I know it’s a
little bit early, but since our family celebrated thanksgiving two weeks ago we
decided to go to the Christmas tree farm and pick out our Christmas tree early.
The place that we go to every year is called the Candy Cane Christmas Tree Farm
and it is located in Oxford Michigan. This place is the most beautiful
Christmas tree farm that I have ever seen. It was voted the number one best
Christmas tree farm by WDIV-4s for two years. (Michigan Christmas Tree
Association). They have fresh custom wreaths made by award winning wreath
makers and they have saws and tree carts, free tree
cleaning, wrapping, drilling, and candy canes. Santa visits the farm on the
weekends, which is always nice to see all the little kids lined up and excited
to meet Santa. We went literally on the opening weekend, which made it not
really the same, as it always is because first out all it was before
thanksgiving and second of all there was no snow on the ground. When there is
snow one the ground it makes me so happy because I automatically think about
Christmas. The Christmas season just isn’t the same without snow. It is a
family tradition that we go together every year to pick out the tree together.
So when we got there, there was Christmas music playing and a lady passing out
candy canes. We grabbed a saw and headed out on the filed of trees. There are so
many different kinds of tree. My mom likes the ones with the soft bristles so
we go around feeling them and then look at the nametag and then just search for
those types of trees. This year we were looking for Fraser firs. My sister and
I always have a secret competition as to who will be the one to find the
perfect tree. This year neither of us won because my mom was able to find the
absolute perfect tree. It was about seven feet and it was a nice full tree with
strong branches that would be able to hold all of our ornaments. Every year for
Christmas my sister and I get an ornaments from our parents and from our
grandparents. So we have quite the collection going of ornaments. Putting them
up on the tree is probably my favorite part of Christmas. I could not wait to
get home and do that. After my dad cut down the tree we headed back to the main
section where the music was playing. We bought some hot chocolate and paid for
our tree and then we left. Even though it wasn’t the same experience as it
normally is I still loved it. And I love coming to the candy cane Christmas tree
farm every year. If you have never been here and you love holiday spirit then
this is definitely the place for you to come!
Places to visit in Oakland County
Saturday, November 23, 2013
Sunday, November 17, 2013
Red Knapps
Friday night I went to a restaurant
in downtown Rochester called Red Knapp’s. This place is a 1950’s diner and it
is located right off Main Street. It is
a rather small little diner, which adds to the theme of 1950. Right when you
walk in you are greeted with a red and white color them. The circle red swivel
chairs immediately catch my eye. There are two long counter tops like tables
where the swivel chairs are located and then there are also small booths that
you can sit at. My friend and I chose to sit at the swivel chairs. They were
fun to spin around in I felt like a little kid again. I kind of had to restrain
myself from spinning around too much.
The reason that my
friend and I had gone here was because someone had told
me that they were known for their malts and milkshakes so we decided to go in
and get one. I ended up ordering one that the waitress recommended she said
that it was her absolute favorite flavor, which was hot fudge banana oreo malt.
Let me tell you that this was the best malt that I had ever had in my entire
life. There was so much flavor compacted into it was an amazing sensation for
my taste buds. My friend ordered just a hot fudge malt, but she still said it
was delicious. We also ordered a side or seasoned fries and they were really
good as well. I was thoroughly impressed with this little diner. I would
recommend it to anyone. Another thing that I really enjoyed about this place
was that they played really good music. They played 50’s music that fit along
with the scene. This whole experience made me wish that I were born just a few
decades earlier. The uniforms of the worker were red and white and they looked
like they had just stepped out of a 50’s movie. Overall I really did had a
great experience I will definitely be going back there to have another one of
those famous malts because it was probably one of the best things that I have
ever tasted. It you ever happen to go there I highly recommend that you get
that as dessert. The only complaint that I would ever have is that parking is always
a little difficult in downtown Rochester sometimes you have to fight for a spot
so you want to get there at a not so busy time so that you don’t have to walk
too far of a ways, but I actually do not mind that since the downtown is
adorable to walk through.Healing garden
A few weeks ago I was in Clarkston going for a run and I came across a garden that I had no idea was even there. It was located across the street from the hospital that I drive by every single day and I some how never even knew that it existed. I love when I am able to stumble upon things; it makes it feel like one of those little surprises in life. But anyways the reason that this garden was so significant because it was a healing garden. Which I had never even heard of until now. I read the description on the sign and it talked about how this garden was a spiritual way of healing cancer patients. The garden is a total of four acres long and it is open day and lighted at night. It is a very relaxing place and it allows for the hospital patients to leave all of their worries behind them from the moment that they walk in here. And apparently it was a well used garden because the hospital contains a cancer center in which that I did not even know about. When I entered the garden I was amazed at what I saw. I saw huge bright colorful flowers and majestic statues, red brick pathways, garden decorations, wind chimes. Anything that you can think of that would belong in a garden, it was there and it was beautiful. I followed along the path reading each sign and trying to figure out what it all meant. I came across a rather large circle shaped area. Not knowing what it was I read the really long description on the sign. It talked about how you are supposed to walk on the red brick pathway and follow the spiraling circle until you reach the end and it is supposed to spiritually cleanse your mind and cause you to become in a more relaxed state. I thought that this was really neat and I had never heard of anything like it before. After doing that I continued to walk through the rest of the path. It led me through the woods over a little bridge with a river. There were cool wood carving decorations and the bright colors and the bright green everywhere truly made this an amazing walk. I know that I will be spending some time there because I was able to find so much tranquility while I was there and I found this garden to be truly remarkable. It you are ever in Clarkston I highly recommend that you stop by and visit this garden. It is really an incredible place for these cancer patients to come and rest and relax and get away from all of those hospital rooms.
