Mini Day Trip

So after a very good night's rest and a breakfast with MY coffee and the Amish Butter Cheese (very delicious and aptly named!) melted on rye bread, I decided that I really didn't want to stay home. So, I got up & dressed and went to Frankenmuth. It's only an hour away, but I figured that it still counts as part of my road trip -- just without the expense of lodging and meals.

I hadn't been there in many years, so it was kind of fun going back. All I really did was walk in & out of all the shops -- popcorn stores, fudge shops, shops with miscellaneous junk. And I really think that my idea of "unique and different" is MUCH different than that of the stores; it all seemed ordinary to me. Maybe I'm just snobby & my standards are too high. But I swear that I'm one of very few people who can actually walk into candy and popcorn stores & bakeries without buying anything. Then again, I have more than enough junk at home from the long part of the trip. I'd kind of planned to have lunch there, seeing as Frankenmuth's claim to fame is their fried chicken, but I really wasn't hungry, so I didn't. But, it was a beautiful, sunny day, and it was good to be outside and out & about.

On the way home, I did drive around Birch Run, the largest outlet mall in this area. None of the shops really appealed to me. (And, as anybody who's been here knows, I have WAY more than enough stuff! I could probably get rid of more than half of what I own & not miss it.) But, I did stop into a chef's shop. I was looking for a cheese plane (mostly for the cheese I just bought) because I couldn't find the old wire one I used to have. I'm guessing I tossed it out in my last drawer de-cluttering fury. They didn't have one I liked, though; I'm very fussy about both price AND how things feel in my hand, so the 2 they had really didn't fit the bill, so I left empty-handed and headed home.

So, including today's little road trip, these are the statistics: 
Days away from home: 4.5

Hotel stays: 3 hotel stays
Cities visited: 7
States driven though: 3 (MI, IN and OH)

Number of back-tracking/wrong direction incidents: at least 4
Gas fill-ups (from about 1/4 tank; I don't like to go below that): 3 (not including the one the day before I left)
Miles driven: approximately 720  (Oh, and my car's odometer turned 50,000 miles just as I got started)
Most informative experience: Menno-Hof center

Biggest disappointment: that the entire town of Saugatuck was closed
Best surprise: being told I was the Guest of the Day

Best hotel stay: the first Best Western in Grand Rapids, where I was the Guest of the Day
Worst hotel stay: the Super 8 in Shipshewana
Best hotel breakfast: at the worst hotel
Kinds of animals seen grazing by the road: horses, cows, bison, turkeys, roosters and Llamas!
Number of food souvenirs purchased: I'd rather not say


I'm especially glad that I continued on to Shipshewana to see the Amish area, as I'd been curious about it for so long. While it was definitely tourist- trappy, it also felt kind of...different...there, like they were being honest about their appealing to tourists. And, there were plenty of Amish people in many of the stores I visited.

While I wouldn't say it was exactly fun, I'm glad that I went. It was definitely a growth and learning experience.
Although I really do prefer travelling with other people, I do think that I will be open to travelling alone again.