Reflections & Bonus Pics #atozchallenge

Woohoo!  I made it thru!  

Thank you so much to all of the A-Z co-hosts for all of their hard work putting this challenge together!  

I've been participating in the A-Z Challenge since 2012, when I dove right in with 3 blogs.  

That was pretty ambitious!

2012 / 2013 - 3 blogs.  I've since combined 2 of them into what you see now & the other is Halloween related

2014 / 2015 - the original 2 blogs that are now combined.  I had also started doing the Countdown to Halloween linkup in October so I didn't feel guilty about dropping MGC from the A-Z.  It was just too much!

2016-2018 - just this one.  

OK, I (shamefully) didn't do a whole lot of visiting or answering comments.  I started out good - then crapped out quickly. And that showed in the amount of comments I had on my posts.  My own damn fault.  I have a few usual people who commented a lot - much love to you all!  Thank you for not deserting me!

 I had vast majority of my posts done ahead of time, only a couple I finished up on the same day they went live.   I didn't get as many regular posts written as I would have normally would have.  I don't know why life has gotten crazy in April the last couple years and I've felt like I don't have time to do anything!  

But the Spawn is finally aging out of her competition dance team, as much as we'll both miss it - Halleloo!  Of course this year was especially insane, since I joined the VFW in February and they have meetings twice a month that I still feel obligated to attend every one.  Then my sister talked me into applying for the county sheriff's new search & rescue team and we were both accepted - I really had no idea how much training this would entail!  

So.  With luck, 2019 will be my best year ever (aka I'll finally have my crap together!)  

Let's begin the list of things I should have done differently and have already jotted down reminders on my spreadsheet for next year....  

*VISIT & COMMENT

*Have posts go live at UTC, like the co-hosts did.  That's 7pm EST for me and that would actually be ideal, since I could post all my links before I go to bed instead of trying to remember to doing it the next day whenever I got a chance. 

*Add a column to my personal A-Z idea spreadsheet to check off where I posted my link (on the FB post / A-Z blog comments / Google docs, etc)  Too many times I couldn't remember if I'd already posted my link on this place or the other.

*Learn permalinks!  Altho I couldn't find any tutorial other than someone else's comment on a blog post and the resulting answer.  But duly noted!

*Make sure to read & watch all the instructions!  I was stressed out because the daily letter signups closed after 48 hours.  If I'd read/watched the instructions - I would known how to access the list of daily letter links!  

I really enjoyed doing my theme about Detroit,  It really is quite a lovely place with so many interesting and historical people & places.  I know I didn't even make a dent in them on this A-Z!  In retrospect - I should have included a brief history of Detroit in my theme reveal.   And it's kind of, but not ~too~ much of a departure of my usual posting.  

My original idea to do this theme came to me midway thru the 2016 challenge!  And I thought to actually have photos of each place that I took myself, but that didn't happen.  But I made sure to get down there before the last few letters of the alphabet.  I posted some of these photos under their respective letters, but not all of them. 

  

You have to admit - I had the easiest X post ever!

Awesome places - both of them!  

This was the view from the parking lot at Xochimilco's.   I also didn't realize then how close to the historical Fort Wayne we were.  That would have been a cool place to check out, too.   It's supposed to be haunted. 

OMG, I've always been fascinated with Michigan Central Station!

I'd seen it 100 times from the highway and was so excited to see it up close & personal.

I was / still am in awe of the gorgeous carvings. 

I'm not sure what this actually is - but you can tell it was for the trains. 

Grace to Grace Christian Fellowship  

Kinda of across the street / kitty corner from Michigan Central - we (Miss Angela was with me) actually thought this was painted black and we laughed about it being a satanic church, but it's really a very deep green.  The cornerstone was dated 1872.  And what little stained glass that is still intact is absolutely beautiful.  

There was some construction debris behind the Grace to Grace Church, and this food(??) truck was parked on the other side of it. 

After visiting Michigan Central, we ventured into Campus Martius. 

This wall was over a skate park and also our landmark of where we parked the car!

The Michigan Soldiers & Sailor Monument (and time capsule)

The Wayne County Building

After wandering around Campus Maritus, we saw Joe Louis's fist.  I knew were were close to the river but didn't realize that close!  So we walked the 2 blocks to Hart Plaza and the Detroit River. 

Antoine De Mothe Cadillac

I love this shot!

Inside the Main Amphitheater in Hart Plaza.

Transcending - Detroit's Monument to the Labor Movement. 

There is a plane & pilot, a train & conductor and a freighter & captain carved here.  

We had some fun trying to recreate old photos.

2009 / 2018

2009

This one was pretty darn spot on!

(question to ponder - has she really not gotten any taller since she was 11???)

 2018

Selfie with Windsor!

We saw a couple of these rolling pedal pubs around the area and they looked like a total hoot!  This group stopped and danced in front of the Spirit of Detroit!

By the time we got to the corner, they had broken off into 3 couples and were waltzing!  

Our last stop was the YMCA to see this statue.  But due to a LOT of construction in the area, one way streets and the influx of people for evening entertainments, I wasn't able to actually STOP and take as good of a picture was I wanted.  So this was taken in a hurry, zoomed way in, while I was stopped at a red light.   But I got it!

I'm pretty disappointed in myself for the lack of visiting / commenting / replying.  I really need to do the RoadTrip in order to redeem myself a little bit. 

See ya there!