Bacon, Bronners, Bavarian Festival, and Beautiful Mackinaw Island

So after my third week at Dow, Caiqian flew all the way up to Midland, Michigan to see me. She and I had a wonderful time during her  visit, starting with (my original bucket-list food item) cob smoked-bacon!

Bacon

So there are many different types of bacon in this world, all of which I love. Almost all bacon is hardwooked smoked, meaning that it is smoked over burning applewood, cherry wood, or even hickory wood chips. But not cob-smoked bacon. Cob-smoked bacon stands out amongst the bacons because it is slowly smoked over smoldering corn cobs, which makes the bacon carmelize when cooked while still having a powerful bacon flavor. Simply put, it is the king of the bacons.

Cob Smoked Bacon

Caiqian and I finished all the slices by the time she had left. But on the way to devouring every slice there were plenty of other fun things we did, starting with Bronner's.

Bronner's

It would have been criminal if Caiqian came all the way up here and missed out on the chance to go to the largest Christmas store in the world, Bronners, located in Frankenmuth.

Bronner's Stocking-Shaped Floor Map

Now I've seen many stores with superfluous claims, but this Christmas store was truly one of the largest buildings I've ever been in, not to mention the largest Christmas store I've ever been in. The picture honestly depicts only a tiny nook in this Christmas labyrinth.

This is the smallest nook in the store.

Every facet of the store was oozing with Christmas. Even the clocks drew your eyes to the end of December.

Bronner's Clock

Bronner's also stocked Christmas products larger than any I have ever seen. In fact, I bought a yard-long stocking for Caiqian (which came with free stitching).

Everything at Bronner's is Ginormous

Overall we had a great time, especially considering that Christmas is one of Caiqian's favorite things (next to dogs and food).

Caiqian had a blast

Bavarian Festival

Also in Frankenmuth was the Bavarian festival, an annual German festival. The festival began early with the Great Duck Race. When Caiqian and I read up on it, we expected to see real ducks racing down a river. When we arrived, we discovered that they actually just released plastic ducks, but we enjoyed ourselves nonetheless.

The Great Duck Race

We then proceeded to the main grounds of the Bavarian Festival.

Bavarian Festival

My favorite part of the festival was seeing Maypole girls for the first time. Watching the girls weave the Maypole tree with their ribbons was a delight.

Maypole Girls

Another event at the festival was the Das Boot competition, where the contestants had to dress in strange garb and perform a series of tasks while not spilling a boot full of beer. The competition was hosted by a radio host who was quick to jab at the contestants missteps.

Das Boot

Outside of the festival there were other things to do. For instance, at the Frankenmuth Cheese Haus I bought some kangaroo and gator smoked meat. The kangaroo reminded me of a stinky, chewy beef while the gator meat was like a mix between chicken and frog's legs.

Exotic Foods from Cheese Haus

Lastly, we had dinner at the Bavarian Inn, which sported a fantastic dinner special where the waitstaff just dropped by and kept piling on new dishes. By the end we didn't even have space for our elbows.

∞ -Part Meal from the Bavarian Inn

Beautiful Mackinaw Island

On Sunday Caiqian and I went to Mackinaw island. In order to get there, we took a nice, breezy ferry ride.

Ferry Ride to Mackinaw Island

Mackinaw island is a charming place with a real local feel. One way they maintain the charm is by having a rule that no cars are allowed on the island. Because of this, the island was covered in horse-drawn carriages and bicycles.

No Cars Allowed

One of our favorite fun-houses on the island was the house of mirrors, which was a trippy, dark maze where Caiqian and I clumsily bumbled around. 

Lost in the Mirror Maze

At the end there were some funny mirrors. Also the store owners told us to find our way back to the beginning. On the way back Caiqian and I made it back without touching a single wall. Total pros.

Funny Mirror Exit

Following the mirror maze, Caiqian and I stopped by beautiful Marquette park. The grass was green and the breezes were refreshing.

Marquette Park

After our quick break we toured main street pretty thoroughly. One of the most defining features was the multitude of fudge shops that sprinkled the island.

There were one or two fudge places on the island.

In one of the shops we had the opportunity to see fudge get poured, folded, and shaped on a granite table.

Fudge Makin'

My favorite place to get a meal on the island was at Chuckwagon, which served a delicious burger on a soft pretzel bun. I'd recommend it to anyone visiting Mackinaw island.

Pretzel burgers from Chuckwagon

My absolute favorite memory of Mackinaw island though was the 8-mile tandem bicycling ride I took with Caiqian. 

Tandem Bicycling

Our trip circumnavigated the entire island, and while we were riding we saw stacks of rocks (called rock cairns) on the beach front, so Caiqian and I stopped halfway and decided to build a cairn of our own.

