Bloomington Fourth Street Art Festival

Hello friends and welcome to the latest post of the Hoosier Day Trip blog. This will not be a long post, as I do not have a lot of details to share, but I wanted to let people know that the 4^th street art festival is happening this weekend in Bloomington.

I happened to be on 4^th street this evening and saw the vendors setting up. I always enjoy the festival.  Even though I am not an avid art collector, I really enjoy going and looking at all of the cool things the artist are doing. If nothing else, you get to spend a little time walking around downtown on what usually turns out to be one of the last weekends of true summer weather that Bloomington has to offer.

Also, take advantage of the fact the 4^th street is “Restaurant Row” and enjoy one of the many wonderful eateries in the area. Between browsing the booths, and enjoying some great food, you can easily make a nice weekend event out of it, that is pretty affordable.

That is going to do it for this abbreviated edition of Hoosier Day Trip. I thank you for taking the time to read it, and I hope to see YOU on my next Hoosier Day Trip.

Andrew

2011 Kings Island Review

Hello, and thanks for taking the time to read this latest post of Hoosier Day Trip. It has been a few weeks since the last post. I had really hoped to get post out more frequently, but life gets busy, and goes by quick. I’ll get them out as quickly as I can and hope people continue to enjoy them.

So, my latest trip was to Kings Island theme park located in Mason, Ohio just northeast of Cincinnati. Like a lot of people who grew up in the Hoosier state, trips to Kings Island were a staple of my summers during my teenage and young adult life. At one point during Kings Islands Paramount days, I was even a season pass holder. I was a roller coaster junkie, and although I had heard that there were some pretty great coasters up in Sandusky, Ohio, a two and a half hour drive to Kings Island was a lot more bearable. So, summer after summer, Kings Island was THE spot for me.

Fast forward to later in life. In 2010, I realized I hadn’t been to Kings Island in almost 10 years. What had happened? Well, life had happened. I had children who were too small to ride coasters. Also during that 10 year stretch Holiday World had grown up. Holiday World had been a place years ago that no self respecting coaster enthusiast would be caught dead in. But over time it had developed some pretty competitive rides. Add to this their free drinks, parking, and sunscreen and the choice became pretty easy to figure out for someone with small kids.

Back to 2010 and Kings Island. Taking the kids to Kings Island, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that two of my three children were big enough to ride everything, and for the most part, both of them were willing to try ALMOST all of the coasters. Our first visit back after a 10 year absence was a pleasant experience, but there were a few things we weren’t crazy about.

The first thing about Kings Island that bothered me was the prices of the food and drinks. I have been recently been referred to as….”frugal” when recently asking someone if they were calling me cheap. I’ll accept either description with no hard feelings. I’m both!  That notwithstanding, it IS hard to stomach paying between $7 and $12 dollars for a refillable cup with soft drink, and additional money for refills after years of going to a place where free drinks are at every turn. But I’ll move on before someone calls me “frugal”again.

Kings Island has always had some of the greatest coasters I have ever ridden. I remember days in the past were it was not uncommon to experience a 2 hour wait for the most popular rides. In both my 2010 visit, and my most recent visit I never waited more than 15 minutes for any ride. I can only attribute this to the economy and the draw that Holiday World has pulled from Kings Island. To me this might be a good reason to consider a visit back to Kings Island. It seems to be different in that aspect than it has been in the past.

My visit in 2010 was my first back since Paramount had sold the park to Cedar Fair. In 2010, I really didn’t think that Cedar Fair was doing a great job of maintaining the park, or even keeping it clean. I am glad I gave it a second chance because 2011 really showed improvement. I will attribute this to growing pains on the part of Cedar Fair and give them kudos for what they have done. What they STILL need to do is improve the theme. It is a THEME park. Paramount had the movie thing going and that was great. Cedar Fair has introduced the Peanut characters. (crickets)……….  While I LOVE Charles Shultz and the Peanuts, there is not enough back story with them to support an entire theme park. I hope they keep the Peanuts for the Snoopy area of the park, but they REALLY need to theme the rest of the park. The Top Gun ride which used to have pictures from the top gun movie splattered all over the place is called Flight Deck. It is painted grey and has no theme. My kids LOVE it, but they have NO idea what it is supposed to simulate. The Indiana Jones based ride which really was pathetic before now makes NO sense. It is just a sad coaster in the middle of a place where something REALLY cool could be placed.

