Oh, Denise, a lighthouse for you! I was thinking of you when I snapped this one!
Beautiful view of Lake Huron
Wednesday evening after my nail appointment, my niece, Debbie, showed me this neat little park called Diamond Trail Park. It has a nice 1 mile paved trail around through the field & woods to walk, bike, scooter, in-line skate, whatever. With us talking, it took no time at all to walk that mile! Oh Toni, I long for those days!!!!
On Friday, the 17th, Deb surprised me by taking the day off & we went to Frankenmuth, MI. I hadn't been there in years. This was outside the Silent Night Memorial Chapel at Bronner's Christmas Shops.
Silent Night Memorial Chapel
Deb in front of the North Pole Farm Float
Outside the south end of Bronner's Christmas Shops
At South Entrance
Carriage rides throughout the town.
Deb & I had a delicious lunch at the Bavarian Inn. Had entertainment & the waiters & waitress were dressed in native costume. Deb thought Aaron would look good in his Alpine Shorts as a waiter. Ya, right! Don't think that tractor boy would do that!
Another carriage
The flowers throughout the town were beautiful!
This is the little boy & girl on one side of the Inn. On the other side there is a clock that strikes on the hour & they come out & kiss there. We went out & watched & was going to take a picture, but they only come out on certain hours of the day & we missed it. We were there at 1pm & they came out at 3pm. When we went back in our soup was on the table, so we were already to eat!
Downtown Frankenmuth, MI
Couldn't resist the close ups
Next we went across the street to the Fudge Kitchen. I love to watch them make this. Young guys working, but I was watching them make the fudge! The guy on the right was cutting a batch of butter pecan. He looked like Russ W. from back home! The guy in the middle had just taken these 4 metal sides from a another marble slab where vanilla fudge was cooling. They just keep cleaning & moving these from marble table to marble table.
He then keeps stirring/shoveling around the edges until the right temperature/consistency is reached.
You can see it becoming thicker & thicker. It looks like it is going to run off the sides. He said he has done it for about 3-1/2 yrs. & he's had a few run over the edge.
Getting closer
Pretty fancy designs just by flipping the spatula over all the way down the roll. Just about ready to cut. He took some off the end & gave us all a sample. Ummmmm Good!
Pouring a another batch on the middle slab.
This is how they add the peanut butter. Then they mix it in as it cools after he has removed the form.
This was a neat thing outside of one of the shops. You looked through the end (like a telescope) & spun the pot of flowers & it was a kaleidoscope. Beautiful! How would you like that in your garden?
I promised myself I was going to have an "all girl" day with Debbie today & wouldn't you know, every shop we went into they had "John Deere" items. This store had a yellow Christmas tree with John Deere ornaments. I guess I didn't meet my goal for this day. She is surrounded by a loving husband & son..........all John Deere & trucks!!!!
The covered bridge
When we went to come back across, we had to wait for this camper.
Typical building in the town
Friday evening after we got back from Frankenmuth, Aaron went to a tractor pull & Deb, Gary, Bill & I went to Port Sanilac for supper. Had a great meal. After we went for a ride along Lake Huron & this is one of the pictures I took that shows some very dark clouds & a wee bit of pink setting sun that we saw very little of that day.
So serene. These were taken from Forester County Park
Just for you LaVon
On Saturday we tried to contact all of my oldest sister's boys & husband. No one was home so I left them all messages. Judy (in middle of picture) called me to say Bob & Larry were at the mini tractor pull in Marlette. Bill & I decided to make a trip into town to see them all in one place. Larry is on the left & you can only see the top of Bob's white hat beyond Bill.
This is Chanity & Candice (Larry's granddaughter & daughter) getting ready for the 50/50 drawing.
This is Larry's grandson, Ashtyn who pulls in the garden tractor division.
See that dimple in his chin? I think he's related to the Wiltsie's!
Ashtyns' dad William, pulls in the bigger league. Yow, the noise was worse than a jet engine! I thought Oceana Naval Air Station was bad!
The back of Chanity's shirt shows the name of the group of pullers for the mini tractors. She has a tractor that she pulls with too; it's pink, but she was having some problems with it so she didn't pull on this day.
Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end! We had to leave our beautifully groomed Morden Campground to head north to Mio, MI for our next visit. Here Deb, Gary & Aaron pose for a farewell from their home/campground. We appreciated all they did for us while we were there. Even though we had our own "home", they let us use their facilities when we needed, including laundry facilities! That was a blessing! We made some more memories to add to our traveling lifestyle.
As we are heading north on Interstate 75 we saw many, many trailers & lots of traffic heading south. Going back after a "weekend up North". This was a real "All American Trailer"! Love to see that Eagle & Flag!!!
More traffic
Here we are at Mio Pine Acres in Mio, Michigan. This is the first campground that we've ever stayed in that you "pay when you leave". The older gentleman that checked us in has been here almost 20 years. He had us fill out a little square 2x2" yellow sticky pad paper with our name, address, phone number & told us to pick out a site from the ones he gave us. When I got ready to pay & told him we were Good Sam members, he said catch us on the way out. Now that is trust!Bill and Sue came out on Sunday night after we got set up. Bill got some firewood & we sat around and caught up on the last 3 years since we'd seen each other. The last time we were here was when my sister passed away in August 2006. When we drove through Rose City I had a very hard time. That is where she was in the Nursing Home prior to her death. I told Bill, I wish we were coming to see her. I really miss seeing her when we are in this area. It just doesn't seem the same. We have a lot of happy memories of "coming up North" to see her.
Here my nephew Bill is trying to help Bill pull the cork from a bottle of wine. Now that's leverage!! He got it out!!! Linda, this was one of those bottle from Illinois! They really had them stuck in there!
Bill's wife, Sue, says I'll drink my water. I think we did end up having some though. It was good, but one glass is enough. We had to sit around the fire as it was starting to cool off quite a bit. Bill said next time, don't buy the wood, he has a lot that we can use.
So, until I get the next batch up pictures downloaded, I've got you almost caught up to date! I would have downloaded the pictures, but my batteries went dead yesterday while in Alpena. Even the spares were dead. Darn! I missed some good pictures too!We will be leaving here on Thurs. to head back south to Midland, MI.
So, until next time..................The Traveling Cardinal's
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