A little German Christmas in April...by Twy's Twavels

We packed our camper in a puddle up to our middles (ok, not quite our middles - we had to wear sandals and roll up our pant-legs to leave our camper that seemed to be the only one in the campground that was castle-like with a moat)...welcome to Spring!

Our fruits and veggies all eaten and $8 bridge toll paid ($4 for the truck and $4 for each additional axle), we crossed the USA/Canada border in about 15 minutes with no more than a question about how we could travel for 6 weeks in the USA.  We had given ourselves a 2 hour window for that crossing - great luck!!!! 

Culture shock...a border crossing that didn't involve USD money and then no change to make the sum correct, big rubber stamps, pieces of paper stuck into our passports for the duration of our travels, or filling out paperwork for all four of us - with the same information all written out twice on each form.

Arden's parents went to Frankenmuth, Michigan two times in their travels over the past years.  One of their favourite places.  It is a small Bavarian inspired town with the world's largest Christmas store - Bronner's.  They enjoyed telling us about the buildings, foods and gave us all beautiful Christmas ornaments too.

Driving into Frankenmuth, Maelle announced that we were in a gingerbread house town.  She was right.  We had entered a different world.

After parking our camper at Jellystone Park and snapping a photo with Yogi Bear - we had our picnic supper (which Yogi thought of stealing but after smelling that it was rice and beans in the Instant Pot, he left us alone).  We enjoyed the heated pool although our Children noticed that the chlorine levels were higher than other pools in our travels in Central America.

We walked to the downtown in the morning...warm spring sunshine, old German-styled buildings, daffodils peeking out, flowering trees, enchanted fairy gardens, cupcakes and tasty treats.  All that was missing was snow...

The Christmas store was mind-boggling in the size, the incredible themed displays and the quantity of Christmas ornaments.  We wandered...enjoying the Christmas music.  Finally we settled on a few ornaments that will help us remember our travels this year...a sloth ball (from Playa Chiquita), a sea turtle (from Akumal) and a humming bird (from Costa Rica and Guatemala).  It's a fun tradition that we started 22 years ago and have continued through the years.

Now we can't wait to set up our Christmas tree in December!

Our short diversion to Frankenmuth drew to a close by going to a replica of the church where Silent Night was sung some 200 years ago.  Back to spring...