May 28, 2019-Great Lakes Day 10

(click here for today's pictures)


It was a bit more difficult to wake up this morning. I was awake a little bit last night-Keaton kept talking in her sleep. I can’t remember what she was saying, but he would shout something out and then go on back to sleep.

Yesterday, when we ate in the breakfast area it was crowded, and they were running out of everything that we wanted. This morning we had the entire 100 seat breakfast area practically to ourselves. There was one other couple in the room with us.

We had loaded up the car before breakfast, so all we had to do was potty and load up. We spent the first hour finishing our audiobook. Then we told the kids that we would pass out their ipads when we bought gas. Then we slowly watched the miles to empty roll lower and lower. When we were at 20 miles until empty, Robby started searching on his phone since no gas stations had been at any of the exits.

We ended up having to go about 5 miles out of our way, but since we were done to 8 more miles, I think that it was worth the stop. We had about an hour to drive to make it to Frankenmuth, Michigan. It is a quaint little Bavarian town that has the World’s Largest Christmas Store.

We walked through the Bronner’s Christmas store. First, we found the Snow Village section and then we marveled that they really had every type of Christmas ornament possible. It was definitely something to see.  

Then we drove through the town and stopped at The Cheese Haus for some samples. Robby even bought some jalapeno spread. I will say that I have never tasted mint chocolate cheese before. It was definitely something different and definitely something that I don’t have to have again.

We then walked along the main street for a little bit. We stopped at one of the main Chicken restaurants and walked through the bakery. How could we go through a bakery without a little something to eat? I picked out a Bavarian Crisp for my snack, but we also tried a cinnamon roll, a cinnamon cobbler and pretzel. It was delicious!

Afterwards, we walked back towards our car. The kids really wanted ice cream again today, so Robby told them that we would just split our pastries and then we could find a Wendy’s for the fifty cent frosties. It was just a few miles down the road to Wendys after leaving Frankenmuth.

Robby ordered everyone frostys, and then I drove us on towards Dearborn. It was just about an hour and a half from there. I always somehow end up driving when the traffic gets a bit crazy and it definitely was. We were on a mission to get in at least one Model T ride today so we headed straight to Greenfield Village.

We love Greenfield Village-I get butterflies in my stomach when we walk through the gate just like I do at Disney World. It is like history Disney World. We climbed right on the old timey bus and rode to the Model Ts and jumped in the rather long line.

Campbell rode in the front of her car with Robby, Reagan and Graham. Whitman and Keaton both really wanted to ride in the front of our car so they squeezed in while Anderson and I rode in the back. The weather was completely different today than it had been for days-sunny and warm-almost hot.

After our Model T ride through the little town, we walked to the carousel. We rode the carousel one time, and Robby offered for the kids to ride again. However, they wanted to play on the playground for the last 5 minutes that Greenfield Village was open.

We then walked out soaking up the sights and sounds of the place. Tomorrow and Thursday there are huge rain chances so we may not be able to visit the Village too much. Whitman was so disappointed when we made it to the car and we didn’t go to the museum. He will get plenty of time at the museum over the next two rainy days.

On our way out, we stopped by the gift shop. I so love gift shops even though we never buy anything...except for an occasional ornament or two. At the Ford gift shops, I love looking at the books and then trying to see if they are at our library. Of course the kids hate all of this, but I just love the library. (Seriously, maybe I could get a job there when the kids are grown and gone.)

Our hotel was just about 10 minutes from the Village so we headed on to our hotel to unload. It was a bit chaotic, but we were soon back in the car. We met the Heltz at a local Culvers for supper. Today was Michael’s birthday so not only did we have hamburgers and ice cream, but we also had strawberry cake so he could blow out his candles.

After we ate, the adults sat outside while the kids played on the nearby parking lot. We were there long enough for most of my kids to have to go back in to the restaurant to use the bathroom. They had lot of fun tonight and once we were back at the hotel, Robby headed to get the car washed and vacuumed out.

Whitman, Keaton and Graham went with him while I stayed with the others. We changed into our pjs and caught up on some tv. When they returned, Graham had a shower and Whitman immediately wanted his bath. Hopefully the weather will change tomorrow, and we can play at Greenfield Village all day long.

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