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.  

Corn Palace

We drove to Presho, SD, yesterday and left this morning for Brandon, SD (a suburb of Sioux Falls).  On the way to Brandon, we stopped in Mitchell and toured the Corn Palace.  At one time the entire building was made into corn murals, today only parts of the outside are done.  There is a new theme created every year.

In 1906, the Kilties, a Scottish Band was proclaimed as the World's greatest Scots band.

All the pictures are made from corn.

Corn husk doll

Corn husk car and driver

Hello! from the Corn Palace

Bobbie misses driving a tractor, lol.

Outside walls

Second picture in from the left depicts Sturgis where we had just driven through a few days ago.

On the right, they are tearing down a mural to prepare for the 2021 theme.

After the Corn Palace, we went to lunch at a Pub and Cherie ordered Beef Chislic, is a traditional dish of cubed red meat most commonly localized to the state of South Dakota.  The word chislic is arguably derived from the Turkic word of shashlik or shashlyk, which is cubed meat or liver grilled on a skewer with tomatoes, peppers, and onions. According to some sources, chislic was possibly introduced into the United States by John Hoellwarth, who immigrated from Crimea to Hutchinson County, South Dakota in the 1870s. Chislic is traditionally prepared very simply. Cubed mutton or lamb (or alternately beef or venison), generally no bigger than a half-inch, are cooked in a deep fryer. Generally, chislic is served medium-rare to medium—i.e. warm pink inside. After cooking, it is flavored with garlic salt, or other varieties of seasoned salts. The cubes are eaten hot.

 

Deadwood, Sturgis, and Rapid City

 

We drove a little over an hour to get to Deadwood.  Had to go see this city because Graham and I saw the series and anyone who knows Graham, knows that he loves his cowboy shows.  We took Kevin Costner's Original Deadwood Tour.  The tour was in an old school bus with ratty seats, lol.  But, our tour guide Dave, was great, very funny.

 

Overlook of Deadwood

Wild Bill Hickock's burial place

Calamity Jane's burial place

Madam Dora DuFran; most successful madam in Deadwood, started running brothels at the age of 14.

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Reenactment of Wild Bill Hickock's murder.

Saloon where Wild Bill was shot by Jack McCall.

Where Jack MacCall was arrested.

Brothel windows

After lunch in Deadwood, we drove to Sturgis.  Bob was looking to purchase a new stock for one of his rifles.  We found a couple of places that manufactured guns but no gun shops that were open.  Drove up and down Main Street and then drove on to Rapid City.  We went to the Factory Outlet for Black Hills gold and found some jewelry that we liked. 😊$$$$