"Take Him to Detroit!"

"And as for my American friend, the CIA thinks it can infiltrate the mountain of Dr. Klan."

"You can't scare me..."

"Take him to Detroit"

(Yelling) "No... not Detroit. No... no, please... anything but that! No, no, noooo..."

That was probably one of the most famous scenes in the cult classic, The Kentucky Fried Movie, and probably the first thing I think of when someone mentions Detroit. And yet, that's where we find ourselves today, waiting in the Northwest Airlines lounge for our connecting flight. We're flying from the land of eternal spring, Detroit, to sunny Syracuse.

I can't speak for the city... I don't really ever have any business in Detroit and wouldn't know what to do here if I did. I know that the health of Detroit's economy (and many other manufacturing towns in the north) is not that great but that's about it. Thousands upon thousands of laid-off auto industry employees can't help.

Zipping through DTW (airchive.com)

Otherwise, my sole experience in this city has been at Detroit Metropolitan Airport. I can't speak for the other terminals but Concourse A is really well laid out - about a mile long but connected with a slick red NWA train that moves from between one of three points in the terminal. There are several shopping options and several restaurants, including a good Mediterranean option for those who eschew fast-food.

The NWA lounge, though a bit cramped (it's large... just filled with seating, which is a good thing), has a coffee/cappucino machine (nice), cookies, juice, water and fresh fruit. A nice place to take a break and catch up on e-mail via wireless. In a few short hours, we'll be driving through in upstate New York and then across the border into Ontario.