A stop on the shore

Obviously, the first step of building a rock structure was to get some rocks, so I was quickly put to work. I have to admit I enjoyed feeling like a hunter-gatherer from nomadic times.

Building the Rock Cairn

At last we finished our cairn, which, (according to our calculations) will stand for a thousand years.

It's done!  

Bowling

After the weekend, Caiqian and I mostly watched movies and ordered out pizza. But one thing worth noting was that we went bowling, and after playing three games with Caiqian, I finally beat my previous all time high score of 131. Read it and weep:

132!

It may not be Jon's 300, but trouncing my previous score was a personal triumph. Take that, 131!

Dow, Niagara Falls, and Toronto

Currently I am working at Dow Solar PowerHouse, which is one of the small sectors of Dow which sells directly to consumers. Our product is the Dow Solar Shingle, which can be installed in any residential roof. The shingles we produce are strong enough to withstand hail while providing thousands of watts for your home every year.

Turn hot roofs into home electricity

Since I can't really go into details about job specifics, let me just say that working with this team has been a wonderful experience, and that for a first-time Co-Op, I'm very pleased with the amount of responsibility Dow has given me. 

After my first week of work, we had memorial day weekend. In order to best take advantage of the holiday, I went to see of the great world wonders, Niagara Falls! Since it takes around 5 hours to go between Midland and Niagara, I also slept over in Toronto.

In order to get to Niagara Falls, I first had to drive though Canada. And let me say, everything looks very different in Canada. I was first excited to see the speed limits say 100, until I realized it meant 100 km/hr which translates to only 62 mph. Also, all the highway signs had crowns for some reason.

These roads must be royalty

Eventually I did make it, evident by the large building that told me I was here.

Niagara Falls Souvenir Hub

After walking behind the gateway building, I found a fenced-in river that simply disappeared over an edge. I expected a white-water rapids, but the waters were actually quite calm (before the drop that is).

 Right Side of the American Falls

It turns out what I had found was the American Falls, which releases water at an impressive 75,000 gal/sec! In order to see more, I took a bridge to see the american falls from the other bank.

Left Side of the American Falls

One interesting part of the American Falls I found was this side stream.

Some sort of Niagara creek?

I also got really close to the edge of the American falls and looked down below to see a bunch of people in rain ponchos getting soaked. If I ever came back, I would probably join them.

Cave of the Winds

I was pleasantly surprised with how close the guard railing got to the edge of the falls. I'd imagine if I had kids this would be quite the traumatic experience.

Bryan and the American Falls

One part of the falls that I found particularly enjoyable were the logs that were trapped on the edge. Imagine the thrill if you were swimming in the river, being pulled toward the falls, but at the last second you managed to cling onto one of these logs. I wonder if that's ever happened.

Those are some lucky logs

The other main waterfall of the Niagara falls is the Horseshoe Falls.

Horseshoe Falls Plume

I was surprised to learn that Horseshoe falls releases water at 675,000 gal/sec, 9x more than American Falls!

Horseshoe Falls

While looking over the edge of Horseshoe falls, I manged to catch the Maid of the Mist diving head-fist into the misty plume of the Horseshoe Falls.

The Maid of the Mist

This was truly the iconic part of Niagara Falls that I always envisioned. How a waterfall can be so big truly boggles the mind.

Horseshoe Falls

Afterward it was time for me to go over to Toronto.

Hello Toronto

My car ran out of gas, and that's when the trouble began. Unfortunately, when I managed to find a gas station, I didn't even know how outraged I was supposed to be.

What units are these?!?!

126.6 Canadian cents/Liter x (1 Liter/0.264 gallons) x (1 dollar/100 cents) x(0.9764 US Dollars/1 Canadian Dollar)= 4.68 US Dollars/Gallon! Angry time!

The next step was finding parking. Eventually I fund a place that only charged ten dollars to stay overnight.

Bryan has landed

On the way to my hostel, I walked through Toronto's China town.

Toronto's China Town

I also found this gem on the way. Nice to see the home state has such far-reaching influence.

What if I went all the way from Austin to Toronto for this?

Also, it wouldn't be a visit to Canada without trying the quintessential Canadian dish, poutine.

Poutine

I also treated myself to a green apple smoothie drink at Second Cup, some sort of Canadian equivalent to Starbucks.

Green Apple Drink

By far though the most dominating feature of Toronto was the CN tower. In fact, if it wasn't only the 3rd highest tower in the world, I might have paid the $30 they charge for letting me take the elevator up.

CN Tower

After I finished my walk through Toronto, I realized it was time to get back to work. And to tell the truth, I felt relieved coming back to the USA. Even the strange Michigan welcome sign felt good to see.

Back to the Good Ol' USA

Next week Caiqian is coming to visit, so stay tuned for more!