Adventures in Walking From the Couch to 5K - Chapter 14

Arriving into town out the passenger side window they see a landscape of various Christmas decorations: nativity scene, candy canes, reindeer, ornaments, packages, lighted arches, Santa and more. AJ rolls down the window, and they hear Christmas carols being played. It is the world’s largest Christmas store.

“Can we go there mom!?” the boys ask.

“Not today, we are going to walk around downtown. We’ll go there another day,” replies AJ.

Around the bend and a short distance down the road out the driver side window Carson spots a bunch of trucks that are being shown off for the local dealership. “There’s a Dodge Ram, a Jeep Wrangler, a Dodge Charger, a Fiat 124 Spider and a Jeep Compass,” Carson informs them.

On the right and down the road is a Bavarian style shopping area called River Shops. AJ turns into the parking lot on the south end of the shops and finds a parking spot. The boys are so excited, they are quickly out of their seats and jump down out of the truck. AJ puts a bracelet on each boy that has a spiral cable on them that attaches to bracelets on her wrists. Carson’s is blue and Cooper’s is orange.

Before crossing the roadway in the parking lot they look both ways, no cars coming, and they walk over to the entrance that is a four-story tower with arches on the four sides to walk through. On the other side of the entrance they follow the path to the right. There are all kinds of stores that include a mirror maze, a bakery, a store that has all stuff made in Michigan, an ice cream shop and many more.

At the north end of the shops there’s a bridge that crosses the river. They start across the bridge and stop at the first balcony to check out the waterfall that goes down the hill from the shops to the river with water cascading down over rocks. Not too far from the waterfall is a riverboat that people are boarding, and they listen to the Dixieland music that is playing on the riverboat.

Cooper is checking out the flags that are displayed on the bridge, “United States, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and I don’t know the rest.”

AJ says to the boys, “Come on let’s keep going. We’ll walk up one side, come back the other side and finish up with dinner at the Bavaria Chophouse.”

They get off the bridge and there’s a Bavarian style gift shop, they slow down to look in the windows and see all the town themed tourist gifts. At the traffic light located at the north end of the gift shop they stop for the red light and watch as the black horse and white carriage turn right from the side road that comes from the wooden covered bridge to the main road and listen to the horses’ hooves click on the road. The light changes for them to cross the road and both boys grab AJ’s hands to cross over. The restaurant that they will be eating at is on their right. As they walk by the front of it the Glockenspiel plays and the figures go around.

Continuing on the sidewalk, the boys hold AJ’s hands and stop at the driveways to parking lots to stop and watch for traffic. They walk up to the Maypole water fountain and Carson and Cooper laugh as they splash their hands in the water.

The next store that they stop in front of is the Taffy Shop where they watch the taffy being kissed and pulled by machine in the window. The door opens, and they can smell the fudge that is being poured onto the marble slab.

“Can we get some fudge?” Carson asks.

“Yes, we will get three flavors,” AJ replies, and they go into the Taffy Shop.

The lady behind the counter asks, “Which flavors would you like?”

“We’d like the peanut butter fudge, chocolate raspberry fudge and chocolate fudge.”

She says, “You get a fourth flavor for free.”

“We would like vanilla fudge.”

They exit the Taffy Shop and walk to the Cheese Shop next door. There are samples of salsas, jellies, and cheese all around the shop that they happily sample and enjoy. To the north of the Cheese Shop outside is a large statue of a wedge of cheese with a mouse head sticking out of it.

AJ takes off their bracelets and says, “Stand next to the statue so I can take your picture.” Carson and Cooper make all kinds of funny faces and one smile for their pictures.

They put their bracelets back on and continue on up the hill where the sidewalk leads up in front of the brewery. AJ and the boys walk up to the front courtyard area of the brewery where AJ takes the bracelets.

“Stand in front of the wagon by the front door,” she says to the boys. Putting their bracelets back on they walk to corner where the traffic light is.

AJ holds the boys hands as they cross the street. At the corner is a veterans memorial park that they walk through before proceeding down the sidewalk. She continues to hold their hands as there are many driveways that are for the multiple hotels.

Carson and Cooper slow down in front of another fudge and taffy store. The door opens and the smell of freshly poured hot fudge comes wafting out. They all take a big sniff. AJ says to the boys, “Let’s go.”

Walking along the sidewalk past various stores the sidewalks are more full of people than they were when they were on the other side. They pass by various restaurants that have outdoor eating where people are sitting and talking. On the left they are at the brick sidewalk that zigzags across the main road. Carson and Cooper are bouncing up and down on their toes while they wait for the light to change because when they cross over they get to go eat.

The light changes so that they can cross and go up the brick stairs and into the Bavaria Chophouse. They go into the Main Street Cafe area, which is a seat yourself area. Today is a beautiful sunny day and around 70 degrees so AJ takes the boys to a table on the patio by the sidewalk so that Carson can watch the vehicles go by.

Kelly, their waitress, asks them, “What would you like to drink?”

The boys respond, “Root beer” and AJ replies, “A lemon lime pop.”

Kelly returns with their beverages and asks, “Are you ready to order?”

Carson and Cooper both say, “The brat and pretzel.”

AJ says, “I’ll have the Main Chicken dark.”

“Thank you, I’ll get that in right away.”

Carson is watching the vehicles go by and says, “look a 69 Camaro and a Mustang. Oh look, there’s a Harley. I like the cool color of blue on it.”

Cooper is drawing on his place mat a race course and driving his die-cast cars on it. AJ takes pictures of the boys and some of the vehicles that Carson names off.

The food arrives. The boys both exclaim “WOW!” at seeing the size of the brat.

AJ helps them with cutting the brat into more manageable sizes for them to eat. AJ smiles as she looks at her chicken plate, as it is a leg and thigh, Asian salad and potato cheese puffs.

Out in the parking lot is an area that is blocked off for a band, and they are playing various Polka songs with an accordion, a couple of clarinets, a couple trumpets, a saxophone, a keyboard and a drum set. It makes great background music while they finish their lunch. The boys finish off their brats, pretzels and root beer. They walk into the parking lot where the polka band is playing and do some dancing.

Continuing on they walk over to the wooden covered bridge and in the middle of the bridge they stop and look down at the river and the riverboat as it goes under the bridge and has to collapse its smoke towers to clear the bridge. Continuing on the bridge they get to the parking lot that is on the side of the River Shops. AJ takes both of their hands, and they walk through the parking lot going around the outside of the River Shops to their truck. She puts both the boys in their seats, gets in her truck and heads for home. Both boys are sleeping within minutes of pulling out of the parking lot.

Continue Reading - Chapter 15