Opera Singing Dog

Stuart was watching America’s Got Talent and a lady singing opera came on. Apparently Gretchen pricked up her ears and began to make some noise. Inquisitive as Stuart is he decided to try it with a bit of Mozart's Don Giovanni and this was the result! The funniest part from me is when she has had enough she just lays her head down to go back to sleep!

Hols in Michigan–Part 2

Bay City and St Stan’s Festival

Bay City was where Amy grew up and so she knows it well. We went there to see not only her father, the boys grandfather, but also to go to the St Stan’s festival - it is a Polish festival with Kielbasa and Polka dancing. To kick off the festival on the Thursday night there is a 5km run that Amy, one of her friends and I entered. The race was meant to start at 5:30pm but the registration, even for those of pre-registered was horribly organised – one person doing all the work and about 10 standing around not knowing what way was up! So that delayed the start of the race but in hind sight that was good as am enormous rain shower came through at 5:30pm. We managed to hind under the tent and stay dry but many others weren’t so lucky. Conor had a wonderful time playing in the waterfall coming off the tent roof only to complain that he was wet and cold afterwards – tough lesson! So at 6:30pm the race started and it was now dry with some big puddles to jump if you wanted to keep your feet dry. I was around in 26 minutes and it was nice to have the exercise. Unfortunately Stuart and John were standing in the wrong place so missed us all finish!! We all stood proudly for a photo at the end with our medals on.

We went back to the festival on the Saturday night when it was in full swing. There was a fairground, but we weren’t interested in that we headed straight for the beer tent where the polka dancing was taking place. To Stuart’s disappointment the only beer being served was Bud Light, and that doesn’t even class as beer. Because we had done the run we got free vouchers so at least we didn’t need to pay for the coloured water!! Stuart and I decided to give this Polka thing a go as it just looked like a barn dance and it looked like there was no particular way you had to get around the dance floor. Well Stuart set off at pace spinning us both around by the end we were both very dizzy and hot – good thing for the Bud Light hey!

	Brother & Sister Resemblance?!

That evening we finished up at the Bell Bar – owned by Amy’s Uncle. It was a lively little place. We played some pool while Stu enjoyed some real beer! We had a laugh at a guy who was a little worse for wear but considered himself as a bit of a pool shark. Before he took a shot he had to steady himself with one hand on the table before bending over to line up! The finale to his performance was when he was playing Stuart and another chap for our group and this boy runs towards the door doing a five finger spread on the way (i.e. being sick while covering ones mouth with your hand!) – I have never seen Stuart move so fast out of his way!

	Opps! Caught on camera with the whisky in hand!
	Normal dress for a Saturday night in Bay City?!

By the time we finished up the evening at 3am we were ready for bed!

Cool Barns in Michigan

I became obsessed with trying to get a photo of one of the barns as they looked pretty to me. Frannie ended up taking me out on a special barn scoping trip in her mini – thank you. So here is my collection.

Red one!	One almost good enough to be a house!
Falling down one!	Flat green farm land nr Frankenmuth

Hell, Michigan

We couldn’t leave before visiting Hell! However, as you might expect there isn't much in Hell, it is just the name. But they do sell some nice ice cream in homemade waffle cones!

Hols in Michigan–Part 1

Stuart and I travelled to Detroit separately from John and Amy for the start of our short break and their longer holiday to Michigan. In the end we arrived just as they picked up the rental car so they swung back around to arrivals and picked us up. That night we had been planning to stay with John’s brother some 20 minutes from the airport but due to a mix up on dates (still unclear exactly who got it wrong!) another family member managed to get us into the airport Marriott free (no complaints from us!!). It was already quite late but we were all hungry and headed off to a local pizza joint for dinner.

The plan for the trip was to go and see Mackinac Island (pronounced Mackin-aw), visit Frankenmuth, Bay City where the St Stan’s Polish festival was going on, while on the way seeing some of Amy and John’s family and friends.

