2016 - Black Friday (day 3)

Today, we return to Great Lakes Crossing to do some returns and visit Hobby Lobby and Walmart before heading back to Toronto.

Breakfast was similar to yesterday, however the ham and potato stars was replaced with turkey links and french toast, we opted to just have the waffles instead.

Great Lakes Crossing was pretty quiet when we went and Allison was able to quickly do her returns and she noticed that it seems like by Saturday, all the really good deals are over and they go back up in price. So we know what to do next time.

Hobby Lobby was next and the place is huge, reminds me of a Michael's in Canada. Everything was 50% off, even Christmas decorations! While she was at Hobby Lobby, I went to Walmart to see if I could pick up some games and when I got there, I found out that all the deals for them were already over. This confirms that we should do our major purchases on the Thursday / Friday and if we wanted to see anything else, we should try to do that on Saturday instead.

After that, we grabbed a bite at the nearby Burger King. Two whopper combos was only $10! We ordered some Cheetos chicken fries since we saw them, it tasted like chicken tenders but in fries form, nothing special. With lunch finished, we headed back home and we got back by around 5:00pm. The border had a line but I think we only took about 10 minutes.

Until our next trip!

2016 - Black Friday (day 2)

Today, we head to Great Lakes Crossing and visit Crossroads Village.

We got up for breakfast at around 7:15am which had the usual items like eggs, ham, toast, bagels, cereal, some fresh fruit, and they had a waffle maker. Nothing fancy, I think the waffle maker saved the breakfast for me since it is somewhat a reliable and known breakfast item versus mystery eggs and meat.

After breakfast we headed to Target first to get some water and see if there were any videogames still available and I lucked out and got everything that I wanted, Allison also found Finding Dory which was only $10.

Made it to Great Lakes Crossing at 8:45am and we finished by 12:00pm. Kate Spade is new to Great Lakes (Allison says, I wouldn't know) and the deals were pretty good, 70% off regular price. Ended up with some items from Kate Spade, GameStop, and Limited.

Lunch was at Buddy's pizza, near our hotel and we ordered the club salad, a four square pizza, and a pop. The pizza was half Florine Mark and half Detrioter, it reminded me of Pizza Hut, but not as greasy. The salad came with a lot of turkey and bacon, but not that much salad, weird. Came out to $32 USD after tax and tip. I wouldn't come back here, however, it seems like the locals like it here because it is ranked 8 for best pizza in the United States (I'm not sure how this happened).

Florine Mark on top, Detrioter on the bottom.

With lunch over, we went back to the hotel to rest before heading to Crossroads Village since we didn't get a lot of sleep last night. Crossroads Village is a small local attraction that features history buildings and made the area into a small village, similar to Black Creek Pioneer Village in Toronto. Today was the first big day for Crossroads Village since it would be Christmas themed with lights, Santa, and the Christmas tree lighting ceremony which would have fireworks after.

Crossroads Village's train.

We paid for admission and a train ride, which lasts roughly 40 minutes and the train is heated, even though it is really old. Make sure that you don't get motion sickness easily because the train does sway side to side. During the ride, there is Christmas themed music and the conductor talks to the passengers, and there are Christmas themed lights all around and some live people as well including a soldier and Santa. Based on my experience, I would say, sit on the right-hand side of the train. I would say that the cost is not bad for what you get, I wouldn't do it again, but it seemed like it was for family since we saw a lot of kids and they all seemed to enjoy it.

Crossroads Village's printing press.

Crossroads Village's show.

Our initial schedule was to wander the grounds and make it to the Christmas Tree lighting ceremony, so with some time to spare, we went to see a show at the Opera House, located near the entrance and it seemed to have a showing every hour on the half hour (5:30pm, 6:30pm, etc).

