Road Trip To Frankenmuth, Mi.

The kids and I went on a spur of the moment road trip to Frankenmuth yesterday.

We like to go there but don't get to go often, it's pretty expensive to do most of the stand by touristy things. I had been given some money to take the kids on a road trip and we decided to go north.
I had my new tires put on my Mom-mobile in the early morning and we needed to test them out...well, didn't we????? The new tires have about 270 miles on them in one day. They ride just fine, I'm glad to report.
We went to several of the hundreds of shops in the picturesque German (tourist trap) town. One of our favorite stores is a Country Store where you can find just about any kind of candy. Below is a picture of A. sitting in front of it by the wooden Indian.We bought candy buttons {those tiny dots on white paper strips}, bb-bats {taffy suckers}, root beer barrels, tiny ice cream cones filled with marshmallow"ice cream", rock candy, and some others.

N's favorite thing is wooden nutcrackers, so of course I had to take a picture of him next to a giant one.

We ate at Zender's where we always get the most delicious family style chicken dinner. Frankenmuth is famous for this! The waiters/waitresses dress in old fashion garb. They bring big bowls and platters of food to your table. Fresh fruited bread, cranberry relish, pate' , mashed potatoes, stuffing, buttered noodles, vegetables, gravy, yummy chicken and several other things I haven't even listed.
We went on a carriage ride around the town. It is fun to hear history of the settlers and the original houses and churches as you ride. In the one picture below you can see the Zender's sign in the background through the back of the carriage. E. visited with the big horses and chatted with the drivers about the horse rescue barn she volunteers at.
Frankenmuth is also famous for the humongous store called Bronner's. I was lucky we haunted as many shops as we did and my gang didn't want to even attempt Bronner's this trip!!

We had a great day and returned home about 10:00 p.m.

I am ashamed to say that we were oh so close to my uncle & aunt's house and we didn't stop by to see if they were home. Shame on us!! We love you, really we do.