US 2016 (iii): Donut Trail

After we came back from the roadtrip, Sila and Vin said that they were told of this Butler County's Donut Trail from their neighbours. If you could get the stamps/mystery words from all 9 doughnut shops listed in the Passport book, you'd get a free Donut Trail shirt.

I was game for it. It was something different that we could do for a change. Yet at the same time, we could have loads of fun and some donuts in our tummy. Now, who doesn't like donuts? :)

Day One - Saturday

When we woke up on Saturday morning, Sila quickly went on the internet googling for the donut shops listed in the trail. Little did we know that most of the shops have some crazy hours. :o

Jupiter Coffee & Donuts

M-Th: 4AM-2PM, F: 4AM-6PM, Sa: 5AM-6PM, Su: 6AM-1PM

Kelly's Bakery

Tu-F: 5AM-5PM, Sa-Su:6AM-12PM. Closed Mondays

Martin's Donuts

M-Su: 1AM-2PM

Milton's Donuts

Tu-F: 5AM-5PM, Sa-Su: 5AM-1PM. Closed Mondays

Mimi's Donuts & Bakery

M-Su: 6AM-12PM

Oxford Doughnut Shoppe

Tu-Su: 6AM-12PM. Closed Mondays and Tuesdays

Ross Bakery

M-Sa: 4AM-12PM. Closed Mondays

Stan the Donut Man

M-Su: 6AM-5PM

The Donut Spot

M-Su: 1AM-12PM

Disclaimer: You should check for the updated hours on the net to be safe. I shouldn't be held accountable for any wrong information ;).This is just to show that they have weird hours. We were thinking, 'Most of these shops are closed at noon. Don't people eat donuts in the afternoon or evening?' I guess there's always Dunkin' Donuts? :P

Since it was close to noon time, we could only go to Stan the Donut Man today.

All smiles and gearing to go. Adik wanted to come with us

One down, and many more to go

Pretty cool sign

Coffee, Chocolate with chocolate chips, Bavarian cream

Mine - Bavarian Cream and Chocolate

Day Two - Sunday

Since we knew of the shop's operating hours, we needed to go to Oxford Doughnut Shoppe today because they'd be closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. A couple more, such as Mimi's, are close by.

Our first stop of the day is Milton's because they are in the same town. Woah, check out the lines even at 9 in the morning! We saw people carrying 2 to 3 boxes full of donuts, per person. And they were not cops :D.
(Note: We bumped into a couple the next day near Kelly's, and they said Milton's was sold out by 9! :o)

The queue was until outside of the door

Our first stop. Of course we were all smiles even though we are not morning people :D

A lot to choose from the menu

Loads and loads of donuts

My red velvet donut

From Milton's.

On the way to the town of Oxford, we stumbled across Martins. We really didn't plan to go to Martins today, but when we were driving on the streets of Trenton, OH, Sila asked for the address of Martins Donut Shop. After a quick check on the map, I said West State Street. Sila replied by saying, "Wait, we're on East State Street!". Lo and behold, Martins was just up ahead in the next junction. It's really a bonus!

Some of the selections at Martins.

Oxford Doughnut Shoppe was next. I believe we got there close to 10AM and all they had were two apple/pineapple pastries and some cookies. Seriously, I'm not making it up. So we just paid for the last two pastries, although technically they are not doughnuts. But we got our stamps, so that was what mattered most.

There was this family who came in right after us, and one of their kids screamed 'They're out of donuts?!". And right before we got into our van, the 'SOLD OUT' sign was placed at the window. A couple stopped their car and stepped into the store not wanting to believe the sign.

They're in a college town, and they're sold out by 10 in the morning, and they're closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. Which left us wondering, why won't they make more? Isn't that Business 101? Besides, what would the workers/employees do until 12pm? I'd want to get paid until my shift is over :)

Say Apple/Pineapple Pastriessss

The SOLD OUT sign is up

Mimi's was pretty much down the road from Oxford Doughnut Shoppe. A good 10-15 minutes drive I think. There was still a good selection of donuts, which we were thankful for.

It's selfie time :)

The Donut Spot is located in Fairfield, OH...

... and so is Jupiter Coffee & Donuts.

Waiting for our drinks

When we were heading out to Oxford earlier in the day, we missed an exit so we had to turn back. We then saw a roadkill by the road, perhaps a groundhog. So as we were driving back to Middletown and passing by Trenton, I saw a dead animal and asked Sila, "That looks like the same groundhog as this morning's". Then Sila yelled, "It is!" LOL!

Nope, it's not a donut shop :D

Sila wound down her window to make sure she heard bleats :D

Oh wow - 2015 Midwest Wether Goat Series Winner

Donuts galore. Now, who's gonna eat all these?

We couldn't find a pen in the car, but fortunately Sila found a crayon in her bag (I think) :D.

We actually made excellent progress with our Donut Trail. We managed to get 6 more stamps today and we only had 2 more to go.

We are donuted out :D

Day Three - Monday

The last two shops, Ross and Kelly's are in Hamilton. We headed out to Ross' first.

Yay, one down and one more to go.

Upon arriving at Kelly's, we noticed that the shop was dark and there wasn't any activity in it. Wait, don't tell us they are sold out. Well, they didn't. Apparently they are closed on Mondays. That stup1d Murphy's Law! It was too good to be true that we had 6 stamps yesterday and only 2 left for today. Somehow, the information that we got from Mr Google was wrong. Now we had to come back on the following day before we could get our hands on the elusive Donut Trail t-shirt. Thank God, I'd only fly out to Raleigh on Wednesday.

Knock, knock... No one's there

Arrghhhh! Hahaha, buruknya!

Passing by the town of Hamilton. It is kind of pretty.

Where are Harold and Kumar?

Day Four - Tuesday.

Like it or not, we had to come back to Kelly's for our last and final stamp.

Finally!!!

Then it was time to go down to Butler County's visitor bureau for those precious t-shirts.

Another round of selfie :)

Making use of the props - Apron and a donut hair clip for Sila, and a donut cushion for me.

Dapat gak

After 4 days, 9 donut shops, lots of miles, tons of laughs, one too many donuts and surprisingly no cops to be seen, we finally got our Donut Trail t-shirts! Hahaha. All and all, it was really a fun and awesome experience with best of buddies. Woohoo!
(Apparently, we don't have to get any donuts from the shops. We could just go in and ask for our passport to be stamped. But where's the fun in that, right?)

Pina Colada. I'm not certain which shop this was from. But it was one prettiest one that we had gotten. I guess to get more interesting ones, you have to be there by 6 :D

The poses for the below pictures are definitely Sila's ideas. :)