The show was a neat experience, I would say that it is worth stopping by for this if you are there. Make sure that you keep going up the stairs since there are actually two levels, level one is up one set of stairs, level two is accessible if you walk up another flight of stairs after that. Prior to the show, we chatted with a local who told us about the village, the show that we might be watching and the local area. I always seem to forget that Americans are very passionate about their country. The show itself lasted about 15 minutes and I thought it was a good experience, I can't say what you will end up seeing, but ours was about two girls and how they were ready to celebrate Christmas, however, the local lawyer was trying to swindle them.

After the show, it was raining, so we went to get our umbrellas and returned to see how we would brave the elements. We lined up and got a picture with Santa Claus, and wandered the village afterwards and saw the carousel which was made in 1912! Tickets for the carousel have an additional cost, but we didn't go in, so I don't know how much it cost. In the end, we decided that we wouldn't stay for the Christmas Tree lighting ceremony since it was raining and we were getting a bit hungry. We left and made it to Alfoccino's for dinner.

Salad

Pasta al pesto

Ravioli

We ordered the ravioli that was on special which had three types of ravioli, a cheese only one, a portobello mushroom one, and a sausage one. And I got the pasta la pesto. Both dishes were okay, nothing special, they did come with unlimited salad, which I guess is to compete with Olive Garden. Overall, not bad and probably about the same price that we would pay at Olive Garden for dinner, roughly $42 USD after tax and tip.

Black Friday loot after two days.

With dinner finished, we went back to the hotel to take a look at our purchases and rested for the evening. Tomorrow, we will visit Allison's much anticipated Hobby Lobby and I will go to Walmart to see if I could find my remaining purchases.

2016 - Black Friday (day 1)

Another year, another Black Friday! We will be going to our usual area, Michigan, which has two big outlets, Great Lakes Crossing and Birch Run. As usual, we started shortly after lunch and left at around 1:30pm with us arriving at the border in Sarnia at roughly 5:00pm and there was no line. Off to a good start!

For this trip, we will be going on Thursday and returning to Toronto on Saturday since we normally run out of things to do, the deals don't last until the end of the weekend and we figure that the border won't be as busy when we come back.

This time, we will be staying at Hawthorn Suites in Auburn Hills, the same area where we normally do. The exterior is alright, with the interior being a bit nicer. We got to the hotel at roughly 6:00pm, however, the first room that we were given did not have heat and so with a quick phone call, we got relocated to the next room over and we were good to go.

Dinner was at the nearby McDonald's which we where also had our dinner at last year. And again, this McDonald's only had the drive-thru open, so we ate in the car, nothing exciting here.

We made it to Birch Run by around 8:30pm and it wasn't too busy in my opinion. Parking was easy to find, and I think like always, I mention that we should just eat here since it seems like things are actually open, but always forget.

Shopped here until 1:00am and left for Great Lakes Crossing and arrived at roughly 1:40am, but, it was actually closed! It closed at midnight, which seems odd since we were sure that we came here last year with no issue. I guess we need to plan a bit better next time and check when things open AND close. So that meant that we just went back to the hotel and rested with the plan to continue tomorrow.

By the end of the evening, we got various clothes from Banana Republic, New York and Co, a winter jack and boots from Columbia (which gave us a $30 USD gift card that was good for December). Not too bad for one mall and we got a few items from our to-buy list.

Sorry for the lack of pictures, we didn't take a day 1 loot picture. Tomorrow, we will visit Great Lakes Crossing, and visit Crossroads Village.

2015 - Black Friday Day 2 (Michigan)

Breakfast was included at our hotel and it is the typical breakfast. Today, there are eggs, bacon and home fries as the hot items. What looked like freshly cut honeydew and cantaloupe mix, and canned peaches, along with fresh oranges, bananas and apples. There is plain yogurt along with toppings, cereal, a bread area with toast, english muffins, and muffins. Also coffee, apple juice and orange juice. Oddly, there is a pot of rice which I didn't understand. I would rank it as similar to Hyatt Place last year.

