Thanksgiving in America's High Five

Maral and Farouk Salahi are the generous, funny, welcoming parents of my best friend Lara who, for a second year now, invited me to spend Thanksgiving with their family in Michigan. So Wednesday morning I drove from Iowa to Chicago and spent a few hours checking out the Field Museum of natural history. Then I kept driving until I hit Rochester Hills, MI. That night I slept for 11 hours straight. It was glorious. Thanksgiving at their house was a treat with turkey and the usual suspects, plus special treats like pomegranate.


It turns out that my team leader friend Buck lives about an hour away from Lara's parents, so we were able to meet up with him for a tour of his hometown, Brighton. We hung out with his dad for a bit during which time he questioned whether I am a "red blooded American" due to the fact that I don't like beer, baseball or hot dogs and drove up in a foreign-made car (he worked at Ford for 30 years). What a hoot. Here we are with a reportedly controversial naked guy statue and Buck's buddies, the town ducks.



Over the weekend the Salahis took me to Greektown where you can experience Greek culture, food, and music, or... just gamble. haha I had moussaka, a baked eggplant dish, and for an appetizer they brought us a plate of flaming cheese. Then to round out the trip Mama Salahi won $70 bucks at the slots.



Shukran, Salahis!!! (Thanks a ton for a great visit!)