2015 - Black Friday Summary

Duration: 2 days (US Thanksgiving weekend, left on Thursday afternoon and returned on Saturday evening)

Cost: $156.83 for accommodations (we had one night free), $20 USD + $42 CAD for gas, food was roughly $17 USD per person per meal.

Distance Driven: 1,138 km (approximate).

Highlights (in no particular order):

Bronner's CHRISTmas Store, while I was a little disappointed by the store itself, I think it is definitely worth visiting if you are in the area. While I knew walking in that it would be a massive store dedicated to Christmas, by the end I felt like 'this is it?', without actually knowing why it disappointed me. Don't let my unknown disappointment deter you from visiting however because I think it is a must see even if you aren't into Christmas since the store has ornaments that I would have never imagined like s'mores, melted snowmen and more.

Me by Santa and some reindeer.

Clocks and nut crackers.

Ornaments!

More ornaments!

Christmas Tree.

Frankenmuth Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony, while we stumbled upon this, I thought that this was a nice way to end our trip. You can approach this in one of two ways. One method is to just arrive about one hour after the candlewalk or you can participate in the candlewalk which eventually gets you to the Christmas tree. The ceremony started at roughly 7:00pm on Thanksgiving Day where a bunch of people gather around the tree and sing Christmas carols and end with God Bless America before lighting up the tree. Worth a stop if you are in the area.

Frankenmuth Christmas Tree.

Lowlights (in no particular order):

Nothing in particular was a disappointment for this trip.

Must try food places:

SugarHigh Bakery, we stumbled upon this cupcake shop while we were wandering Frankenmuth and with the crowd that I saw inside the shop, I thought that we should stop by and I'm glad that we did. They were the winner of season 7 of Cupcake Wars and I can see why. They had a wide variety of cupcakes and they mark the ones that they used to win Cupcake Wars so that you can try those if you like, otherwise there are some classic ones like Red Velvet, and more. You can get 1 cupcake for $3.50 USD or 4 for $12 USD. Worth a stop in my opinion if you are in the area and don't be scared off by the price since they are jumbo cupcakes and I would say that they are as large if not larger than most muffins.

Clockwise from top left to bottom left, Toxic Lemon Lime, Red Velvet, Turtle Power, Samoa

Tiffany's, if you want pasta, you should stop by here and give it a try. The restaurant gets very busy and the quality of the food is probably the reason why. The price is good and I thought that the food was very good and I'm glad that we came here and will make sure to visit again in the future if we are in the area.

French onion soup on the left, salad on the right included with our pasta entrees.

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

Banh Mi Shop, this was one that we had concerns with given where it is (Strathroy, Ontario), but I am glad that we stopped by and if you are in the area, you can't go wrong. We ordered the 3 lil pigs banh mi and the grilled pork vermicelli and we thought they were both really good. Give them a try if you are in the area.

3 lil pigs banh mi.

Grilled pork vermicelli.

What would I change?

Allison said that we should probably switch up the route and go to Great Lakes Crossing first on the Thursday and Birch Run on the Friday in the future and I agree. Given that Frankenmuth is near Birch Run, it didn't make sense for us to drive that route twice instead of going to Birch Run and then Frankenmuth afterwards.

Until our next trip!

2015 - Black Friday Day 3 (Michigan)

Had a late breakfast this morning, the hot items options today were egg pattys, and biscuits and gravy, the cut honeydew and cantaloupe changed to canned mixed fruit, with the rest being the same.

Sonesta ES Suites was our hotel in Auburn Hills, Michigan and I would rank it as roughly equal to Hyatt Place which is just down the street. I prefer Sonesta ES Suites due to the layout of the living space and the small kitchen area that is available is nice for people who want to make them own meals or snacks (includes a full size fridge, microwave, two burner induction stove top, pots, pans, cutlery, basically most basic kitchen items). If you come during the week (Tuesday - Thursday), there are happy hours where you get free snacks and drinks and you can mingle with other guests which unfortunately is not available during Thanksgiving.

We headed to Best Buy this morning in hopes of finding the Motorola E which is only $10 USD and the Z222 for Allison's mom which is an older style flip phone but it was only $7.50 USD! We found the Z222 at the first Best Buy but had no luck with the Motorola E at the two Best Buys that we visited this morning. We also stopped by a DSW but didn't find anything there. After that, we started our drive back to Toronto.

Got to the border at around 12:20pm and was done in about 30 minutes. We had no issues but instead of asking how much we spent, the lady asked us what was the damage which was funny to us. On our way back, we headed to two Real Canadian Superstores because I was hoping to get the PlayStation 4 bundle since it was no tax this weekend but failed, but we ended up getting two hot dogs and a pop at the local charity BBQ there.

For lunch we stopped at Banh Mi Shop and surprisingly, the food we thought was pretty good. Initially we had concerns since it is ethnic food in a relatively white area and we joked that if this place wasn't good, we would have to eat it again but in Toronto. I ordered grilled pork vermicelli ($8.50 CAD) and Allison got the 3 lil pigs banh mi ($6.50 CAD) and both were good sizes and well priced. With the banh mi option, you can add a mini pho for $3.75 CAD or add fries and pop for $4.25 CAD. Note that this place is debit/cash only.

3 lil pigs banh mi.

Grilled pork vermicelli.

After lunch we stopped at the Toronto Premium Outlet to see what was available and we arrived at around 5:00pm and the line ups at some of the shops were insane (1 hour wait at Kate Spade). We finished in under an hour but I did end up with a pair of shoes from Columbia for only $34+tax which are similar to ones that I got last year, but slightly more expensive.

With Toronto Premium Outlet finished, we headed back to Allison's place and ate our leftover pasta dishes (my spaghetti and meatball dish from Olive Garden and her raviolis from Tiffany's) and called it a night.

Come back tomorrow for a summary of our Black Friday trip.

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.