Breakfast at Sonesta ES Suites

While having breakfast, we overheard some ladies talking about Macy's and learned about Somerset Collection as a possible third mall to visit if we had time tomorrow morning.

After breakfast, we headed to Great Lake Crossing and we got there at just after 9:00am and surprisingly, it wasn't that busy, I wonder if it is because people came last night and finished? Anyways, we wandered around the entire mall and finished at around 1:00pm and headed to Olive Garden for lunch just across the interstate. Allison got the portobello ravioli which she always gets and I got the create your own pasta with spaghetti, garlic asiago alfredo sauce and meatballs and split the unlimited soup and salad. We ended up getting two salads and two soups and I had to take more than half my pasta back since I couldn't finish. Maybe next time, I will learn to get the smaller options... (I doubt it). Today, Allison got one top and I got three. Total cost was $23.93 USD.

Finishing at Olive Garden, we headed back to the hotel to drop off our leftovers and headed to Frankenmuth to have a look at little Bavaria (which is weird since we were in actual Bavaria two months ago). I had plans for this place, the candlewalk at 6:00pm, the glockenspiel at 6:00pm as well, the Christmas Market, and the lighting of the Christmas tree (which we found out was around 7:00pm).

In the end, we just wandered the area, went through the Christmas Market, which didn't have much in my opinion. Walked through the General Store and Cheese Haus which were neat to see, but didn't get anything. Went to River Place and ended up getting some cupcakes since they were the winner of Cupcake Wars. 1 jumbo cupcake for $3.50 USD or 4 for $12 USD. We finished walking most of what we wanted to see by around 5:30pm and we decided to have dinner since it was somewhat cold out and we imagined that the restaurants would get really busy if we tried to get a spot after the Christmas Tree lighting.

Toxic lemon lime, red velvet, turtle power and samoa (top left going clockwise).

Tonight's dinner will be at Tiffany's which we were lucky to arrive when we did (slightly before 6:00pm) because we only waited for two other tables but by the time we sat down, it was a zoo and there were a lot of people waiting for a spot.

We had initially decided on our meals, but the waitress came back and told us that they were known for their pasta and their homemade sauces, so we ended up switching our choices and I ended up with the chicken portobello marsala ($12.95 USD) and Allison got the ravioli with lobster, langostinos, and shrimp ($15.95 USD). Both pastas come with your choice of soup or salad (although not unlimited like Olive Garden) and we ended up with the french onion soup which Allison liked and I got the salad which was okay. Both pasta dishes were very good and reasonably priced too in my opinion and Allison ended up with enough raviolis for another meal. I have no issues recommending the place if you are nearby.

French onion soup on the left, salad on the right.

Ravioli on the left, chicken portobello marsala on the right.

Ended up finishing dinner at around 6:45pm and luckily, we made it just in time for the Christmas tree lighting ceremony which had people singing Christmas songs and ending with God Bless America (which was odd since we didn't know the song and everyone around us was singing passionately). Even though I don't celebrate Christmas, it is nice that others take such pride in this holiday.

Bridge to River Place.

Lit Christmas tree of Frankenmuth.

Next stop, Bronner's CHRISTmas store! When we got there, we drove along Christmas Lane which was a nice short drive (under 5 minutes) where you see nicely lit Christmas decorations (santas, reindeers, sleighs, elves, snowmen, and more!). After parking, we walked into the store and we spent about 45 minutes inside. It is really big for a store just dedicated to Christmas items and they have an insane amount of ornaments and they actually have people that personalize them for you on the spot. It was nice to see how into the holiday season people were there.

Me next to santa and his reindeer.

Clocks!

Ornaments!

More ornaments!

Christmas tree.

After that, we headed back to the hotel and called it a night. We cut a quarter of each cupcake and I must say, they were pretty good. Better than the ones that we normally get in Montreal and a better deal as well. Of the four, I like Samoa the most which surprised me. Turtle Power tastes like chocolate cake, Red Velvet I never quite understood (and still don't), Toxic Lemon Lime is only good if you get the ganache (the cake base doesn't have much flavour), and Samoa was nice with the toasted coconut shavings on top and the cake was nice and moist.