Sunday, November 3, 2013
The Painted Pot
Saturday, October 26, 2013
The Melting Pot
The Melting Pot
An absolute necessary place to go out to eat would be The
Melting Pot located in Troy, Michigan. I went there over the weekend for my
cousins birthday dinner and I was absolutely blown away by how amazing it was.
What we did was we went there before our reservations and we shopped at the
Somerset mall until it was time to go to dinner and that was very enjoyable. We
had a big group with us so that made the entire experience really fun! Everything
went perfectly and the restaurant was very nice.
When we first walked in I was so
surprised to see how nice the inside of the restaurant was. It was so fancy and
I felt so honored to be able to be there with my family. When we took our seats
our waitress whose name was Rebecca was very friendly to us and she told us
about the way that the restaurant worked. She also told us a little bit of
history about the restaurant and how the first Melting Pot was located in Florida
and I believe she said it was built around 1975, because it recently celebrated
its thirty fifth anniversary. She told
us about the four-step process and how the food comes out in
increments. I was
so hungry listening to her explain I couldn’t stand the thought of waiting for food
to eat for that much longer. First was the cheese-fondue, then the salad,
entrée and then dessert. The cheese
fondue was delicious it was served with bread and various vegetables that you
would dip in it and it was so good. Then next was the salad, which is pretty
standard, but they had signature dressing, which was delicious. Then there was
the main entre which you select your individual entre and it is cooked right in
front of you. And then came the dessert.
The chocolate fondue, which was amazing, and was definitely my favorite part of
the meal, was very tasty. There were so many options of fruits and other tasty
treats that would be good dipped in warm melted chocolate. Everything about the
meal was delicious and I would go back there at any time! It was a bit pricey,
but both the service and the food were phenomenal.
Overall I had a positive experience
there and even though like I said earlier that it was expensive it was definitely
worth the experience of at least going once. I recommended it to any one who is
interested, but my only suggestion would be to make reservations ahead of time
because it can tend to be busy especially on the weekend nights. Below there is a link to the restaurants website if you would like to check anything out for yourself!
http://www.meltingpot.com
Palladium 12 theater
A must visit place in Oakland
county is going to the Palladium 12 theater in Birmingham, Michigan. I went to
this theater because one of my friends was playing his guitar there for live
entertainment. So I went there not knowing what to expect from the theater. But
when I walked in I was amazed. There was a theater on the right and then there
was a fancy coffee shop and also a restaurant. So in the small restaurant/ bar
portion is where my friend was playing guitar songs from John Mayer, Matt
Kearney, and Michael Bublé. This place was so nice, you can tell that it was
very fancy and a place where people would come out on dates maybe if they were
trying to impress someone. My friends that came with me were just as excited as
I was. We ordered a pizza to all share and it was very delicious. I was so
impressed with everything about this place. What was special about this movie
theater was that it is a movie theater that shows first run productions and
independent productions. So most of the movies were movies that I had never
even heard of before. Which I think is really cool and it definitely helps add
character to the entire place. Although I did not end up watching a movie my
friend was able to show me the inside of the theater and I was amazed when I
walked in there because the seats were so comfortable. They were like big
recliner chairs and they looked so comfortable. It definitely made me want to
watch a movie there sometime. After my friends and I were done eating our pizza
we went over to the coffee shop (which was still inside the restaurant and
theater) and we ordered some coffee so that we could just sit and relax and
enjoy a nice cup of coffee. They put the designs on the top of your coffee and
I love it when coffee shops do that. It
was very relaxing to sit there and drink coffee and listen to my friend sing
and play live music on his guitar. Overall all I highly recommend coming here!
Whether you are getting coffee on your way to work, wanting to go to a nice
dinner with friends or family, or you want to see a movie with a great movie
experience, it is a great place to come and sit and relax and enjoy some live
music. The only suggestion I have is not going at a really busy time because we
had to park really far away because there were a lot of people there. But overall
it was a great experience and the next time I am in Birmingham I will
definitely stop by for a little bit!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)