We're so proud of him, we could bust!
Frankenmuth
We had been debating for a couple of days as to our Spring Break destination. We knew we had to go somewhere; we just weren't sure where.
Our original idea was to head towards Mackinac Island, which is only a six hour drive north, and spend the night so that we could visit several interesting sites, including the Sault Ste. Marie locks and the Maritime Museum at Whitefish Bay, but there were financial considerations which prevented that plan from being implemented.
Then there was the weather. Most of the week was cold, and it started raining on Thursday, and the rain kept up through Friday. So we didn't go anywhere until Saturday. And by that time, we'd come up with an alternate plan.
We used to enjoy visiting the Bavarian village in Leavenworth, Washington; it's quite a popular venue for people wishing to enjoy hiking, mountain climbing, skiing, and German food and drink. Michigan has their own version of this in the city of Frankenmuth, which is just a few miles south of Saginaw, and only a couple hours from Grand Rapids. Frankenmuth is famous for restaurants which feature Bavarian-style family chicken dinners, a big wooden covered bridge, and a huge Christmas store which is open year round.
It made for a good day trip.
Being so early in the season, we were a bit surprised at the number of people who were there, but the extra crowds may have been due to some sort of Pirate convention which was taking place. We never saw the actual convention, but there were lots and lots of people in costume wandering around - men dressed as Jack Sparrow or Blackbeard, women dressed as barmaids or female buccaneers. It was fun seeing them all over the place.
We walked through quite a few shops, finding some bakery items to sample and some jewelry for the girls; then we had lunch at the local brewery/pizza place. We decided not to do the chicken dinner thing because (1) we weren't really that hungry, and had been warned that the Bavarian family dinners were quite huge; (2) those restaurants were back down at the other end of town where we'd started, and the pizza place was right in front of us when the kids started complaining of hunger pains; and (3) given the choice, we knew the kids would choose pizza over chicken dinners.
After lunch, we turned around and headed back down the other side of the street, taking a little detour to go over the wooden bridge, and stopping for fudge (for all), ice cream (for the kids) and mocha (for Cheryl).
Then we drove a bit further north to Bay City to see what Saginaw Bay looked like.
It wasn't very exciting.Actually, the most exciting thing we saw, was this bird which was nesting in the middle of the open grass.
We almost walked right on top of the stupid bird. She was sitting on her eggs, which were laid right out there in the middle of the grass, and she puffed herself up and started cawing at us when we got close. Not sure how she expects to defend those eggs from predators. All it would take is one big raccoon to make short work of that nest.We took a walk out on the beach, but it was kinda slimy due to a lot of algae growth on the sand. And there was a bit of trash (which we dutifully picked up). We were not impressed.
Afterwards, we hopped back in the car and drove back home, listening to Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince on CD-ROM. Great way to make the trip feel shorter.
Chess Redux
Chess has been staging a comeback in the house lately.
We're not sure where this came from, but the girls have lately been playing a bizarre version of Chess called Suicide Chess. The winner is the first one to lose all his/her pieces. The girls seem to like it because it can be played quickly, and doesn't require a lot of strategy. In fact, players who don't think too much, seem to do better. Maybe that's why Dad keeps losing.
The boys still prefer regular Chess. They can't wait to see cousin Bob at the reunion so they can play him again.
1 comment:
So, was the certificate written in Latin, so only Adam can understand it? LOL
We have dumb birds here too-- pigeons that build 2-stick "nests" and then look all pathetic when their eggs go crashing to the ground. I guess that's why most successful pigeons roost in cliffs or buildings instead of trees.
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