We did some online searches for things that we missed and plan to head to Best Buy tomorrow to get some phones if we could find them for our parents and head back to Toronto since we were done.

2014 - Black Friday (Michigan)

After several changes to the itinerary, we settled on driving to Michigan to do some Black Friday shopping this year, leaving Thursday afternoon and returning on Saturday.  We decided to go to Michigan due to the snowstorm in Buffalo and the fact that the borders there would be very busy.

This would be my very first black Friday experience and I basically expected to be at awe at how long the lines are and just leave and go to the hotel and sleep.  Luckily this was not the case.

We took a half day on Thursday, leaving at around 2pm, and drove to the Hyatt Place in Auburn Hills.  The drive itself on Thursday afternoon was good with no real traffic and the border took roughly 20 minutes only because we picked the wrong line (there were only 3 cars/trucks in front of me).  From Toronto to Hyatt Place took roughly 4.5 hours with the border crossing.

Note that on Thanksgiving, basically everything is closed, even fast food restaurants.  We were lucky and next to where we were staying, Hyatt Place, there was a McDonald's that was open although the workers weren't too happy about it.  For $13 USD after tax we got TWO Big Mac combos, I forgot how much cheaper food is down here.  We chatted with the cashier for a bit and she was very enthusiastic about our Canadian coloured money and we showed her some and it was like someone finding a unicorn.  Her reactions were priceless.

After a quick bite, we went to our first stop, Birch Run.  We arrived at roughly 8pm and the mall wasn't as busy as I would have imagined with parking lines out the mall and people circling for parking spaces, I was able to quickly find parking by the Banana Republic area which is what we wanted to visit anyways.  Birch Run is an OUTDOOR outlet mall, so make sure that you dress appropriately.  With a CAA/AAA/passport, you can go to the information center near Old Navy for your free coupon book!

We shopped until roughly 1am and we got some good deals for an evening of shopping.  The more popular shops like Columbia, Coach, The North Face, all have line ups out the door.  Here's what we ended up with after Birch Run.  The top two pants (one pair of jeans, one pair of khakis) set me back $30 USD, the 3 dresses, 1 blazer and 1 blouse cost Allison only $80 USD!  The black one was a surprising $12 USD!

Black Friday 2014, after Birch Run

By then, we were tired and just headed back to the hotel and we would go to Great Lakes Crossing in the morning.  The room that we got was a bit odd in terms of layout.  It is a good size with a king bed and a sofa bed with a mini fridge and additional sink.  The oddity is that the sofa bed and king bed are on the same side of the room with a 2-foot wall separating the two and the TV is smack dab cross from the wall.  This means that the TV needs to be swiveled in order for one side of the room to see the TV properly.  Also, the washroom was just a shower and toilet, the sink for some reason is OUTSIDE the washroom.  There is probably a reason for this, but I couldn't figure it out (maybe so that someone can groom/clean up while the other takes a shower/uses the toilet).

Breakfast at the Hyatt was a bit disappointing, it is a continental breakfast which is basically a breakfast buffet.  They served eggs and pancakes but no meat (no bacon/sausage/ham), there is cereal, yogurt, various types of bread with a toaster and various types of juice and of course tea/coffee.  For the second morning, there were sausages and instead of pancakes, we got french toast.  Again, it wasn't anything good, all seemed like cheap instant food instead of fresh (our past experiences with breakfast has ranged from good to really good).  Service however was really good, no complaints there.

Onto Great Lakes Crossing!  We probably got there at around 9:30am and parking was easy to find and had no issues doing any shopping since it was still early (or late depending on if people started at 6pm on Thursday).  It was nice to be indoors since it meant we could leave our bulky winter coats in the car.  There were only lines at the big brands like Victoria Secret and Coach.

