Monday, December 15, 2008

13 Hours on Saturday






So, how do you spend 13 hours on Saturday? First of all you have to have a plan. One that has been scheduled, so you can build the excitement by the anticipation. Then it's just a matter on carrying out the plan. In years past, the plan centered around Great Lakes Crossing. This year, however, the location was changed to Frankenmuth. After all, the Birthday Girl gets to choose how she wants to spend the day.
For the past several years, my daughter Amy & I have celebrated her Birthday by spend a day together. This year was no exception.
#1 I picked Amy up around 8 am with an Egg Nog Latte in hand.
#2 We drove to Birch Run to have breakfast at Tony's. Now, if you've every been to Tony's, you know that a side order of bacon is actually 1 lb. of bacon. Needless to say, Amy & I choose to split a Cheese Omelet. The plan was to eat at Tony's and walk it off in Frankenmuth.
#3 Drive to Bronner's. This place can be overwhelming. There are many displays to see....none so strange then the snowman holding the light up Santa face. (Maybe Amy will share the photo on her blog). When the Birthday Girl says she's had enough of Bronners, you move on.
#4 River Place was the next stop on our tour. We searched out the shops...had a few laughs..even came up with 2 cabin themes for next years CFL camp.
#5 At about 1:30 we decided to stop for lunch and headed to The Bavarian Inn. It was a 30 minute wait for a table, but worth it. We choose a Frankenmuth combo plate so we could have both chicken & sample some German food. Remember, if you eat, you must talk it off.
#6 We strolled through Frankenmuth and stopped in a few shops and made a few purchases.
It started to snow little ice pellets and the wind blew the snow off the roofs which just added to the pelting.
#7 After we picked up some flavored ground coffee at Zenders, we got in the car and headed to Birch Run to finish off the plan. We went to Phaltzgraff's to find they were having a closing sale. Yippy!!! We got some great buys. Next, we looked for our favorite store that combined The Gap, Banana Republic & Old Navy clearance, only to find it was closed. Bummer!!! Amy searched for boots, but the ones she really liked had a price that was more then she wanted to spend (Haven't we all been there?) We Checked out Pottery Barn, American Eagle & Areopostale. My mom phoned me to find out how we enjoyed our day only to find that we were still at Birch Run! Yes, at around 7:30 pm we finally headed home. The roads weren't too bad...well that is until we got on 53 near Almont. (I decided to take 75 to 69 to 53 instead of 75 to 59) 53 south was a sloooooow go Can you say 30 in a 55. The road wasn't to bad, but the lead car was an overly cautious driver. So...
#8 I dropped Amy off around 9:30 pm ( what usually take 1:30 to 1:45, took 2 hrs)and headed home.
It was a long day, but the conversation, the laughing, the food and fellowship was worth every minute of the 13 hours. I wonder what we'll do next year.




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