Most people wondered why we were heading to Michigan but we saw as another state to tick off the list! The only other main attraction we missed was the Ford Museum in Detroit!

So in this western part of Michigan it was settled by the Germans and the Polish and it was still very obvious today, both with the building styles and the food and I suppose peoples surnames (a lot of z’s and k’s around Bay City!). In order for Michigan to lure some of the German settlers their way (and with their beer making skills) they renamed one of the towns outside of Bay City – Zilwaukee to confuse those coming to America away from Milwaukee, Wisconsin! Read all about it in Wikipedia!

Mackinac Island Excursion

We drove to Mackinaw City on the Thursday evening from Bay City, having already travelled from Detroit that morning so it was quite some car time. On the way we stopped for food at a bar and Stuart spotted smelt on the menu – to me they looked a little similar to white bait so we spilt a smelt and salad and it was gooood! Amy and I had booked a hotel for the evening so we could get up the next day and catch the ferry to Mackinac Island. Mackinaw City is separated from the UP (or Upper Peninsula for us non locals) from the reset of Michigan. The bridge is approximately 5 miles long with about 4 miles of cause way and about a mile of suspension bridge that looks remarkably similar to the Forth Road Bridge. Mind you I say that but when we woke up we couldn't see much – just thick fog! So we all got the rain coats out as it was pretty cool to us Houstonians. We headed across the bridge for St Ignace where we had bought ferry tickets from (just really as an excuse to drive across the bridge!).

All aboard it was a short crossing to the island. What is special about Mackinac Island is the fact there are no cars – just horses and bicycles. The harbour is marked by two lighthouse one working and one not. The buildings are wooden almost colonial. There is a fort on the hill above the town but when we arrived at 9am it wasn’t possible to see it – darn fog!

The town is made for the tourists with gift shops, fudge shops oh and some more fudge shops! There are horse and carriages going up and down the street and bicycles weaving in and out – so although there are no cars you still have to watch when stepping out on to the road. We all took a quick look around and Stuart and I decided to have some breakfast as we opted out at the hotel then hire a tandem bicycle to see a bit more of the Island. Breakfast was served in record speed and we were on our tandem by 10am.

	Horse carriages line up below the fort

Let me tell you tandems are not as easy as they look but I think they were easier than all the penny farthings we saw. I think there must have been a penny farthing stroke old bike gathering, through the day more arrived – just look at some of them. There were old guys dressed in old fashioned dress jumping up on these bikes cycling down the street. Stu reckoned he could do but I don't think they were available for anyone to have a go!

So the first couple of stops and starts on the tandem were interesting. It was actually quite good for a marriage as it involved a lot of communication!

We cycled past the fort and thought better of trying to get this tandem up the steep incline, so continued on the coastal path to Arch Rock. It was a mini arch but the postcard pictures look amazing, it was just a shame we had flat light so it hasn't shown up quite as well as I hoped. We parked our bike along with everyone else and the bottom of the track and then you rapidly climb up to the viewing point. For those less able there was always the horses to take you up. Before we managed to walk up we got talking to a man and lady who were visiting from Naples, Florida. They were very chatty and talked of how much they like Scotland and had actually been to the Edinburgh Tattoo. We cycled past them a couple more times before we finished the 8 mile island circuit.

All along the rocky shore people had been making small cairns and Inuksuk statues – some better than others. We decided we needed to do it a sheltered spot but we ended up waiting too long and the rocks ran out so we actually cycled back to the arch just so Stuart could construct his Inuksuk man. On the bike we would pulled over for photos. Stopping was more difficult as we only had brakes by peddling backwards, however I was a little slow on realising that! We had three gears and although the path was virtually flat any little incline was quite a struggle. Both of us tried to stand up to peddle and that was nearly us off! Getting going we had to make sure the left pedal was in the right position so you would get a push and start rolling.

