Frank...Who?

We arrived at our son's house on Friday evening after traveling some down the West coast of Michigan. We ran in and out of rain the whole day. We stopped at Friske Orchards for some jam and an apple pie to go with the sharp cheddar Wisconsin cheese I had bought just before crossing into the UP. We traveled down to Traverse City to look at the shops there but when we got there I found that I had misjudged the town. It is both a college town and heavily tourist oriented. All of the parking is meter controlled and there was absolutely no place to park a large vehicle. So we made a pass through the shopping district and hightailed out of town and across the state to our present location.

Saturday was cold and rainy and Sunday was cold and windy. But Monday we were determined to get out and see stuff again. We got up in the morning to greet frost on the ground but the day turned sunny and pretty decent after a while. We had been tipped off about a little town North of here and decided to check it out. After some time wandering the back roads we finally found Frankenmuth, MI.

Frankenmuth is a small country town settled by German immigrants in the mid 1800's. It was pretty much like any other small town until the mid 1900's when a trip back to the old country inspired some of the town's occupants to redecorate their buildings in the "Bavarian" style. This really changed the look and feel of the town as more buildings were redone and shops featuring the theme took off. Of course, tourist dollars are at the bottom of the makeover. But, they've done quite a job over the years. There's even a Bavarian McDonald's.

We parked at the visitor's center and wheeled around town from there. In front of the visitor's center was a creative example of what to do with hay bales.

We have been to other Bavarian style towns like Sugarcreek in Ohio and Helen in Georgia and I think that Frankenmuth has done the best job. It seems to have the right blend of shops and restaurants and is pretty easy to get around in. Many of the shops have the same China sourced stuff we've seen all across the country but there are others that are pretty unique. I saw an authentic pair of men's lederhosen (leather pants) for sale ($280). One restaurant features their "famous chicken dinner". Somehow when I think of German food, chicken doesn't spring to mind.

The lead picture today is of the Bavarian Inn, owned by the family that started the make over. It has three floors of dining capacity and features a glockenspiel tower.

A town like this had to embrace Octoberfest in the fall and they have the brewery influence to do it. We found the Lager Mill first.

It is a brewing museum and a beer store combined. They have one of the largest collection of European and domestic micro-brews I've come across. The highlight of the visit was discovering that they had the Founder's Breakfast Stout I had been searching for. This is a dark creamy beer with heavy coffee influence and is the best stout I've had so far.

At the other end of town is the Frankenmuth Brewery. They have a store where you can purchase beer and shirts and also a brewpub for dining. We ate lunch with tanks of beer looming over us.

I was primed for a traditional lunch and I was not disappointed. While Diane had the fish and chips I had to have Brats and kraut and beer.

Like many brewpubs they have some of the old plumbing on display. I don't know what this valving setup does but it sure looked neat.

After lunch we walked the upper part of town stopping at a cheese store, a woolen store and some others that were very nice, if pricey at times. Of course, I couldn't come away without some good beer so a full case of Frankenmuth Octoberfest now rides in the coach.

Now we'll coast for a couple of days and then take another look around.