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Ann Arbor / Detroit (Y'all are coming for the UT-UM game, right?)

choripan

By choripan
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choripan

choripan 771

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Background on Ann Arbor: If you are a city person, don't think of it like a city. Think of it as an awesome city neighborhood or two stitched together, with the urban area about a mile square before you start getting into a layer of historic homes/districts and then, after that, generic single family homes. For your hotel or Airbnb, try to be within about a 10-15 minute walk of the heart of the city, which is basically a triangle from Liberty and First to the south/west, 5th and Kingsley to the north, and South University and Washtenaw to the south/east. Within or near that triangle, everything is walkable and a very pleasant walk, at that. Yes, there are other places to go but, save for a handful of exceptions, they're no different than what you'd find in Anytown, USA (think a car-oriented environment with quite a few chains).

Background on Detroit: Detroit has gone quite bonkers around its city core. Lots of stuff to do and see. We moved back home (for me) to Detroit in 2011, leveraged ourselves to the hilt in real estate based on a tried and true rule of real estate investing -- "if you see pride flags and hipster beards, buy in this area" -- and now I'm semi-retired at 42 after we exited it all in 2019. Woodward Avenue forms the spine of the city, dividing it between the eastside (human trash) and westside (demigods, all of us). There is a much-maligned streetcar that runs down Woodward that isn't much in terms of true public transit, but that would be great for a tourist like you. You'll want to find a place south of Warren, east of 2nd or 3rd, and on or west of Brush (if north of I-75) or west of 375 (if south of I-75). The exception here outside of that area is the Eastern Market area, which is really pretty cool, but kind of markety and which can seem sparse, depending on day and time of day.

If you are dipping in and out something like Friday evening through Sunday morning, I'd recommend Ann Arbor as your home base. There's enough to fill your time and then some. If you're making it 4-5+ days, I'd recommend staying in Detroit and taking the express bus (A2D2) to Ann Arbor for gameday or just taking an Uber/Lyft).

[All the above assumes that you're a first-timer in whichever place you choose]

[Specific recommendations and all that to come, but I wanted to lay a very general groundwork. Also I don't want this to be nor see it as *my* thread -- I encourage others to add to, confirm, or contradict what I end up writing here..]

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closetojumping

closetojumping 62010

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The problem with Ann Arbor at this point is the nicer hotels and AirBNBs all appear to be sky high in terms of pricing. So we're thinking Detroit. 

I've been to Detroit like 10 times, but many of those were for one night only before heading into a small town in the green belt in Canada for work. Haven't been since 2013 and it lived up to all of the negative storylines about it when passing through. Has it really, noticeably, turned itself around?

If we were to drive to Ann Arbor on gameday, how bad is the traffic on those occasions?

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hornbri

hornbri 1347

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This thread is of great interest to me. 

Agreed on the hotels in Ann Arbor being tough to find. I have a room at the Ann Arbor Hampton Inn (south so not even the area suggested), also have a room in Detroit and kinda leaning on staying there.  

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Thiefery

Thiefery 4940

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When i went to Tuscaloosa last year I stayed in a hotel 30 min from the stadium.. I'm sure I'll have to do the same thing for this trip.  Me and a couple friends were planning to stop in Chicago for a couple days then fly out to Detroit on Friday.  But if Detroit is that nice maybe we skip Chicago all together?

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Surly Bevo

Surly Bevo 24573

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I'm meeting up with Martin, an old high school buddy and staying over in Grosse Pointe.  Haven't seen him in years, not really sure what he has been up to.  Grosse Pointe is a little farther from Ann Arbor but is supposed to be pretty nice.

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Carl Spackler

Carl Spackler 3457

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29 minutes ago, Surly Bevo said:

I'm meeting up with Martin, an old high school buddy and staying over in Grosse Pointe.  Haven't seen him in years, not really sure what he has been up to.  Grosse Pointe is a little farther from Ann Arbor but is supposed to be pretty nice.

Keep an eye out for this guy.

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LOHorn

LOHorn 277

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I live a little north of Detroit. Great place to live, lots of fun stuff to do. Some really cool architecture. Things have changed since I moved here in 2009. Some run down parts of town, but no worse than any of the other big cities I’ve lived in. 

Ann Arbor is a nice college town. I work there periodically, and it’s a fun place to visit. The big house is a great place to watch a game. I take my son to a game every year, and it’s always a good atmosphere.

Detroit isn’t particularly close to AA, and the game day traffic can be bad. If you don’t plan to get there really early, 14 can be a tough slog. If you can make it work in AA, I would. 

If you’re just looking for a cheap place to stay, Ypsilanti is a drab town, but it has a state university, Eastern Michigan. I bet there will be hotels there, and it’s much closer than Detroit. Lansing is about equidistant to AA relative to Detroit. It’s not a town I enjoy visiting, though MSU has a beautiful campus. Another option. 

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Bartles

Bartles 769

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I've stayed in Livonia a few times. It's convenient to the airport and Ann Arbor, without going through Detroit. Mostly chain hotels and restaurants, but there are plenty of them so cost isn't bad. If you stay right by the airport (Romulus), there are practically no restaurants or activities.