We stopped off at British Landing – where just as the name suggest the British landed and took over control of the fort. There was a cannon with the familiar sight of a sea gull perched on it and as per usual it decided to leave its mark – plop! There was a small shop so we picked up some water before carrying on.

Once we were getting closer to the town again we started to see more horse drawn carriages. These ones, we were told, were self drive – basically you hire it and although you have the reins the horse really knows where to go without you!

As I said we decided to go back to the arch approximately a mile out of the town to build the Inuksuk and for me to go paddling so I could say I had be in Lake Michigan. We only had 30 minutes because we didn't clock another hour on the bike rental. We sped through the town and got to work on finding suitable rocks. Stuart has done this before on Montrose beach. The little Inuksuk with stubby arms looked pretty good when all done. As for me I walked in to the tops of my feet then rapidly back out – it was pretty cold but maybe not as cold as our pool was in early March.

We got back and The Olivares’ had been busy at the fort watching the cannons and riffles firing not to mention they squeezed in a pastie – apparently a common thing in this part of the country. Well we couldn't leave without a pastie so we went to the baker on the main street and got two to take away. Sitting on a bench (accompanied by the ever watchful seagull) we munched them down. They weren’t as good as Cornish Pasties as just meat and potatoes – I couldn’t see any other vegetable bits and there wasn't the spiciness of ones from home, but ok when you are hungry I guess.

By now things had got a lot busier in the town as ferry loads of visitors had arrived. Stuart completed lunch with an ice cream and I had a raisin and bran muffin. After a bit more looking around we gathered together again – only where was Conor (the youngest)? We did a rapid search and fortunately what seemed like a lifetime to Amy, but was less than 5 minutes they found Conor chatting/ un-phased to some adults up the street that had found him and had just gone to tell the one police officer on the island.

The clouds had lifted in the afternoon so we jumped back on the ferry and decided to sit up on the deck despite the chilly temperature so we could see the Grand Hotel and Mackinac Bridge. The boys looked decidedly cold by the time we got back to the car!

It was then a three hour journey back to Frankenmuth to see John’s sister. There were many sleepy folk in the car – but at least not the driver!

Frankenmuth – The Bavarian Tourist Town

Frances, or rather Franie as John calls her, lives and work in Frankenmuth. Frankenmuth is a place for the tourists now but at the centre is the Bavarian Inn that contains shops, restaurant and more. Frannie who works there took us on a tour of the inn including taking us to see the kitchens, butchery (stroke sausage making place) and the office where he stocks are taken from and the general running of the place. Most of the buildings are more Germanic in style or at least not traditional high street looking places.

Stuart and I headed off shopping one morning and there was a farmers market so we went to check it out. There we saw a guy, yes a guy pushing a pink animal pram. Basically a a pram with a cage on it, and when we heard a huge meow we turned around to see a very large cat, almost a lynx sized cat, inside it. I think it was more distraught about its pink cage than the fact of being taken out for some air! I met the eyes of another lady at the meow and we both raised our eye brows! However the farmers market although small had some yummy cherries where i bought a cups worth, some hand made soap we picked up for Frannie and some home made dog biscuits we bought for Gretchen! Frannie stocks for many of the shops including the joke shops, girlie shops and gift shops. One things Stuart found was bacon dipped in chocolate to his delight! Both Amy and John were less impressed with the salty flavour! The weirdest thing we saw while in Frankenmuth was a Nazi storm troopers goose stepping through the town barked at by an SS Officer!!!

Frannie owns an old sit up and beg bike that we all had to try – it was actually pretty comfortable for short distance!

The blurriness is because we are going so fast!

We ate dinner at Frannies and then made ‘S’mores’ on her Chimninea. Except the first one I tried being disgusting because the Gram crackers were off the second was ok. S’mores are basically cooked marshmallows put on a Gram cracker with a bit of chocolate followed by another Gram cracker to make a sandwich. The downside it isn't real chocolate – it is Hershey's! For the kids more than one was required even if it was just to eat the melted marshmallow!!