Category Archives: Travel

Frankenmuth: Lager Mill and Historical Museum

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When we visited Frankenmuth last weekend, we of course knew about the Frankenmuth Brewery, Zehnder’s famous fried chicken, and the giant year-round Christmas store Bronner’s. What we hadn’t been to before though was the Lager Mill and the Frankenmuth Hisotrical Museum.

Lager Mill is not just a beer store, but also a brewing museum with lots of old milling equipment, info on the brewing history in Frankenmuth, and a huge German beer glass selection.

lager mill - grains

lager mill - signs

The Frankenmuth Historical Museum was another great find, especially considering the $2 admission to the brewing museum also included admission to the historical museum.

historical museum - axes

historical museum - cabin

historical museum - post office

Trevor

Frankenmuth: Downtown

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We usually try to take a small trip every winter, but between moving and Mary starting a new job, it just didn’t happen this year.

Now that we’re finally about settled, we took an early spring trip to Frankenmuth, America’s little Bavaria. Since Frankenmuth is only a little over an hour away and has multiple breweries, it seemed like the perfect weekend retreat.

We loaded up our bikes only to have a chilly, overcast weekend, but we still had a great time walking around downtown and enjoying the alpine architecture and scenery.

cheese haus

bavarian inn

lager mill

covered bridge

river

schnitzelbank

Trevor

On the Move

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Mary and I have been neglecting the blog recently due to a sudden move to Hamtramck. Being busy setting up our new home and not having internet yet has led to blog updates being a little harder to post than normal. Hopefully order will be restored within the next week and the internet with flow once again.

In the meantime, here’s an ode to our new home of Hamtramck.

Hamtramck Disneyland
Hamtramck Disneyland from Detroit Moxie

Polish Village Cafe
Polish Village Cafe from Yelp

Hamtramck_70s
Hamtramck in the 70′s from Detroit Memories

Kowalsi
Kowalskis from Flickr

A post dedicated to Hamtramck is especially fitting today as it’s Paczki Day and Hamtramck is known for having the best Paczkis pretty much anywhere. I’ve learned that Paczki Day isn’t well known outside of the midwest, so if you don’t know what this wonderful and gluttenous holiday is, see here.

Paczkis
Paczkis from Hamtramck.us

Trevor Walters

Cabin Style

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Over the weekend we took a quick vacation to Paradise… Michigan. It’s a tiny town on White Fish Bay in the Upper Peninsula. I’ve always thought the name was sort of a misnomer since it’s cold most of the year. But after visiting in the fall I think it’s rather fitting.

dark road
cabin sign
red coffee pot
wood burning stove
union suit and labatt
campfire potatoes

More pictures to come!

Mary

Pacific Northwest Style

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While we were visiting Northern California, I was struck by the street style I saw. Everyone looked effortlessly laid back and casual. It made me want to be draped in mountains of flannel and wool. Who know, maybe I’ll trade in my high-waisted skirts for some flared corduroys.

vw bug
by Jake Stangel via Fashion Indie

pacific northwest street fashion
via SF Weekly

portland street style
via Urban Weeds
seattle street style
via it’s my darlin’

Mary

Northern California: Roaring Camp Railroads

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Another one of my favorite parts of our trip was visiting the Roaring Camp Railroads in Felton, California. Roaring Camp (yes, that’s the real name of the town) was an old logging town, but since the area became protected from logging, it has become a tourist destination with a railroad to either take you through the redwoods to Bear Mountain, or to the Santa Cruz beach.

The town is still made to look like an old logging town, complete with a General Store, Towne Marshal, Blacksmith Shoppe, and more.

train and redwoods
The train on a curve through the redwoods

redwoods
Looking at the top of the trees

trevor at blacksmith
Me at the blacksmith shoppe

mary at towne marshal
Mary at the Towne Marshal’s office

train
Our train

Trevor

Northern California: Sutro Baths

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We just returned from our vacation to Northern California, including stops in San Francisco, Palo Alto, Mountain View, Felton, and Santa Cruz. We went mostly for a friend’s wedding, but of course also did a lot of sight-seeing.

One of my favorite sights on the trip was the Sutro Bath Ruins. The Sutro Baths was a huge swimming pool complex built toward the end of the 19th century along the Pacific Ocean in San Francisco. The baths closed in the 1960′s and a fire destroyed the building soon after. The concrete foundation, some of the stairs, and a tunnel still remain and it’s an awesome sight to see along the gloomy Pacific Ocean, with raves crashing into the ruins.

Sutro Baths Interior
Sutro Baths interior from Wikipedia

Sutro Baths Exterior
Sutro Baths in the early 20th century from Cliff House Project

Sutro Bath Ruins 2
The Sutro Baths today

Sutro Bath Ruins 1

If you’re as intrigued by the Sutro Bath Ruins as I was, check out the video below for a documentary on its history.


by Juli Lopez

Trevor

Fall Projects

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A few weeks ago, I started a list of goals for this fall. Eventually, the list got so long that I decided it was unmanageable and unrealistic. I decided to par it down to two goals:

1. Learn to play one song on guitar
I’m going with Moondance by Van Morrison, because it is only a few chords and it seems seasonable.

2. Learn to knit socks
I have wanted to know how to make socks ever since I began knitting and can’t seem to figure it out on my own. This year I’m biting the bullet and signing up for a class. I will have cozy feet this winter, no matter what.

Everything else on the list is still in the running, but instead of using the intimidating word “goal,” I am going to call them “projects.” I guess my reasoning is that projects left unfinished aren’t necessarily a sign of failure.

Here’s a roundup of some of my fall projects:

 pickled vegetables
I think it would be a blast to get a group of friends together and pickle vegetables or make jam. Martha Stewart has a ton of recipes for both on her site.

diy collars
Since I’m obsessed with Puritans, I want to make a few detachable collars to spruce up basic dresses. I love this DIY Detachable Collar Pattern from A Common Thread.

diy sharpie mugs
I love a good mug. There’s nothing cozier than curling up on the couch with a book, wooly (handmade!) socks, and a mug of coffee. I live in a tiny apartment and don’t have room for a lot of dishes. So, I can only get new mugs when I break an old one. Fortunately, I recently broke a mug so now I can design my own with this Sharpie Mug Tutorial from Wild Olive.

pabst on a bike
Lastly, Trevor and I are planning a brewery biking tour in Michigan this October. The plan is to bike from Bell’s in Kalamazoo to Corner Brewery in Ypsilanti over a weekend. I am so excited to finally be taking a longer bike trip. Plus, I love anything involving a microbrewery.
(photo from Bon Appetit)

Mary