Relax, I don't live in Detroit

Some folks have expressed concern about us, since we have moved to the larger Detroit Metro area.  Everyone can relax.  We don't live in or near metro Detroit.  We certainly don't live in a half burned out bank repo that we bought for $5.  This is our house, courtesy of Bing Maps.

We have one neighbor on each side, and a nice subdivision behind us.  Chesterfield Rd. is generally pretty quiet, but traffic picks up some in the evenings, but I would classify it as akin to a bit more than Sardis Road.  That blue shape at the bottom of the picture is the elementary school where Janelle will attend Kindergarten this fall.  They also have a really nice playground where we can take the kids when school is out.  Because we live across from the school the Chesterfield PD patrols by here quite regularly and, as we learned in Idaho, we'll be first on the list for snow plows.

The house is a split level ranch, with the master bedroom and a nursery that is now my computer room on the ground floor.  The upper level belongs to the kids.  Their bedrooms are on the right end of the house and there is a big room over the garage that is their "playroom".  The basement is a true basement, not a walkout, and it's finished.  There is a nice living area down there and the huge guest bedroom.  The best part is, rent is about 25% less than our DC Townhouse.

I'm about 15 minutes from work at Selfridge Air National Guard Base, and about 20-30 minutes from Detroit Arsenal, when I need to go down there.  There is a Texas Road House and a Meijer about a mile down the road.  (Meijer is like a Super WalMart).  There is a Lowe's, Dick's, and Best Buy just around the corner from Meijer.  There is a Super Walmart and a Menards, which is like a "Super Home Depot", less than 5 miles away.  We can also travel the 4 miles south to Hall Rd (also M59), and find any restaurant you'd ever think you might want within 15 miles or so.  Despite our proximity to the consumer center at Gratiot Rd and 23 Mile Rd, that mile makes all the difference in the world. 

My only regret is my 21" push mower.  I love that Honda OHC engine (you can't bog that engine down), but a 21" cutting path is a lot of pushing around that yard.  However, I'm not going to invest in a rider to solve a 3 year problem.  The guy I'm replacing is going to sell me his snow blower for the winter months.  I learned that lesson in Idaho.

Bottom line, we live in the best of suburbia.  No worries.