Oh beautiful Motor City, we come to thee

Tomorrow at 6am, assuming the hurricane gets out of our damn way, we'll be flying to what was heretofore known as "secret birthday destination" and will henceforth be known as "Detroit." Detroit is a beautiful little place not too far from Guatemala that is particularly difficult to get to when you live in America, and we're planning to spend 10 days there doing all the things that Detroitians do -- drink rum, dance salsa and smoke, um, cigars.

Now we know what you're thinking: "They're going to Cuba!" No, no my friend. How dare you even think such a thing! Of course we wholeheartedly support our administration's policy that Cuba is a scary evil place whose lack of democracy represents a significant threat to Florida, Alabama, and all those other neighboring states that are teetering domino-like on the brink of Communism. And we believe fervently that it's completely logical and consistent to restrict travel to and trade with Cuba while encouraging trade and travel to anti-democratic, human-rights violating countries like, say, China. Anyone who says that the policy discrepancy has anything to do with China's overwhelming market opportunities for American companies and the presence of a rabid community of Cuban exiles in a certain Sunshine swing State should go back to listening to Air America.

That's why we're going to Detroit. Why would Rahul want to turn 30 in one of the world's most romantic, lusty, invigorating (oh let´s just say it, erotic) cities when he can instead blow out the candles in Detroit? Why would Meg, soon to be Dr. Meg, be interested in going to a developing country with a health care system so strong that people fly from countries throughout the Carribean to see the doctors there when she could instead check out the hospitals of Detroit? What could be the appeal of spending World Series week in the most baseball-mad country on Earth watching the Pearson family's beloved Astros battle against a team with two Cuban defectors on the pitching staff when instead we could watch the games in Detroit?

We sure don't know. That's why we're going to Detroit. Say it with us, Detroit. Dee-troit. Unfortunately, Detroit's email access is notorious throughout the region for being quite spotty, so there may not be too many updates between now and Nov. 2. But you never know. Detroit is full of surprises.