Au Bon Painful

Early this morning before dawn we washed up on Croc Island, a small traffic island in the middle of downtown Detroit. It was an unfortunate spot, and led to our worst finish line day this tour. We were well away from the main foot traffic from the finish line, and I have to wonder who we ticked off to get sent to the corner for time-out.



In my sleep-deprived state at five in the morning, this fountain was mesmerizing. It was particularly interesting because it would shoot up streams of water and then shoot a secondary stream to collide with the first one to make the water appear to explode in midair.



It was also cold out, and even with bundling up, we were still inclined to huddle up to conserve heat.



I also had one of the worst cafe experiences of my life this morning at Au Bon Pain. I had never experienced an Au Bon Pain before, but I'd heard they were supposed to be good. My experience doesn't jive with that reputation. They were understaffed, and the employees that were there were for the most part freaking out running around like chickens with their heads cut off doing nothing in particular. I waited to order a drink for nearly five minutes while one of them got angry looking for cream cheese. I decided to get some hot chocolate, and immediately regretted it as I watched them steam milk and add some Herseys chocolate syrup to it. I was willing to reserve judgement until after tasting it, but after tasting it I was not surprised to find it tasted like steamed milk with a hint of Herseys syrup. At least I got in and out before the line got obscenely long (below).



Our resident Texan had an interesting sense of style when it came to cold-weather gear.



After waiting around to sell approximately 4 pairs of shoes this morning, we headed back to the hotel and decided to try White Castle for lunch. I didn't really know what to expect, but apparently all they have are sliders (mini-burgers) and sides. Stephen decided we were getting a case of sliders (30 of them). We managed to finish 21 between five of us, but Nate and I were responsible for more than half of them. Somehow it was brought up that this supposed eating contest that's going to take place between Nate and I should be to each try to finish a case of 30. I hope they for get this idea quickly. I'd much rather attempt the 72oz steak than 30 greasy mini-burgers.



In other news, there are multiple honors for the caption contest for the last post. Derek for the obscene amount of word-play on Crocs, Joey for making me laugh the most, and my mom for identifying several things correctly (probably more than she knows), including picture #1.

That first photo is what happens when labor union rules get overcomplicated to the point of being absurd. We're not allowed to put down our own flooring at many expos in union buildings, so instead guys my dad's age show up and crawl around putting together our puzzle-piece floor that a four year old could figure out. And then charge us a large sum of money for their time.