Hi peeps.

 

I am going to Ann Arbor (solo) this Friday and Saturday for my friend's graduation from his medical residency program, marking the end of a long journey of education and training - he is officially a doctor now!

 

I am going up very early on Friday and plan to hit Zingerman's and buy a ton of stuff (including a father's day present for DH - hotel has a fridge), but I will have the rest of the day free on Friday and I think some time free on Saturday as well.

 

Other than Zingerman's, can you guys make any recommendations for me of cool stuff to check out? Cool for me means funky little shops selling hippie type items, a band that's playing that night, a cool bar (NOT a sports bar), good locally owned restaurants or shops, coffee shops, a good restaurant for dinner, etc.

 

All due respect to my UO peeps, I am not interested in seeing neighborhoods or architecture or what have you. Just shopping, eating, maybe a nice park to take a walk in.

The campus itself is picturesque.  One of the nicest in the country IMO.  I would recommend taking a walk around it.  All / most of the shops and eateries are right by campus and it is all very walkable.  Most of the action will be S State St and to the west, between E Huron and E William St.

thx Hts. I unfortunately couldn't get a hotel right in Ann Arbor. Have no idea about safety/security around the campus - if I park my car and leave it for a few hours walking about, I assume it will be fine?

I can't really say.  I spent one summer there about 15 years ago.  My sister went to school there.  You can probably find someone more knowledgeable.  I do recall being surprised after learning that over 100,000 people live in AA.  IMO, it has more of a small town vibe.  A few wannabes wandering around thec commercial district that I can remember, but where don't you run into that?

cool. I'm getting info from other avenues, of course, just wanted to cast a line here as well. Thx.

The campus itself is picturesque.  One of the nicest in the country IMO.  I would recommend taking a walk around it.  All / most of the shops and eateries are right by campus and it is all very walkable.  Most of the action will be S State St and to the west, between E Huron and E William St.

 

Michigan is a great school and all but "picturesque" is not how I would describe the campus other than the law quad which is magnificent.  In my opinion it is one of the least picturesque of all the Big Ten campuses (along with Minnesota).  If I recall correctly the undergrad library is even nicknamed UGLI.  Michigan State has it beat by far for good looks as do many other Big Ten schools.

 

Ann Arbor is great and does have a hip but small town feel despite the fact it is over 100,000 people.  Very walkable, lots of restaurants, bars and galleries in town.  Always felt safe pretty much every where.

Thank you!

Ann Arbor almost feels like it has two separate small "downtowns".  One centers around State St. by the campus and the other centers on Main St.  The restaurants and shops around Main St. are much more upscale than the ones around the campus.

 

I wouldn't worry about parking a car for a few hours in Ann Arbor.  It feels very safe whenever I'm there.

thank you!

I've lived in Ann Arbor for 6 years but left in 2009.  Alot has changed since! 

 

Good call on Zingermans.  I'd pass through the farmers market in the morning on your way in Kerrytown.  Coffee shops to check out would be Sweetwaters in Kerrytown and Lab Coffee on Liberty Street near state. 

 

For bars, Grizzly Peak, Jolly Pumpkin, Heidelberg, and Ashleys.  Ashleys has all sorts of obscure beers from all over the world.  Heidelberg has this cool old world castle dungeon feel in the basement.  Grizzly Peak is your typical brewpub.  Jolly Pumpkin is a microbrew but I've never been there, but heard great things.  None of these bars are college / sports hangouts....and their tv count is very low.  Mainly townies, visitors, and older grad students go there just socialize and have great quality drinks.

 

As far as gift shops, you'll find a few places on main st as well as a ton of shops in the Kerrytown Market (2nd floor) near Zingermmans. 

 

For a nice stroll, walk down Liberty Street east to State Street and head south, cut through The Diag on campus.  But upon reaching south university, head West on toward the law quad and cut through there.  You can head back north on state the way you came.  Michigan's Central campus is very compact and the walk distances are short...but it's a pleasant experience.

 

I'm not going to debate the merits of U of M's campus quality.  It's subjective and that debate belongs in another thread.  But it's a nice play to say the least.

 

For lunch or even dinner I would hit up frita bantidos. It's a restaurant run by eve aronoff who was on top chef season 6 http://fritabatidos.com/. fast casual style (order first at counter then sit and they bring it out to you) also sells alcohol.

Thank you!

I will throw another vote for the Jolly Pumpkin which is on S. Main. I was in Ann Arbor about a year ago (for a little over a week) and it was my favorite bar/restaurant in the city. Great staff, locally sourced food and beer made in house.

It turns out my friend is crazy and has decided to pay for me to stay at a hotel much closer than the one I was going to be in - I'll be at the University Inn, which is apparently quite close to Zingerman's so yay.

I've had plenty of Jolly Pumpkin beer, they are great if you like the funky/sour/farmhouse type ale.

I'm not much of a beer drinker, for sure, but anywhere that has liquor works! :)

not sure if yr still there, but if so go see tish hinojosa at the ark tonight.

 

i think the blind pig is still going too? we used to go see mitch ryder and other bands there.

 

whatja get at zings??

 

I'm back from my trip, left Sunday morning.

 

At Zingerman's, I got some Arkansas black pepper bacon (for DH), a loaf of italian bread, some brownies (for me), some chocolate cookies (for little RNR), some graham crackers (for my Mom), some Virginia peanuts (DH) and some piri piri sauce for DH, so we can finally make piri piri chicken. The sauce, peanuts and bacon were his father's day present.

good score. you are going to bbq that chicken on the grill yes? thats the way i am familiar with having it, but im sure it would be great roasting in the oven too.

 

anything else to recommend in aa from your trip? i might get up there this summer. thx!

 

The goal would be to do it on a grill, but since we are not allowed to grill at our place, we would have to go to a park and the chicken dish likely is going to take a long time, so not sure when we can do it. We might end up just trying to do it in the oven or maybe the broiler or something.

 

I don't have a lot of recommendations as the trip was kind of weird. If I had known that 99% of the time I would be on my own, I would have packed differently, researched more and gone and done more than I did. As it was, I spent a lot of time waiting around for them to be done doing what they were doing any minute now so they could pick me up and we could go do something. After lunch on my own when I arrived (zingerman's deli) I spent about 3 hours on Friday waiting for the wife to pick me up, where we went for coffee and she told me they had to go to a work dinner that night, she didn't know about it previously and they would see me afterwards around 9. So I went to Zingerman' sRoadhouse for dinner by myself. Then waited around, they picked me up at 10:15, we drove to a parking garage, they parked, we got out, and the wife got a call and we had to leave (they are both surgeons and always on call). Saturday was much the same - mostly me waiting around for them to be done any minute.

 

I didn't bring proper walking shoes or shorts/pants, just a casual lounging type skirt and a couple of pairs of flip flops and then the dressy dress for the friday dinner we went to which was his graduation recognition dinner. So I was kind of confined from walking too far. The area near where I was is very collegiate so lots of coffee shops and bars and restaurants but not much else going on. I did enjoy a very good brunch at Sava with them on Saturday.

oh no - ive been stuck like that before. aggravating.

 

hmm, maybe we will just stick with a tigers or mudhens game or head up to tc.