After our fabulous Afternoon Tea at the Royal Park Hotel, we went back to our reserved rooms at Staybridge Suites.
At 7:30 p.m. we all congregated in Linda P.'s and Joanie's room for a fun game and time of fellowship. There are 42 teacups in the picture below, and we were given five minutes to find them. Linda had five prizes for the ladies who found the most teacups.
~ Everyone intently searching for teacups. ~
Tea wasn't the entire focus of our Michigan Tea Tour - I brought Vernor's pop and Better Maid potato chips for the ladies to enjoy too. Both are Michigan-made products. Vernors is a ginger flavored soft drink created in 1866 by James Vernor, a Detroit pharmacist. It's the oldest surviving ginger ale brand in the United States. Despite the name, a Boston Cooler is a Detroit original - it's Vernors with vanilla ice cream floating in it, and it's SO good. We enjoyed ours without ice cream, however.
Better Made Potato Chips Inc. was founded in Detroit in 1930.
[Photo courtesy of Linda J.]
You wouldn't have thought we'd be hungry after our wonderful Afternoon Tea, but we managed to eat two pizzas with our potato chips and pop.
[Lori and Nancy]
We retired to our rooms for a good night's rest because after breakfast on Friday we were to be in the hotel lobby at 11:00 a.m. with our luggage ready to depart for Saginaw, MI.
Below are three ladies in our group - Judith, Lori, and Gloria - ready and waiting for departure.
After a short prayer asking for God's protection on the highway, we were off for the Japanese Cultural Center in Saginaw, MI where the Tea House and Gardens are located.
Japanese Cultural Center, Tea House and Tea Ceremony next post...
Below are three ladies in our group - Judith, Lori, and Gloria - ready and waiting for departure.
~ Inside group picture of the tour participants ~
[L-R: 1st row Teresa, Joanie, Me, Linda P. and Barb
2nd row Gloria, Lori, Judith, Linda J. and Nancy]
Below is the 15-passenger, Mercedes Hightop Sprinter Van that transported us to Saginaw and then on to Mackinaw City. With just over 900 miles on the odometer, it ran perfectly the entire trip [except for the television].
Here we are ready to leave Staybridge Suites. My hubby [far right and the only guy in the photo] was our willing and capable driver.
After a short prayer asking for God's protection on the highway, we were off for the Japanese Cultural Center in Saginaw, MI where the Tea House and Gardens are located.
[Photo courtesy of Linda J. Missing from the photo are Linda J., Nancy and Me]
Japanese Cultural Center, Tea House and Tea Ceremony next post...
