To say we love Frankenmuth, would be an understatement. Frankenmuth went from a weekend of sweet shopping deals to a lifelong place to escape in less time than it takes to say Willkommen. We have held many a life changing moments in Frankenmuth and will continue to support their tiny Bavarian town. I have future posts to get into the more personal side of the experiences we have had on our trips. For now I want to tell you the basics of our trip, we follow the same system every time we go. But I will throw in 1 slightly sentimental experience as well (I lie, it is not slight, it is huge!)
Frankenmuth is a solid 3 hour drive from our home, if the border is moving smoothly. The drive is nothing fantastic, past areas like; Detroit, Flint, Saginaw, and Port Huron, for us. Talk about scenic! :)
To be honest we do not actually stay in Frankenmuth, #wespoor, so we stay in Birchrun. This is an even smaller town within the Municipality, that really only has the failing outlet mall and an Applebee's. So it is perfect and we love it! Now for our system;
Step 1: Check into hotel
Step 2: Visit Bronners to buy Christmas town stuff
Step 3: Chicken Dinner at Bavarian Inn
Step 4: Hot tub at hotel
(Day 2) Step 5: Outlet Mall
Step 6: Lunch at Applebees
Step 7: Outlet Mall
Step 8: River Shops/ Castle Shops
Step 9: Chicken Dinner at Bavarian Inn
(Day 3) Step 10: Drive home
That's all there is to it folks. Yes this is a weekend trip. Yes it is a shopping trip. But it is also so much more than that. The town is cozy and fun. Cute and charming. Something about the simplicity, European feel so close to home, convenience of location and comfortableness, made us fall in love. And keeps us coming back for more.
Another HUGE win for us is that Frankenmuth is very pet friendly. So, #sentimentalalert, when our beloved Indie was very ill we knew we had to share this gem with her. We had traveled with our dog Indie several times over the course of her 6 wonderful years on earth. Without a doubt though, Frankenmuth was her favourite trip. She easily grew comfortable at the hotel, even while we were away. She loved the attention she got at the outlet mall. Every time I came out of a store there was at least 3-5 people gathered around Indie and Jeff just to pet her. She was a superstar, and loved every second of it. She got to enjoy a "dog beer" that had her face on it (aka chicken broth in a bottle) and lots of treats from the Doodle Bakery (located at Birchrun Outlets, hopefully still #fuckcovid). She gobbled up her pupsicle from a bakery in downtown Frankenmuth and got her picture taken with the famous Carriage horses. Our favourite memory of Indie in Frankenmuth was our wander around the grounds of Bronners. Let me put this into perspective for you. Bronners, the store, is the size of 3 football fields. The grounds are wayyyy bigger and 100% Christmas 365 days a year. So in the middle of summer we got to share a Christmas Wonderland with our baby girl.
Every aspect of this weekend with her was perfect. It may seem like a small time trip, but this will forever be one of my favourites!
While Frankenmuth is the place we go the most, we do visit other places read about one of them here!
I miss Frankenmuth 😔