also where the River Raisin Festival takes place, with its carnival-like atmosphere. There's a Bluegrass Festival that also takes place in Bachmeyer Park. I've never been to it but have heard good things. There are some good restaurants in town. Lena's serves up good Italian fare. And their canopy-covered side patio is great in the summer. Beckey's offers some great comfort food, especially with the specialty sweet breads that they feature. Blissfield Coney Island downtown also offers comfort fare in a vintage space. Starling Lounge is a good coffee shop by day and a bar by night. And Emmy's Kitchen presents some wonderful baked treats. Because of lack of proximity to a highway and no major business in town, there are no hotels in Blissfield. But there are a couple of B&Bs that are interesting. The H.D. Ellis Inn and the Blissfield Bed and Breakfast both look like nice places to spend a weekend. Blissfield could be a lovely place to spend a bit of time. Hopefully, this review gives some thoughts that could help with that.

Just to put this little place on the map; I dropped through here on a recent trip into southern…read moreMichigan. There are a lot of little places like this along U.S. 12. Little local hobby farms and food shops selling local products and Amish butter. What set this one apart was the U-Pick strawberry field. Now, I'm a big fan of sustainability and advanced horticulture. This little place had it in spades, from their little poultry pen to their biomass pellet furnace. But the real show-stopper was the hydroponic vertical strawberry field. Stacked six pots high and irrigated from the top, this place had it together. NIce modular planting towers and an incredible thing to see. I remember grubbing along the rows of densely crowded strawberries in a conventional field as a kid, dragging along my flat to be filled. This place was a far cry from that back-breaking experience, more like shopping than picking. The place had a great welcoming ambience, with one of the better prices on local apples I'd seen, an inviting little pumpkin stand (a young couple with three small boys were picking theirs out. Definitely an "awwww" moment) and a nice selection of local produce and Amish products like roll butter and bread. Things are a little pricey here, admittedly. It's a tourist kind of place and the prices are indicative of the quality of the produce offered. But sometimes, it's not about the bottom line or finding a simple "bargain." It's about making sure that those who produce excellence can earn a living doing so. Excellence is to be found in abundance here, and its more about acknowledging that effort than anything else.

Honestly thought this place was going to be interesting and fun but it was very small located in…read morethe heart of Hamtramck and very unique but could tell they had kind of let the place fall apart. But still a experience at least stop by and see for yourself. Does have a strong artistic vibe.

Hamtramck ain't really the best neighborhood. Nonetheless, it's an opportunity for folks to learn…read moremore. They've got the Disneyland art installation that's def worth seeing. My GPS led me right in front of the house. Head out back. It stretches only across two backyards. You'll see lots of random things, like an old TV, the top half of a mannequin, paintings, an airplane, etc. Not sure what it all means. At the end of the day, we could invest more in neighborhoods like this.

As I am spending more time in Michigan - I want to be clear - I fully support my neighborhood…read moreassociation. Although, I am unlikely to show up at meetings or picnics consider me a friend! 5 Stars for defending the Constitution.

One of my favorite parts of Fort Wayne. Beautiful at night to check out the 77 steps and during the…read moreday you can appreciate all the wall art and beautiful paintings. Very Instagrammable spot and lots of cool areas to take photos.

If you travel down the alley by the 100 block of West Berry Street, you'll see a public art piece…read moretitled 77 Steps, a sculpture that features hundreds of programmable lights (around 300, to be exact) that are suspended above a pathway. It's named after the 77 steps it takes to get from one end of the art piece to the other. 77 Steps was created by Kelty Tappy, a Fort Wayne architecture firm. I love this sculpture because it looks like a bunch of chandeliers hanging out in an alley. (Be sure to smash that "like" button to get more insightful art criticism like that from me.) It's actually really neat to just walk through the alley and look up at multiple lights suspended above your head. When I visited, it was daytime and the lights weren't on. But I've seen picture of 77 Steps during the nighttime, and I think that's when you should visit, because then you'll see it in all its lit-up glory. 77 Steps is in an alley that also houses some other street art, so you are basically surrounded by beautiful artwork in this area, which is awesome.