Game day traffic is kind of like Norman, OK...there just aren't many options so prepare to go early. Luckily there's lots to do and see around the stadium and the weather should be nice (or not as hot as Texas, at least).

Glad to hear Detroit is rehabbing well. So much potential left over from the auto days

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Skipper

Skipper 5967

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17 hours ago, LOHorn said:

 

Detroit isn’t particularly close to AA, and the game day traffic can be bad. If you don’t plan to get there really early, 14 can be a tough slog. If you can make it work in AA, I would. 

 

Is there a market for game day charters?  I know when we played Notre Dame we (and tons of Texas fans) stayed in Chicago and went on a party bus.  Hell, if I remember correctly either the guy advertising was on shaggy or at least got linked there and ended up filling like 5X his typical busses with Texas fans.

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GreenspointTexas

GreenspointTexas 9385

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Detroit to Ann Arbor is like 35 minutes. Shit there are suburbs here in Houston farther than that. 
 

No real reason to not stay in Detroit. Cheaper, better drinks, more things to do.

 

That being said, holy fuck there isnt much to do in Detroit outside of Schramms, Kuhnhenn, and pizza

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Dbeasy

Dbeasy 14783

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Haven’t done an away game in a long time. I have a question about tickets. 

Back when I used to go I was Longhorn Foundation with pretty high points or seniority so I would always get tickets to any game including Texas OU. 

We dropped our season tickets during Covid and never picked them back up. For those of you without either season tickets, or maybe lower priority season tickets, how confident are you that you’ll find tickets to the game?  

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ballrific

ballrific 215

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15 minutes ago, Dbeasy said:

Haven’t done an away game in a long time. I have a question about tickets. 

Back when I used to go I was Longhorn Foundation with pretty high points or seniority so I would always get tickets to any game including Texas OU. 

We dropped our season tickets during Covid and never picked them back up. For those of you without either season tickets, or maybe lower priority season tickets, how confident are you that you’ll find tickets to the game?  

If you're not ~ 1,000 in loyalty points, I wouldn't sweat it, you probably won't be getting tix.  I used to think being top 2,000 was a humble brag until I saw where our sugar bowl tix were this year.  Now I did get decent Rose Bowl tix in 06 but got dog shit seats in Columbus that same year.  Was shut out for away game at Notre Dame.  So I assume it will be similar to that? No idea how it works but I think as long as you're top ~ 750 in loyalty points, you're probably golden anywhere (not just getting tix but getting decent ones)

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Skipper

Skipper 5967

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I agree tix in the Texas allotment will be scarce.  But I'm not remotely concerned about getting tix generally in a stadium that sits 100K+.  I'm guessing ticket prices will be comparable to any of our other big games the past couple of years (Bama (both places), TX-OU, Sugar Bowl).  It's pointless to even start thinking about tix this point as the only people selling are short sellers looking for suckers.

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Dbeasy

Dbeasy 14783

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6 minutes ago, ballrific said:

If you're not ~ 1,000 in loyalty points, I wouldn't sweat it, you probably won't be getting tix.  I used to think being top 2,000 was a humble brag until I saw where our sugar bowl tix were this year.  Now I did get decent Rose Bowl tix in 06 but got dog shit seats in Columbus that same year.  Was shut out for away game at Notre Dame.  So I assume it will be similar to that? No idea how it works but I think as long as you're top ~ 750 in loyalty points, you're probably golden anywhere (not just getting tix but getting decent ones)

So is everyone just buying them off the internet?

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Skipper

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7 minutes ago, Dbeasy said:

So is everyone just buying them off the internet?

Don't even start looking until August.   Season ticket renewal emails haven't even come out.   Nobody (including Michigan fans) will get tix until July or August.   The only sellers are brokers short selling tix to anxious Texas fans.

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ballrific

ballrific 215

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22 minutes ago, Skipper said:

Don't even start looking until August.   Season ticket renewal emails haven't even come out.   Nobody (including Michigan fans) will get tix until July or August.   The only sellers are brokers short selling tix to anxious Texas fans.

I've done that last few times, even if I was allocated seats through the school.  Just sold the crappy foundation seats and put funds toward better seats.

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Baboontyme

Baboontyme 2752

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3 hours ago, GreenspointTexas said:

Detroit to Ann Arbor is like 35 minutes. Shit there are suburbs here in Houston farther than that. 
 

No real reason to not stay in Detroit. Cheaper, better drinks, more things to do.

 

That being said, holy fuck there isnt much to do in Detroit outside of Schramms, Kuhnhenn, and pizza

Depends what you're into. I recommend the DIA, definitely the Henry Ford (Dearborn), Hittsville, the Riverwalk is decent. The zoo is nice. If the Tigers are in town you could check out Comerica, they might even be decent this year who knows. You could do a pedal pub downtown, they even have a boat version of the pedal pub on the river. Hell bring your passport and check out Windsor. There are also casinos if you're into that. Dearborn and Hamtramck are cool if you want to explore some different neighborhoods and aren't scared of brown people. If late 20s, early 30s bar hopping is your thing, Royal Oak. If you are a hipster corktown and Ferndale. If you want to hit on cougars and shop at Lululemon and smoke cigars, Birmingham. If you want to get out to the country and do something seasonal, find a good cider mill. Early September is an awesome time of year in SE Michigan typically weather wise. 

