Monday, February 23, 2009

Ann Arbor Adventurist - Day 1

As promised, I set off yesterday in search of adventure in my college town, Ann Arbor. There's this neat grocery store up in Kerrytown called People's Co-Op that I've been meaning to visit so that was the first step on this adventure.


I don't think I've seen so many organic products in my entire life. After making it past all the locally-grown fruit and vegetables, organic pasta, and trail mix I stumbled upon the hygiene section. Did you know that there are ORGANIC FEMININE PRODUCTS!? I was astounded. I did not however, take a photo. I didn't want to seem like a creep. I then found some Meatless Jerky that did sort of taste like beef jerky, and some Acai berry juice. I ended up buying the Jerky and Acai juice, along with some Michigan Gala apples. Only down side of buying locally-grown food in February - it's out of season and you tend to get the bottom of the barrel. I think next time I'll just buy the genetically modified food at Meijer.

After doing some light grocery shopping I walked next door to Cafe Verde and ordered an energy bomb juice drink. I think it is suppose to be fruity, because it had apples and oranges in it, but it also had carrots and ginger... so it tasted more like a vegetable juice drink. It was okay, but I don't think I'll ever order one again...



On the way back I stopped by a bookstore and talked to the owner about the joys and hardships of being a bookseller (especially in this struggling economy) and walked out with a Hardcover 35th Anniversary Edition of The Phantom Tollbooth for $4.00 (most listings have it priced at $25.00 if dust-jacket is present and in good condition). I haven't read this book since I was 8 but I remember thinking it was one of the best books I had ever read. I'm hoping I'll have sometime later this week to re-read it.



On my way back to the dorm, I noticed some new graffiti tags by Duck and Swallow. I started noticing their tags sometime back in September. I have no idea if it is one person or two person, but in my imagination Duck & Swallow are a renegade couple that run around Ann Arbor tagging things together as an expression of their love. This is probably not true, but it's a game of mine to notice when they tag something new. I'm not really sure when they did this one, because it was on a street that I don't walk on often, but I like it because there is a picture as well as the taggers signatures.



Another interesting I found was a house with a half address. I always assumed something like this could only be found in a Harry Potter novel, but apparently they really exist. I think it's an old frat-house but it didn't look like anyone lived there now.



I'm not sure where I will go for my next adventure. I spent today catching up on some phone calls and homework, but hopefully tomorrow will be more exciting. I'm thinking about doing a run out to Gallup Park so maybe I'll find a way to carry my camera with me I can snap some shots of the Huron River.

I hope everyone is having a great spring break, preferably somewhere warmer than here!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh my goodness! I didn't know the Food Co-op was still around. How cool is that? Alan and I both worked at it back in it's early days (around 1973). Is it's slogan still "Food for people, not for profit"?

Karl Jansen said...

The Phantom Tollbooth was my favorite book too! I think I read it in middle school though, so I was probably older than 8 by then.