You usually need an Allen Key to get into Allen Park, but during the festival, it's open to all,…read moreand by all, I mean, all white people. I think I saw about 10,000 white people at this festival. And about 1 black person. Yes, 1. And about very few, if any, Hispanics, and about zero Asians. But hey. It is what it is. Other than the racial demographics, it is a lovely Festival in one of my favorite neighbourhoods of Michigan. Some of the best pizza slices in the world are in these parts and if you wander the Allen Park Street fair you will find lots of cool stands and coolinary (intentional mis-spelling) delights. And a lot of the stores along this area will sell stuff outside the front of their stores. Just a great Festival although - as I said - you will notice there is very very little ethnic diversity.

This is one of my favorite street fairs in Michigan…read more It's a large fair, hundreds of diverse booths, crafts, food etc. Great entertainment, and lots of local stuff going on. Always includes the annual Hall of Fame inductions, a 5k run and many other activities. I've been going for several years now and it just seems to keep growing.

The St. Anne sausage festival is one of the best church festivals in Southeast Michigan. Thousands…read moreof people show up to sample the sausage kitchens and the amazing beer tent. They have plenty of carnival rides and games to keep the kids busy while you wander through the rest of the festival. They have a silent auction which has many items of interest. This year they added a twist by making the auction online. I think it was a hit. The festival is usually the third weekend in September. Put it down on the calendar, it's a great time!

Bright walls organized another colorful festival this year between Sep 16-18. Bright Walls Mural…read morefestival event include live mural painting, concerts, food trucks, dancing, magic show and even a dog-themed event. While they were unable to host international artists this year due to COVID-19 travel restrictions, the Bright Walls team planned some pop-up art installations until finale in 2022. The festival is a free event open to all ages, and it is held on several streets in Jackson. All the art is free to be viewed and photographed. Along with the mural projects, there were a variety of street vendors and food trucks that cater to the public. I was thrilled to attend my first ever mural event. I mainly went to meet the famous artist couple Lisa and Victor, who create iconic post card murals. I am a huge fan of their art work. The amount of detail in their mural is amazing. I like their artwork which captures the town and display local points of pride. It was such a pleasure to meet this cool couple. Their mission is to paint in every state and to create a collection of timeless landmarks for locals and travelers to interact with across the country. They have created nation wide mural projects and this is their 52nd post card mural across America. This couple came all the way from California to help create a special Jackson greeting. This year "Greetings from Jackson" mural is the highlight of the festival. Each letter features some of the most iconic buildings and a Jackson landmark within it. With the new addition, there are now 41 murals to see in downtown Jackson since the inception of Bright Walls.

Prior to three years ago I didn't know much about Jackson, MI beyond there being a prison there…read more Around here going to Jackson is usually taken to mean going to jail for a long time. Three years ago I stopped for food on a road trip and discovered Jackson had two competing Coney Islands on the same block that had been open since around the time of World War I, a situation uncannily similar to Lafayette and American Coney Islands in Detroit. That was about all I took away from that short visit. Well, last month I was on another road trip and figured I'd stop to fill my belly at Jackson Coney Island since I'd already tried Virginia Coney Island and Jackson is the bizarro Virginia. I'm not ready to review either yet. They're just Coneys and I'm not ready to wade into the wearisome partisan debate. It's boring enough with American and Lafayette back home. But here, in the third paragraph, I will venture to review Bright Walls because it was such a pleasant surprise and unexpected hour long sightseeing tour. (It's nice traveling on a not so rigid schedule and to be taken away on a tangent like this.) Bold, colorful murals with all kinds of themes and plastered larger than life all around downtown Jackson and they are awesome. I wasn't good about reading all of the placards and you won't get any informative name checking or discussion about specific pieces here like I usually do with art museums but Bright Walls was a beautiful diversion, a definite departure from the drab and dreary Prisontown USA people around here usually picture when they think of Jackson. I can't speak on what goes on when the mural painting actually takes place, watching live painting or if there's special events, but the one other review didn't elaborate on that either. Suffice it to say I like what was left behind. Maybe some year I'll head out this way during the brightening of the walls and be able to provide a more comprehensive update.

WOW!!!! What a neat concept. Almost seems old and outdated. Someone needs to make more, revise the…read moreconcept, make an app and put all the locations of the doors. Finding this business page may be the closest thing to being able to locate them by app as it gets!

My daughters absolutely loved seeking out the fairy doors in Ann Arbor. I discovered a similar door…read moreat the Whitmore Lake post office. And at last count, there are three in the park next door to the post office. :-) Enjoy the magic!