May 21: An Afternoon in Frankenmuth

Let me begin this by saying that we set out for Frankenmuth without much idea of what to expect other than a store that sold Christmas stuff all year round. Based on that description, I suppose you could say this trip exceeded expectations. But that makes it sound a lot better than it really is.

Here the city looks down right scenic. Don't be fooled.

Frankenmuth advertises itself as "Michigan's Little Bavaria." It's really just an over-exaggerated version of Columbus' German Village that was bought by Donald Trump and turned into a Disney-type theme park. The food is not so great, everything is over-priced, and each shop sells tie-dyed sweatshirts sporting the town name. However, if this does not deter you, than go for it.

Similar to Disney, statues of mice line the streets.

We arrived in the town early in the morning and walked around some the little shops on the main street of the city. Most of them looked cute from the outside but once you entered there was really nothing worth buying. And there was little variety. At one end of the main drag was a little shopping center set off from the street. These stores had a bit more diversity; most of these stores were specialty or niche stores, which made them more entertaining to browse through.

In the shopping center we had a strawberry-banana crepe at a little cafe. That was delicious. For lunch, we mistakenly thought it'd be a good idea to find some authentic German cuisine so we went to the Bavarian Inn instead of the slightly better rated (on Yelp at least) Zehnder's which apparently is famous for chicken. Bad choice for so many reasons. We should have turned around when the hostess stared at us like a deer in the headlights when we entered the building. But we stuck it out and had to pick from four different menus. I still could not tell you the difference between these except one seemed needlessly expensive.

The crepe was actually delicious but . . . .

The biggest sign you have failed at picking a good restaurant when traveling is when you see buses of group tourists piling into said establishment. Unfortunately, we had already committed and ordered food by this point so it was too late to leave. The food was very similar to Schmidt's (in Columbus) but more bland and way less delicious. I ordered the Sauerbraten and a side of noodles. The noodles were covered in crushed crackers and were really dry and gross. Although I am not a connoisseur of Germanic cuisine the sauerbraten was only so-so.

. . . . the sauerbraten and noodles, not so much.

To add insult to injury, a woman in a Bavarian costume serenaded the diners with her accordion music, stopping at every other table to pose for pictures with the guests. It was way too campy for my enjoyment. We did not stay very long afterwards as we decided to spend the rest of the evening at a nearby outlet mall instead. In conclusion, while not the worst place I've ever been, it's certainly far from the best.

April 1 & 2: A Brief Birthday Tour

So, it's been awhile since I've updated anything because frankly I haven't been doing anything interesting for the last couple months. Mostly just working, paying my bills, and biding time until law school. But this weekend I took a short trip to the Ann Arbor - Detroit - Windsor area for my birthday.

Main Street in Ann Arbor, MI

Since Friday was my actual birthday, Dandrich and I ate dinner with his sister at Japanese restaurant on University of Michigan Campus, creatively named Sushiya. Afterwards we had a birthday dessert at The Melting Pot on Ann Arbor's Main Street / downtown area. Both restaurants are pretty good. For being small and a college town, Ann Arbor has a lot of great dining options both on campus and downtown. It's also a really walkable area. Friday night they also happened to be holding a small street festival which seems to happen quite often.

Chocolate fondue with strawberries

Saturday morning, Dandrich and I stopped by the Ann Arbor farmer's market. If you are ever in Ann Arbor on a Saturday morning it is definitely worth waking up early to go. We bought some macaroons from Cecilia's Pastries which were delicious (but they sell out fast) in addition to some freshly-made breadsticks and wildflower honey.

Lavender flavored macaroons

Our next stop was the Detroit Zoo to see the penguinarium. The zoo was nice though smaller and older than the Columbus Zoo. Honestly, the penguinarium was a little bit of a let down though still really interesting. I guess I just thought it would be a little bigger. However, the Detroit Zoo does have a pretty cool polar bear exhibit which is good-sized.

Polar Bear Exhibit at the Detroit Zoo

From the zoo we continued through Detroit on our way to Windsor, Ontario. If you are ever considering driving to Canada I would suggest not to cross through at the Detroit / Bridge to Canada checkpoint. First of all, at present they are doing a lot of reconstruction on the roads and ramps to get to the bridge. The roads are not very well marked nor are the detour signs and our GPS machine didn't have the updated maps because the construction isn't finished. We eventually got to the bridge by following a car with Canadian plates. As you go through the US Border Patrol first they search your car then you have to wait forever to pass through the Canadian Border Patrol. The GPS estimated the distance from the zoo to Windsor at about 10 miles but it took us nearly two hours to get there. On the other hand we crossed back into the United States at a smaller checkpoint north of Lake St. Clair and it took maybe 10 minutes.

I don't have any pictures of Detroit or the Bridge to Canada so here's a picture of the inhabitants at the penguinarium

Originally we planned to stop at the Casino in Windsor but decided instead to take a short drive to the city of Chatham a little further east.. We stopped first at a mall in Windsor to exchange a little bit of cash  and check out a Canadian mall. If you were ever wondering what stores are in a Canadian mall the answer is American Eagle (and a bunch of other American stores) and the Canadian clothier Roots. So basically the same things as the mall in Ann Arbor.

We drove all the way to Canada for exotic stores like Sears

Driving through the Ontario countryside, the scenery looked very much like Ohio - flat, farm land - but with one exception. Wind turbines and solar panels cover the landscape. In 2009 Ontario passed the Green Energy and Green Economy Act which, among other provisions, provides incentives to homeowners who develop small-scale renewables. As a result many of the farms and homes we passed had solar panels installed in their yards. Although this won't cover all the energy needs it does allow more reliance on renewable energy. It would be great to do something like that here in Ohio. (Though that won't happen in the foreseeable future.)

Wind turbines in the Ontario countryside

In Chatham, we ate dinner at place called Smitty's which is apparently like a Canadian IHOP or something. The portions were pretty big for the price. We also stopped to see a lighthouse on Lake St. Clair which looked way cooler on the map than in person. It was an enjoyable trip albeit short since I had to work back in Columbus on Sunday night. And watch out for more updates as I have some more adventures planned in the future!

The map said Lighthouse Cove when it should have said Two-Story Miniature Lighthouse Behind an Abandoned Parking Lot but I guess that was too long.