My wife and i are flying from new orleans to detroit on a thursday evening. We will catch a Tigers game the following evening, heading west to Saugatuck on Saturday. We are looking for suggestions on where to stay the two nights near Detroit. We are more interested in staying perhaps in a small town on, say, Lake Erie, rather than in Detroit metro...or perhaps an interesting suburban community. We like being near the water, art galleries, nice restaurants in a safe and lively atmosphere. Can you help??

It's been a few years since I was there, but I used to stay in Ypsilanti when I wanted to go into Detroit without staying inthe city.
Further afield the small college towns of Adrian and Hillsdale are nice.

If you're flying into Detroit, why not stay in Detroit? There's plenty to do in the downtown area like Greektown, the casinos, and several clubs like Hockeytown Cafe and the Town Pump are always busy.

For hotels, there's the Marriott, Courtyard, Hilton Garden Inn and Athenium. A couple miles north of downtown is the Inn on Ferry Street. It's a B&B housed in several historic homes just north of the Art Institute.

There are several hotels in Dearborn which is much closer than Ypsi, only about 10 mins to downtown. There are also lots of great Arabic restaurants there.

another thing to consider would be to stay in Windsor, Ontario. Even with crossing the border, it is no more than 30 minutes I would say from downtown windsor to Comerica Park where the tigers play.

You dont' need a passport, but you would need a birth certificate and photo i.d. (like a driver's license)

We have a beautiful park by the river that you can walk along (paved paths), a casino, amazing Italian restaurants on Erie Street (our little Italy).

there are some great small towns within a 30 minute to 1 hour drive. There is also a great provincial park about 45 minutes away (point pelee)

after looking at this again last night, Dearborn may be a good location that suits our needs. any suggestions on intersting things to do in that area to fill the day before the Tigers game?

The Henry Ford Museum is an interesting way to spend the day. Beautiful park like setting with "living history" exhibits.

I agree - The Henry Ford is a great way to spend the day.

There is a Ritz Carlton in Dearborn, as well as The Dearborn Inn - both lovely.