My biggest complaint is the spot where Son of Beast sits….idol….Shut down…Not being used. And yet not torn down. Son of Beast is a coaster the I rode on my last pre 2010 visit. It was unsafe. It felt unsafe. I do not get scared on coasters and I didn’t like it. According to which online account you read people where either hurt or killed on it and it was shut down. The fact is it remains shut down but intact. Online sources also say Cedar Fair wants it intact because of what it contributes to the coaster skyline. This is understandable to me in the short term, but Cedar Fair really needs to figure out another use of this space.

New uses of space brings me to my final point. Windseeker. If you are unfamiliar, think of it as the swings we have all grown to love, but the swings rise to the height of the top observation deck on the Eifel tower (the Kings Island one). According to Kings Islands web site it is 301 feet, or 30 stories about ground level. My son and I rode it, and I have to say I enjoyed it. It is not as thrilling as you would think. It doesn’t really spin fast, but the height combined with the 360 degree view is enjoyable.

So that is my review of Kings Island over a 2 year span after a 10 year absence. I really think Cedar Fair is taking things in the right direction. I enjoyed my 2011 visit much more than my 2010, but they still have a lot of improvements to make. I think they could do it, and compete with Holiday World again but it will take some outside of the box thinking from management. First and foremost they need to negotiate a deal with a beverage company to bring free drinks to the park.

That’s going to do it for this entry into the Hoosier Day Trip blog. I am NOT happy it took me this long to get it posted, but thank you all for your patience. I wanted to get it out before the end of the Theme park season here in the mid west.

Thanks for reading, and I hope to see YOU on my next Hoosier Day Trip.

                                                                 

Andrew

Discover Local Theatre

Hello, and thanks for taking a few minutes to read this latest post to the Hoosier Day Trip blog. I would like to start this post by apologizing for the lack of updates and post over the past month. It has been a busy month and I have had practically no extra time to write, let alone take many day trips, but hopefully that will change soon.

So in this post I wanted to examine an idea for a fun, affordable source of entertainment that many of you reading this will not have to travel out of your own town to find, and those who do will surely not have to travel far. It is something that , just a few months ago, I could not have imagined myself enjoying, much less promoting in a blog, and yet here I sit and write. I am talking about theatre. Specifically, local theatre.

I have never had much exposure to theatre, and to be honest, I always made the assumption that I just would not enjoy it. Growing up in Bloomington, I had been to a few plays at the Indiana University auditorium. My Dad worked for Indiana University , and my Mom had a job where she was around a lot of people associated with I.U, so periodically free tickets would come our way to events that some season ticket holders we knew didn’t care to attend. Hence, I attended a few of the less than stellar events at the university, and had to fight traffic and crowds to do it. Not a good first impression.

The high point in my early theatre experiences came in 1998. Upon visiting New York City for the first time we decided to go see Cats at the Winter Garden theatre. Not so much because we wanted too, but because we thought that was what you were SUPPOSE to do when you went to New York. The experience was neat , but expensive, and to this day the only thing I took away from it is, when I watch “The Peoples Court” and I see Harvey Levin interviewing people about the cases, he is standing in front of the quick tix kiosk where we bought our tickets.

So fast forward to 2011. In May my oldest daughter was in a performance of the play “Dear Edwina”. I had never heard of the play, and as I have already pointed out theatre WAS not really my thing, but if my daughter is in it OF COURSE I am going.  I was AMAZED at the show I saw.

This show was put on by the dance school my daughters attend but was not limited to students of the school. The show that I saw was much more polished and professional in production than anything I expected. But there was a part of me that thought maybe, JUST MAYBE, I am a little biased because, well…MY beautiful daughter was one of the STARS.

That brings us to last night.

My youngest daughter is a Wizard of Oz FANATIC! She will be six this week and I assure you she has watched that movie more times in her life than I have (it still kind of scares me). The Bloomington Youth Theatre performed the Wizard of Oz this weekend at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater, and we decided to take our girls for Ellys’ birthday (my son didn’t want to go).

Once again I was blown away by the quality of the show. It was much more professional than I would have imagined. It was then that I realized maybe I had been missing out on some really great stuff here.  These plays are really affordable, not much more than a movie really, and you are supporting locals. It’s a Win-Win.

The idea behind this blog post is not to promote Bloomington theatre, but local theatre in general. I know (hope) that not everyone reading this blog is from Bloomington. Check around in your local communities and see if there is a theatre group. I would bet there is, and if you live in a community without one check towns around you. I think you will be amazed at the level of entertainment you receive for the money. I am finding it personally rewarding to be entertained and know that my dollars are going to local groups. I feel this benefits the entire community by entertaining us, and funding groups to keep young people involved in great activities.

