knackwurst und bratwurst

4th of July week means extra days off. Yay. And of course I escaped the east coast heat and humidity to hang out in Michigan. This year was the first time where Luca was the kid being gone. He is up north summer camping for 2 weeks in cabins by a lake together with his best friend, and no news are good news, right? The rest of us had BBQ and small fireworks with good friends

Before watching the big fireworks in Burns park, where a rich local sets up an amazing show every year, which is not advertised anywhere.The following day we went to Hidden lake gardens, which is part of Michigan State University. It was hot! But nice

And I also squeezed in a lunch with my former boss, whom I miss terribly but who is also willing to let me hang out with him when there is a chance. It felt good to talk through my current career change of getting into big pharma business from having spent so many years in academia.

And then - drum roll please....... Saturday we went to the one place in Michigan were I am ashamed to say that I have not been yet. The glorious town of Frankenmuth! Or a little piece of Bavaria outside of Germany. Where you can get meat with starch and sauerkraut for lunch

Served by waiters in lederhosen or dirdnl dresses

Absolutely a michigan experience one should not miss out on👌🏻😂

We even continued further north after this to visit the forest canopy in Dows garden. It was beyond beautiful and much larger than we anticipated. My favorite part was this little quiet amber colored lake with bull frogs.

And I guess this was basically my summer vacation his year😳 Next time I have vacation days they will be spent watching our belongings go into a moving truck, clean down the apartment, and head east for good.