Friday July 8, 2011-Addison Oaks County park

Another cool morning here in Michigan-I bet those of you back in Texas are tired of hearing me say that, aren't you? Just reporting the facts...

We went over to visit Frankenmuth MI this morning with Ted and Donna. I drove to learn the way around here and to figure out how to get to the highway that we will be taking on Sunday when we go to Traverse City. It was a nice day for a drive and we cut through some pretty country before getting onto a freeway to arrive in Frankenmuth.

When we got to Frankenmuth, which is described as a "Little Bavaria", we visited the Broner's Christmas Wonderland. This place has every kind of Christmas decoration that you can imagine including Christmas trees, wreaths, ribbons, and more decorations than could be counted. Donna was looking for a special wreath but couldn't find one that suited her. She and Stella bought some small items but somehow Ted and I resisted our shopping impulses and didn't make a purchase.

From the Christmas store, we went to eat lunch at one of two famous restaurants there, The Bavarian Inn and Zehnder's. Both are owned by the Zehnder family and feature a shared kitchen which is located under the street that separates the two restaurants. I've never heard of anything like that but will take Ted's word for it. The meal was good and since it's an all-you-can-eat place, there was plenty for everyone. We all had their famous broasted chicken and Ted and I added another meat, Ted had schnitzel and I had bratwurst.

We walked around the area and tried to walk off some of our lunch. We went into a fudge store and of course, Stella had to buy an assortment of fudge. We stayed to watch the Pied Piper skit that was performed by figures on one of the balconies of the Bavarian Inn. It drew a large crowd and occurs on the hour. I'm not sure how old the figures are, but the show was interesting. Ted told me that the area looks much like Germany and was very pretty with large amounts of flowers, one in the shape of a chicken.

As we left, I drove over a very old wooden covered bridge that was built without nails. It is held together with wooden dowels and is 239 feet long and weighs approximately 230 tons. It is open to both auto and pedestrian traffic. I was a bit uncomfortable driving over the bridge in my big 'ol truck, but we made it.

We made the easy drive back to the park and after a naptime, we met outside at Ted's firepit where we had another campfire. Ted has done a good job of scrounging up firewood for us to burn every night and we have enjoyed it.

So long.