That’s going to do it for this Hoosier Day Trip post.  This is an issue that I have only recently became this interested in, but I really think it is one worth checking out.

So thanks once again for reading, and I hope to see YOU on my next Hoosier Day Trip.

                                                                                             

                                                                                                          Andrew

French Lick Train

Hello, and thanks for checking out the latest entry into the Hoosier Day Trip blog.  I once heard an old joke about what a messed up state Indiana was. You have South Bend up north, North Vernon way down south, and French Lick aint what you think it is. Recently I took my first trip in nearly 30 years back to French Lick, and I certainly found that it was NOT what I remembered. (I promise to keep this G rated from here on out).

So this whole excursion really started on the Friday night before the trip. I had Saturday off, (a rarity in and of itself) and my oldest daughter had cheer camp on the I.U. Campus. My wife had to take her there, and this presented the PERFECT chance for me to take a couple of my kids and head out for a research trip. But where should we go? A quick shout out on the Hoosier Day Trip face book page brought back a three word response. “French Lick Train”.

These three words were all I needed to remind me of my own trip on this train so many years ago. My parents had taken me and my two older sisters down for the train ride, and while I THOUGHT I had a good time, I could really only remember two distinct features of the tour. A tunnel, and going past Larry Birds house.  Both are still there, and both are much smaller than I remember, but I digress.

Of course anytime I have a day off after an extended period, the first thought I have is “SLEEP IN!”.  But when my son specifically ask me, “Can we take another Day Trip tomorrow?”….ummmm “YES?” was my response.

So I wake up at 6 am and Google “French Lick Train”. The results came back with a result for the Indiana Railway Museum. After checking out their website, and seeing that they should be having rides that day, I woke up my youngest two children and said “Wake up…were going on a train ride!”  They were perplexed to say the least.

After getting the kids dressed and getting in the car, we head towards French Lick. As we are driving south on S.R. 37, Elizabeth, my almost 6 year old, says, “Dad.. The only real train I have ever been on before is the one at Walt Disney World.” This sparked a 15 minute debate between her and my son (9) about whether the Walt Disney railroad is a REAL railroad. Music was eventually turned on.

Arriving in the town of French Lick, the train station is easy to spot. It is right next to one of the two (I think?) resorts in town. I have not been to French Lick since the resorts have been refurbished and this trip was STRICKTLY to ride the train, but the external beauty of the resorts has definitely piqued my interest in returning, maybe staying, and dare I say even gambling at the resorts. I am NOT a gambler at all, but I think maybe the resorts would like to meet my friends…Mr. Washington, and Mr. Lincoln. That’s how I roll!

So BACK to the train. Arriving at the Indiana Railway museum, we were about the 4^th car in the parking lot, but we did arrive about 45 minutes before the first departure of the day. I wanted to get there early enough to look around the museum. 45 minutes allowed me to look around it about 3 times. Not to be too critical of the museum, but there is not a lot in it. What they have is truly fascinating, but in my mind calling it a museum is a bit of a stretch.  I think it would be more accurately described as a really AWESOME historic train ride with a few REALLY AWESOME things to look at while you wait on the train.

The prices of the tickets when we visited were $16 for adults and $8 for children. The train ride itself last about an hour and fifteen minutes. It is very interesting , beautiful, and informative. I tried to use the voice memo function on my iPhone to record all of the information they were telling us about the area, but my old 3G just wasn’t up to the task. The day we went was just for a ride to Cuzco and back. Cuzco is a little burg that has a store with some soda machines, porta-potties, and …well…soda machines, and porta-potties.

For the $32 dollars I spent to take my two youngest children on the ride, I really think it was worth it. 

According to signage there, and information on their website, they have some sort of train robbery event on certain weekends. This is something we would be willing to pay to go back and see, but what really has my kids excited is the Halloween themed train that they do in October, and especially the Polar Express train they do in November and December. I have to admit, I can’t remember EVER looking forward to winter in Indiana, but this Polar Express has me pretty excited.

I am now a pretty big fan of the Indiana Railway Museum, and also the rest of French Lick that I have seen. I will absolutely be going back for the train and to check out the resorts.

Thanks for checking out the latest addition to the Hoosier Day Trip blog. Be sure to check out the photo page on the home page and PLEASE send me your Hoosier Day Trip pics to post. Thanks again, and I hope to see YOU on my next Hoosier Day Trip. 