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Ghost of LL

Ghost of LL 15255

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10 minutes ago, Baboontyme said:

Depends what you're into. I recommend the DIA, definitely the Henry Ford (Dearborn), Hittsville, the Riverwalk is decent. The zoo is nice. If the Tigers are in town you could check out Comerica, they might even be decent this year who knows. You could do a pedal pub downtown, they even have a boat version of the pedal pub on the river. Hell bring your passport and check out Windsor. There are also casinos if you're into that. Dearborn and Hamtramck are cool if you want to explore some different neighborhoods and aren't scared of brown people. If late 20s, early 30s bar hopping is your thing, Royal Oak. If you are a hipster corktown and Ferndale. If you want to hit on cougars and shop at Lululemon and smoke cigars, Birmingham. If you want to get out to the country and do something seasonal, find a good cider mill. Early September is an awesome time of year in SE Michigan typically weather wise. 

The Tigers are not in town that weekend, unfortunately.  

I'm going to head up with some good friends whose daughter will be a sophomore at UM.  But damn--hotels in Detroit that weekend are fucking expensive.  And hotels in Ann Arbor are non-existent. 

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Baboontyme

Baboontyme 2752

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Check Caesars Windsor. On second thought probably not the best idea if you want to do anything on the US side other than the game. Tunnel and bridge and fees are kind of a pain in the ass. 

Plymouth, Canton, Northville are nice areas and west of Detroit on the way to AA. 

If you're ok with a 35-40 minute drive I'd probably stay in Royal Oak. Good mix of night life and restaurants and shopping. Close to the zoo. About 10 minutes north of downtown. 

Another edit, they legalized a couple of years ago here and there are dispensaries all over, mostly in the burbs. If you're into that. 

Mack, for Dearborn I would make time for the HF Museum. It is awesome. Al Ameer for Lebanese. The Ford Garage is supposed to be very good. There is a sit down Buddy's in West Dearborn. Miller's Bar for burgers is a must. Don't go to Fairlane. 

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WhatTheBuck

WhatTheBuck 28613

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On 1/29/2024 at 5:37 PM, closetojumping said:

If we were to drive to Ann Arbor on gameday, how bad is the traffic on those occasions?

It’s pretty bad. It’s not a big city and doesn’t have the infrastructure to support the high volume of traffic that only occurs several weekends each year. Give yourself plenty of time. It’s slow going.

I don’t know when kickoff is. Will it be the big noon kickoff on FOX? Or a night game? I’m used to being there for noon kicks. We drive up and stay in Toledo on Friday then drive into AA early Saturday. Traffic is a bear but that’s a short drive. Hotel rates in and traffic from Toledo will probably be more modest for that game than they will be for Detroit. Just another option to consider. 

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Mack Tripper

Mack Tripper 691

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6 hours ago, Baboontyme said:

Mack, for Dearborn I would make time for the HF Museum. It is awesome. Al Ameer for Lebanese. The Ford Garage is supposed to be very good. There is a sit down Buddy's in West Dearborn. Miller's Bar for burgers is a must. Don't go to Fairlane. 

Thanks for the recs!

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Macanudo

Macanudo 12792

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On 1/29/2024 at 5:56 PM, Surly Bevo said:

I'm meeting up with Martin, an old high school buddy and staying over in Grosse Pointe.  Haven't seen him in years, not really sure what he has been up to.  Grosse Pointe is a little farther from Ann Arbor but is supposed to be pretty nice.

You can't go home again.   But you can shop there.

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ITHorn

ITHorn 777

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Began looking in the Fall and couldn't get anything decent in AA so Detroit it is. Planned on renting a car but am hoping that a party bus option emerges as things get closer. Surprising that someone locally hasn't jumped on that given that Ann Arbor is a road game opposing fans would want to hit.

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Baboontyme

Baboontyme 2752

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6 hours ago, Juicy said:

Those still looking for a hotel. This place isn't bad. Rip some golf the day before or after. Its half the distance from Detroit, and has good food and decent bars. 

https://www.saintjohnsresort.com/

Niece got married there in June. It is legit. I didn't check out the golf facilities but my daughter was a flower girl or something so she and my wife had a room and stayed the night. It's nice. Not luxurious but pretty damn nice. Steakhouse with a bar on site, as well. It's basically a wedding resort so if crashing weddings is your thing, get Chaz on the line and have him meet you there. Definitely a good rec if you're striking out downtown and in AA. 

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Brew

Brew 2917

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Flew into Ann Arbor last summer for a college visit with my oldest. It was a college town in the summer so take this for what it’s worth, but man the college area didn’t leave that great an impression. If I was going and looking for things to do, Detroit would be my pick.

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