Erin’s 2004 Detroit Thanksgiving Extravaganza [PHOTOS & VIDEO]

I can only remember two times my family didn't have a regular Thanksgiving. I know one year, we ate at a local restaurant (The Bannister House for my OC folks!) and the other? I went to Detroit with two of my best friends, Summer and Jennifer, for a couple of concerts and sightseeing. In a word, unforgettable.

I took the week off from work and I drove to Nashville to meet up with my friends at their place. Believe it or not, it only takes about eight hours, from Nashville, to get to Detroit. One of the most unusual attractions I saw on the road, the big Jesus statue off I-75 in Monroe, Ohio. Four years ago, the statue was struck by lightning and it burned, yikes! They rebuilt and it looks a little different now. If that wasn't an ominous beginning to our trip, this happened the Friday before we got there.

Okay, picture time! You'll notice a couple of these have a car window in the way. It was raining and it eventually snowed one night. First, Motown.

The Monument to Joe Louis, the boxer. It's also known as "The Fist".

I talked about concerts. The night we got there, we went to see super group Velvet Revolver (our second time seeing them) at a theater in the suburb of Mount Clemens. It was my first mosh pit experience and I almost got us kicked out when I tried to stop a cat fight. Whew! At a standing room only show, you have to constantly jock for position and some of the ladies there were NOT giving up their spots. We went a little sightseeing one day and this is one of the elevators in the historic Fisher Building.

Did we go to GM? Yes, alas, I can't find any of my pictures. Moving on, this is a shot from the store Pure Detroit.

This next attraction is really neat. My friend heard about a street where there was a house decorated entirely with pennies, well, we ended up visiting an awesome community called The Heidelberg Project. Here's the Number House.

And Dotty Wotty

On Thanksgiving, we had to eat turkey somewhere, so we ended up going to the Cracker Barrel nearby, not the same, but it was pretty good. That night, we went back to Mount Clemens for an Uncle Kracker show; he used to perform every Thanksgiving night in his hometown. This show had less drama, although one woman in the audience kept shouting at Kracker to sing a certain song, I thought my friend Jennifer was going to punch her lights out!

As you can see, I made it back home safe and sound.

I miss that coat. Have a very Happy Thanksgiving!