Here's what we ended up with after our initial run at Great Lakes Crossing and Birch Run.  I have since added a pair for dress shoes, 2 tops and a suit and Allison got a cardigan and another dress.

Black Friday 2014, after our first visit of Birch run and Great Lakes Crossing

We broke for lunch at around 1:30pm and by then, it was getting busy so it was a good time to have lunch and return after a bit of rest at the hotel.  Our meals were at Olive Garden and Applebee's.  I still haven't gotten used to the portion sizes in USA, even our lunch portions had us bringing back leftovers back to Toronto after each meal.  We were eating like kings for roughly $10 USD a person! 

Upon returning to Great Lakes Crossing after our break, it was clear that the madness was over since once again, it was easy to find parking and the lines for the big brands were no more.  We found a few more things and called it a night when the mall closed at 10pm.

The following morning (Saturday), we had breakfast and did a quick stop at Best Buy to get Allison's Canon ELPH 150 which was on sale for only $100 USD and headed up to Birch Run for one final browse before leaving.  I ended up walking out with a set of Columbia winter boots, Columbia running shoes, and Sorel suede shoes for only $81 USD after tax!

Here's our final haul ($570 USD later).

Final haul from Black Friday 2014

Roughly, here are the costs of what was picked up:

- Canon ELPH 150, $100 USD
- Haggar Suit, $90 USD (includes jacket/pant)

- Bostonian dress shoes, $70 USD (this wasn't a crazy deal but I was looking for dress shoes for awhile)
- Columbia winter boots, $40 USD
- 64GB Samsung MicroSD card, $25 USD
- Columbia running shoes (the blue ones), $18 USD
- Sorel suede shoes (the grey ones), $18 USD
- everything else in the picture was $25 USD or under with a lot of it being under $15 USD


Based on this experience, I'd probably do this again next time.

Expenses

- Hyatt Place Hotel was $120 USD a night, the place has free wifi, swimming pool, gym and breakfast
- Gas, we needed two tanks of gas from Toronto to Auburn Hill, Michigan and back (roughly 1,000km)

2014 - Chicago (Day 1)

Off to an early start today!  We decided to start our trip to Chicago early and leave at 3am.  This time around it is with a bigger group of people and there are 5 of us.  We rented a car at Alamo and it was $220 for 4 days.  We made it to the Sarnia border at 5:30, ahead of schedule.  We were actually at McDonalds before it opened.  So we stopped by the Tim Horton's.  Did you know it is a cafe and bake shop down south?

We stopped at the McDonalds after to grab some breakfast and continued on.  Since we were early we decided to stop at a Target.  The deals do seem better down here although I didn't get anything.

Our first main stop is Great Lakes Crossing.  Which is an outlet mall in Michigan that reminds me of Vaughan Mills.  Lots of sales but we didn't end up buying much.

After the outlet we went to Olive Garden for lunch.  $10 will get you a full main course along with unlimited bread sticks and your choice of unlimited soup or salad.  Americans have such plentiful meals!!

Mike took the first shift from Toronto to GLC.  I drove from GLC until the car complained that it needed gas.  When we got to the gas station I tried to pull the gas cap release to no avail.  Mike and Harold tried as well with no luck.  After about 10 minutes I figured out that the latch wasn't pulling the release enough to pop the cap.  Issue resolved!!

After this Harold decided to take the next shift to test out the car to see why Mike and I was complaining about the CVT of this car.  He seemed okay with it minus the lag.

About 1.5 hours in and a nap from all of us we awoke to a state trooper pulling us over.  He told Harold that he basically cut him off.  He called it in but luckily didn't charge him.  He drove a bit more before we took a pitstop at a McDonalds and I drove the rest of the way to the airbnb location.

The places seems okay.  Two rooms with a pull out sofa bed but it only has one bathroom.

We went to Girl and her Goat for dinner thanks to Allison's brother for the reservations.  The food was great so it was a good end to the long day.

Tomorrow we explore Chicago.