Frankenmuth, and Christmas

The picture of the day had to be Troy in front of the sign at our hotel.  We discovered his name there by accident when we were returning from dinner at Zender's.  We quickly parked and returned for a few pictures in front of the sign.  It was a shame we were alone and could not get someone to snap a picture of us together.  There is another one of me there too.

Today we had a real collection of treats.  We started out by visiting the last of Troy's history on the way to Frankenmuth.  We went to Dryden to the cemetery where his great grand parents are.  He showed me the home where his great grandmother lived and took in boarders.  It was a pretty town and the house was still very well cared for.  The home is still in the family.

After that last bit of history, we moved on to Bronner's Christmas store.  This is acres of Christmas ornaments like no other store I have ever seen before.  I must have looked like I would drool at any moment.  I know I walked around with my mouth open half of the time.  Troy had to keep reminding me to look up as much as I looked around.  There was so much to take in that I grew tired from looking.  I do not mean I was tired of it like bored, but I was physically getting worn out from walking around this store looking at all they had.  It was enormous.  I have never seen so much Christmas in one place.  There is one thing that I did find particularly funny.  Before we left for vacation, I had looked the store up online.  I found veggie ornaments on the website.  In the store, there was a vegetable Christmas tree that had all the pickle ornaments I had seen online.  I never knew that anyone would ever possibly be interested in 15 different types of pickle ornaments.  I guess I just don't know what people want.  :)

Next, we moved on to town.  Frankenmuth is very much like Helen, GA but super-sized.  It was a perfect day for a visit.  The weather was cool and overcast but it never rained.  We were here on a weekday so we missed all the crowds.  After we walked into enough stores for me to mentally spend every penny I could ever possibly manage to earn in my life, we decided our feet hurt enough and went to check into our room.  It is a super room too.  We have the corner room and windows on both side looking out over the river.  It is so nice here that we are planning to sleep with the windows open.  There is a bird sanctuary nearby with peacocks.  Their calls may be interesting to try to sleep by.  I hope they sleep at night.

When we were all checked into our room we decided we would go out to dinner at Zenders and that was a treat like no other.  They brought out so much food.  It is a whole experience in itself to go to this place.  They start out with salads, soups, 3 breads, spreads, and jelly.  Then it is the main dishes of chicken, dressing, gravy, mashed potatoes, mixed veggies, and noodles.  Finally ice cream for dessert.  It was unreal all the food they give you.  It was too much and it was all you can eat.  I was really glad I was prepared for a big meal.  It was such a delight and I know I would only want to do that one or two times in my life.  Whew!  It was great though.  It was a beautiful place too.

After all that, we had to come back to the hotel to rest up and that is when I accidentally happened to notice Troy's name on the sign. We thought we might go back out, but I think it is over for the day.  We have gotten too comfy in this great room and feel the evening has called us in for rest.

Thanks to Kelly for the great room and for getting Troy's name put on the sign.

So tomorrow it is off to the far north to Mackinac!!!