Christmas shopping started early this year! After work on Friday the 14th, we headed down to the States for a weekend of shopping. We went to Port Huron to a shipping place where Warren picked up the snowboard that he ordered online, then we drove down to Auburn Hills where the Great Lakes shopping center is for a weekend of shopping. My intention was to start Christmas shopping early this year so that its not so financially constraining in December. The States is a good place to start because its so much cheaper, and the taxes are low! I bought a few presents for a few of my family members and babies in my life: got some good deals! And spent a lot of time in Forever 21 where I got some good stuff for myself! I was definitely in shopping/spending money mode on this weekend!
On Friday night while we were in Port Huron, we stopped for some good ol' fried chicken at this place that Aleksy went to with his Dad when he was young. I had been once before with Aleksy on a day trip to the States so I knew we were in for a treat! Had some chicken, fries, and cheap beer before heading to the hotel in Auburn Hills: about an hour drive from Port Huron.
It's called "chicken in the rough"
We stayed at the Crown Plaza in Auburn Hills, it was about a 10 minute drive from the mall that we wanted to go to Saturday. It was a pretty good room rate for $100 per night (split between 2 couples). There was breakfast downstairs too at the restaurant which was cheap at 7.95 for a buffet. Plus there was a pool and hot tub indoors at the hotel, which we took advantage of Saturday evening after shopping all day!
Inside the Great Lakes mall, we found this place 'Toby Keith's I love this bar & grill" and obviously had to go given our love for country music! (I couldn't get that darn song out of my head afterward either!). It was an awesome bar! It was really big inside and the centre of the restaurant was a huge circle of chairs around the bar - thats where we sat so that we could get the bar specials: $2 pints: yup! They were 'football specials' for the College ball game that was on.
We ordered off the football special menu, which was incredibly cheap! we ordered pulled pork "sliders" off the menu thinking they were going to be small (hence the "sliders") but they were big! I only ordered one, but Aleksy ordered 2 plus chili, and we shared the pickle spears: didn't think it was going to be that much food considering everything was $2.99! A full (delicious) pulled pork sandwich with fries for $2.99!! I love the States!
This is at the restaurant: behind us is a stage, I wanted the shot with the 'Toby Keith' in the background! I would have loved to go here in the evening for a bar night, but it was about a 10 minute drive from our hotel.
We left on Sunday for home, after going to lakeside mall (just 20 minutes away from auburn hills) and stopping at the duty free on the way out, where I got a big bottle of Baileys for $26: score! We were just at our maximums for spending (about $400 per person), and we didn't get pulled over at the border!
The plan is to go to the States once more before Christmas, hopefully in November with Al and Steph.
I had an awesome time with you babes! I hope we can do it again soon!
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