Its been a few years since we have been to Great Lakes Crossing and James and Mom really wanted to go. James was looking for games at the game store and Mary was looking for deals at the Women stores.

Dad really did not want to go so he dropped the two off at the shopping complex and went to kill an hour at another attraction.

Great Lakes Crossing is the largest indoor outlet mall in Michigan and this day it was a little busy but not really bad, considering it was Memorial Day weekend. A great time was had by one and all at two different locations in Michigan.

Our first visit since before the pandemic was a successful one. It was the day before the Memorial day crowd would show up so we had the city pretty much to ourselves. Lots of shopping for goodies and t-shirts. Once again we stayed at the Holiday Inn Express there and they were still doing construction on something in the lobby (when we were there last time, there was also construction of some kind going on).

The breakfast was great and everyone had a great time in the city. We did notice that all the kite shops seemed to have disappeared which is unfortunate. For dinner we had pizza and wings two days in a row. Thats why its a vacation. Continue reading “Macinaw City 2022” →

Sunday began much differently than it ended but its these unexpected surprises that sometimes make the best fun. After dropping of some goods at Grandma’s the family returned home and found out a car accident had caused a power failure throughout Dearborn and Dearborn Heights. With no power at home we decided to take a little road trip to Frankenmuth for some last minute Christmas shopping.

As one would expect, the place was crowded with lines outside of Bronners just to get in and a 2.5 hour wait for chicken dinner, but the family was not deterred as they spent a few hours shopping at the mall and even had a chance encounter with a Christmas hero of Dad… No, not Santa, but the Grinch!

A great time was had by all as we listened to the Lions win their second game of the year and lots of Christmas music.

Continue reading “Power Loss and a Trip to Frankenmuth 2021” →

After Halloween is a holiday in our family. This year we kept saying we really did not need anything, but we went out anyway and could not resist the 50-80 percent of sales that were going on. We hit Halloween City first, then Spirit Halloween, and finally Jo Annes, Michaels, and Walmart.

This year was certainly different as there was many empty shelves in many of the stores as they were having a hard time getting inventory in. Because of this we did not expect much to be left after Halloween but we got lucky because we shopped in a city outside of the suburbs where the population was a little light.

Continue reading “After Halloween Sale 2021” →

The Haunted Garage Sale was held at the Dearborn civic center next to the library on Michigan Avenue. James could not attend because he was in Saturday classes at Wayne County Community College but Dad went and picked up a few things.

Perhaps the neatest display was the apothecary display of various witches potions and spells all in bottles that looked like they were hundreds of years old when in fact they were probably only a few days old.

The event was well attended but still seemed not as busy as it used to be, perhaps its the pandemic or perhaps its just that the new venue is so much bigger than the other auditoriums.

Continue reading “Haunted Garage Sale 2021” →

Driving around we found that a Halloween store was open so we took a quick visit to see what was new. Their display this year featured an assembly line that was maintained by the skeletons. It was pretty cool. We bought a couple small items but the store assured us that there would be much more in stock in the near future. We think this might be the earliest one of the Halloween stores opened as it is not even September yet.

Anyhow it was a fun way to spend a hot summer day. Continue reading “First Halloween Store Opens 2021” →

Bronners really looked different this year as we saw many items that we never saw before including a motion light snowflake that was really cool (but they were out of, only the demo left, but plenty of time till Christmas. We really enjoyed the Santa in the classic car mural and will have to review old pics to see if we just missed that or if that is something new. Regardless its something that is not for sale but it certainly is cool to look at. The day was perfect so we tried to spend as much time as we could outside of Bronners, looking at all their outside decorations as well as the inside decorations.

Taking the back roads from Lapeer to Frankenmuth is a very enjoyable ride, you go around a beautiful lake, and you find all sorts of small ma and pa type stores. However, with a gps its almost impossible to know your way around.

Stopping at Past Tense in Lapeer MI is always a pleasure, although it always brings up the debate on which is the real 24, the 24 that we refer to as Telegraph or the 24 that goes from the Palace of Auburn hills through Lapeer? In addition to antiques Past Tense has a Christmas and Halloween section plus a garden shop which has all sorts of unique products for the outside decorator. We got some interesting ideas for the yard but only purchased an “outdoor cemetery” sign on this visit.

After leaving Past Tense we headed North via side streets and stopped for the first time at an antique store called the “weathered windmill”. It was really cool and had many items that we simply could not live without, but did. We managed to buy an old antique crate. Continue reading “Antique Shopping at Past Tense & Weathered Windmill” →

We had a surprise on a visit to Walmart when we noticed that the Spirit Halloween store in Canton was already opened and while they did not have all the new items that were going to be available for 2019, they did have enough to make it worth while. Lots of scary clowns this year and a large water display in the center of the store that looks like it will be an underwater type of haunt, most likely using lamps that create the illusion of an under water lair so it should be unique and interesting.

Looks like its going to be a banner year for Halloween, although even we must concede that its a wee bit early. Looking back at last year it was at least 3 weeks later in the year (Aug 17 2018) when the first Halloween store opened.

Continue reading “First Halloween Store Visit of 2019” →

On a cold February day we took a little jaunt to Canterbury Village to check out the shops. In a week they will be hosting a home garden show so we felt this would be a good time to visit. Everyone found something unique at these stores to bring home. Olde World Canterbury Village and Aldridge’s Always Christmas celebrated it’s grand opening October 1, 1993. The original Wildwood Farm buildings used by the Hadrills, Scripps and Keating have all been carefully restored and continue to be productive while preserving an important chapter in Michigan’s history.

Continue reading “Canterbury Village 2019” →