                                          Andrew

Hoosier Day Trip update June, 13, 2011

Hey friends, and thanks for your patience since my last post. I have been without a secure internet connection for almost two weeks now, but things seem to be up and running once again. I have had internet over my phone and even with some wi-fi hotspots, but this in the first time in awhile that I have felt confident enough to blog.

The last post ( I think) that I made on HoosierDayTrip.com was touting my new photo link on there. I am going to pick up where that left off. I had a couple of readers ask if it were possible to give some details of the pics. This was my ultimate goal, and I am going to try to figure out how to do that. Great Idea. (FYI, the pics of the chair, table, and window, are looking out of my front window. Just cool pics of different seasons I wanted to test with)

Friends, with that, I bid you good evening. I will get back to the serious work of visiting cool places, and I hope to see YOU on my next Hoosier Day Trip.

                                                    Andrew

Virtual Vacations. How can you be some other place, when you really have to be exactly where you are.

Hello and thank you for checking out the latest update to the Hoosier Day Trip blog. If you are reading this blog entry then I will make the assumption that you someone who likes to travel and enjoys getting to places that take you out of your everyday routine.  For me personally, taking a trip anywhere is probably the SINGLE biggest stress reliever in my life. Be it a day trip, a small excursion that takes a couple of days, or a full blown Disney World vacation (my SUPER happy place), getting away from it all is literally GETTING AWAY FROM IT ALL for me!

But what about those times when you just CAN’T go anywhere except where you are? I am currently going through such a situation, and I thought I would share some tips and tricks that help me through my travel “dry spells”.

Once again, I am making the assumption that if you are reading this, you have online access. The internet has changed our lives in many ways. Some ways are really good and others…not so much. One change I feel a lot of people have yet to realize is just how SMALL it has made our world (not an intentional Disney World reference).  By this, I am referencing the fact that I carry face book, twitter, 4square, and any other social media outlet you can imagine in a clip on my front pants pocket. I have made mention of social media in a previous post, but from talking to people, I REALLY wonder if most people move beyond simply “friending” people they already know on face book. Even if we only examine what face book can do for you in terms of what I will call “virtual vacationing” it truly becomes astonishing. Today, almost any destination you can imagine has an online presence letting you know what is happening at that particular destination that week, but often also post pictures that they had taken only seconds before the posted. How is THAT for a virtual vacation? 

So now our next stop on our virtual vacation is logically Twitter. I have heard from a lot of people who have no interest in twitter. Mostly because they have “no friends who tweet” , or they simply do not understand it. It is somewhat different for people who have learned to “social media” from face book. What I like about twitter is that I can use it as a feed from all of the people, places, and destinations that I enjoy. No commitment required. Just follow the tweeter you like, and you see what they post. They don’t even have to love (tweet) you back. I follow Kings Island, Holiday World, (of course a ton of Disney tweets) and even some news sites. It is a fairly one sided relationship that fulfills my need for info about places I would RATHER be. And honestly, I never really feel guilty after the fact. We all knew this was a one sided relationship from the beginning.

But what if you can’t take the time to look at pics, updates, tweets, post, etc, etc, etc?   One thing I have absolutely fallen in LOVE with it the “I heart radio” app.  To the best of my knowledge, this app is offered for both the iPhone and the Droid. With this app I can transport myself from where I am, to where I would like to be. It allows you to listen to LIVE online radio feeds from a TON of locations in the U.S. I am also of big fan of podcast. There are many that can be downloaded for free. Some of my favorites cover such topics as technology, travel, and pop culture. The one I most often listen to is WDW Radio. A blog about Walt Disney World. Who would have guessed? A blog I have found even more recently is called "Stuck in the 80's" and it allows virtual travel of a different sort. Virtual time travel. I find all of these sources great ways to help you escape where you physically HAVE to be, and transport you to where you WANT to be.

My friends, that is going to do it for this post into the Hoosier Day Trip Blog. Thanks SO much for checking it out. I really hope that this helped at least one reader out. I thank you for your time in reading this, and hope to see YOU on my next Hoosier Day Trip.

                                        Thanks,        

                                                      Andrew

Spring Mill State Park

Hello, and thanks for taking the time to check out my latest blog post. If you have followed any of my previous blogs you are most likely aware that I am a big fan of state parks. My love affair with the Indiana state park system is no secret to most of you. I was married in a state park, and if you have read my post about the Annual DNR pass, then you probably get that I am a pretty big fan of them. Today I revisited Spring Mill, located just outside of Mitchell, and I fell more in love with this park than ever.

