Return to the stomping grounds...

I'm not sure how many of you have had the opportunity to return to the stomping grounds of your early 20's or college but I recently got the opportunity to do just that. Most people wouldn't list metro Detroit in their top 10, okay let's be honest, not even top 100 places to party but Detroiters have an ace in their pocket that few people outside the area even realize: Windsor. At the ripe old age of 19, Canadian's, who clearly mature 2 years faster then U.S. citizens, are legally old e

nough to drink alcohol. Windsor is a only stone's throw away from the metro area so while the rest of you were forced to either 1. procure a fake I.D., 2. drink illegally at house parties, or 3. bide your time until turning 21, we Detroiters and really anyone who felt like hopping on one of the many highways to the Ambassador Bridge or the tunnel could be in Canada drinking legally in under 30 minutes.

Well thanks to a long standing promise Nick and his brother Chris made back in their early 20's to their cousin Leslee who turned 19 just a few weeks ago I found myself back in Windsor last Saturday night. On our way to the tunnel Nick and I  figured out that it had been about 5-6 years since last stumbling down Ouellette Avenue in Windsor.  A lot can change in 5 years and we soon found out just how much had changed since our Windsor days.   After primping and doing a little pre-drinking at our hotel we asked the front desk for a map of the local bars.  We knew which bars we wanted to go to but we were a little rusty on their locations.  We first settled in for dinner and the Red Wings game at a cool sports bar called The Honest Lawyer.  We have a long standing tradition when the Wings games are on a weekend night which consists of taking shots for every goal they make.  On average this will only work out to be about one shot every hour for 2-3 hours since hockey isn't generally a high scoring game.  This game, however; proved to be quite different.  The first period landed us only one Red Headed Slut shot and we were eating and enjoying ourselves without it having much effect.  The second period began and over the course of the next 20 minutes four goals were made! Four goals!  When have you ever seen a hockey team score 4 goals in one period?!?  Needless to say, we started asking for fruity shots before we all ended up on the floor at 10pm. 

We decided it was safe to leave the game a few minutes early since the score was 5-0 and I asked to check out the map with the list of bars on it.  I was a bit confused when I first glanced down at it and  noticed that 2 of the bars I used to frequent had been crossed off the list.   We started walking in the general direction of the strip and I was shocked when we came upon a place that had once been a saloon style karaoke bar but is now covered in gleaming chrome, mirrors and black leather.  After a pit-stop there we went in search of trusty old Bentley's, 

a place that has so many memories of nights spent dancing, laughing, and meeting new people.  We were starting to wonder if we were lost when I saw Woody's across the street and realized that the spot where Bentley's once resided was now empty.  I asked a bouncer on the way into Woody's where Joker's was and he pointed across the street to an empty lot where the building had been knocked down.  Practically none of the places we used to spend our Friday's and Saturday's at were there anymore, everything had changed! 

 

Well not everything.

The bars we did end up in may have changed names, styles, Deejay's, drink specials, etc...but the people watching hasn't changed a bit.  I felt old but not entirely out of place when a few 19 year old boys tried to sidle up behind me for the "bump and grind" dance.  I doubt the freak dancing will ever truly die out, I mean what else would guys do at a dance club besides that? And no one better leave a comment about glow sticks, that is not an acceptable form of dancing unless your at a rave.  The younger girls still come out in large groups, all dressed alike, but somehow they look so much older then I remember us looking at that age.  The guys are still pounding shots and looking for a girl separated from her pack in order to try the sidle up move and in general everyone there is just out to have a good time.  It was strange being back in a town that had been our spot for at least 2-3 years straight 

when everyone there now doesn't have any idea about how it once was but I'm sure its the same in a lot of bar towns.  It turned out to be a really fun night and as a ode to some things NEVER changing, we ended up at the casino at 4am and lost a bunch of money.