Frankenmuth

 We spent a few days traveling and made a stop in Sparta, WI, to visit my cousin Dawn and husband, Gary DeWitt.  They have such a beautiful home and it was decorated throughout for the fall.  She made a fantastic chicken soup dinner for us.  We were there just few days before Dawn's birthday and could celebrate early with her.  It was so nice to visit and catch up.  

 Then a couple more days of traveling before we arrived in Birch Run, MI.  We are only a few miles from Frankenmuth, the Christmas city.  The campground is very nice but the weather is starting to get colder.  

Just before we arrive in the city of Frankenmuth, we came across this cute historic one room schoolhouse which was open from 1860 until 1921 and an old suspension bridge all decked out with pumpkins.  

Someone lined this bridge with pumpkins, what fall spirit.

One of the main places to go while in Frankenmuth is Bronner's Christmas store. The store is about 2 football fields big.  I've never seen so many Christmas ornaments and decorations.  We enjoyed our shopping!  We got some really neat personalized ornaments.

One kiss and there you have it, a Christmas card photo opportunity.

You might see this in Bob and Sharon's Christmas Card

Shopping, so many choices.

15 different sections

Where do I find it?

Small nativity or...

Large nativity

So many lights

Christmas was everywhere you looked and everything that you could think of to decorate with.

Anyone need to add to their stein collection?

Time to go into town.

Next stop the Cheese Haus!

Had to have a cheesy photo of Graham.  The bag is filled with all the cheese that we bought.  Graham had to have some cheese curds and cheese spreads.  

The tower announced some interesting facts about cheese from around the world as the doors would open revealing a figure from the area where the facts were from.

Let's eat! They say this town is famous for their family style chicken dinners. We ate at the "world famous" Bavarian Inn and Restaurant.  It was huge.  The article boasts of having seating for 1,200 people and across the street they served 1,500.  The menu was primarily German but, they had something for Bob to eat. (Bob had sausages.) The family style chicken dinners were all you can eat and included bread, mashed potatoes, gravy, buttered noodles, sweet potatoes, cottage cheese, coleslaw, chicken pasta salad, and cranberry relish, topped off with ice cream for dessert.  

With our bellies full we drove home passing back by Bronner's to see the Christmas lights.  Put us in the holiday spirit early. 😀

Final farewell from Frankenmuth.  We are on our way to see the Henry Ford museum.