When I woke up this morning I KNEW I was going to take a daytrip somewhere. I HONESTLY had planned on driving down to Santa Clause and buying myself a season pass to Holiday World. I justified this in my own mind as research, and figured that the $149.00 would go towards also taking my family down on several other outings this year. However, the lightning and thunder that I woke up to had me rethinking this plan. As I hung around the house trying to decide where else I might explore today, the thought struck me that I had already bought a season pass. My Annual DNR pass.

So now I was left with deciding WHICH location I wanted to use this pass at. I had been to Brown County recently, and as much as I love McCormicks Creek state park, it just didn’t seem like that was the right fit for the day. Spring Mill was only a short 20 minutes away, and I hadn’t been there in probably 10 years. Spring Mill it would be.

As I climbed into the car and headed down SR 37, the beauty of the drive hit me. Even though I live in the area, I am always amazed at the beauty of southern Indiana. I get almost misty eyed at driving through the limestone cutouts along the highway (if you are my friend on face book, see my profile pic) and I find myself comparing other regions cutouts to our own here in southern Indiana. None are as pretty. It seems Indiana limestone is even beautiful along our highways.

Aside from the limestone cutouts, I was struck by the beautiful greens of the trees. Green is my most favorite color. My youngest daughter, Elizabeth recently told me that she knows I love the color green because “that is what color everything is in the spring and summer”. Out of the mouths of babes.

After a short 20 minute drive I arrive at the park. After quickly flashing my annual pass and being waved on by the gate attendant, I decided to get some lunch. In all of the times I had been to Spring Mill, I had never been to the Spring Mill Inn. After parking, I made my way to the dining room, and enjoyed the buffet. The food was excellent, but I didn’t linger too long because that wasn’t really why I was here. I wanted to get to the park. As long as we are talking about the buffet, I will mention that while the food was really good, the deserts WAY outshined the rest of the food. I made sure to save room for a piece of strawberry/rhubarb pie (one of my favorites) but also had a small slice of cornmeal cake, as I knew this was a park specialty.

After leaving the inn, I drove to the Pioneer village in the park. This is probably the area most people think of when thinking about Spring Mill. If you have never been, this is a collection of actual homes and building from the 1800s. These are all really authentic structures from the time and area, although not necessarily originally located on the exact spot that they are currently located. There are many signs posted in and on these buildings telling you of their history. I could devote an entire blog to just the history of the buildings, but I will leave something for you to explore on your own. I have posted a few pictures on face book of some of these building if you are interested in seeing them. Being a big fan of history, specifically U.S. history of this era, I find the buildings and their stories fascinating.

In the center of all of these structures sits the actual mill that gives the park its name. This mill was built in 1817, and it still works. They produce cornmeal which you can buy for $2.00 a bag. I bought myself a bag, and can’t wait to use it. It is a really affordable souvenir that allows you to take a little of the park home with you, and enjoy with your family in a future meal. That is a win/win to me.

Inside of most of these buildings were employees of the park who were able to share a lot of historical information. I remember this to a certain degree from past visits, but on this visit almost every building had an employee present, and every one of these employees proved to have an enormous wealth of historical knowledge. I consider myself fairly well versed in Hoosier history, but I learned several things from talking with, and more importantly, listening to these very engaging experts. This truly enhanced my visit.

At this point it was after 3pm and I had one more place I wanted to visit before it closed at 4pm. I hurried back to my car. One thing I find interesting to observe while visiting some of these destination is looking at the license plates on the cars in the parking lot. I think this sort of helps gage the draw that tourist destinations have, and at Spring Mill I noticed that while the majority of the plates where from Indiana, every one of Indiana’s border states was represented, as well as one from Arizona, and even a Quebec plate. Additionally, a good majority of the Indiana plates were from northern counties, proving in my mind, that I am not the only person who finds Spring Mill one of the state park systems most impressive destinations.

So the final stop I wanted to make sure I visited was the Virgil I. Grissom memorial. Being a big fan of the space program, this was a must do for me. Driving out of the Pioneer village, I headed towards the Grissom memorial, but came across yet another spot that prompted me to take an unplanned stop. It was the Hamer cemetery which is where many of the original residents from the area, and their descendants are buried. Being a history buff, I couldn’t resist making a stop to look at some of the headstones. Many of these headstones are so old that they are no longer legible, but there were a few graves much more recent. In fact, there was a grave dated March of 2011. I found this interesting, as I assumed that being buried in this historical location was probably not an option today.

After this brief detour, I got back into my car, and made my way to the Grissom memorial, but as I entered the parking lot, I looked at my clock and noticed it was 3:51. I had nine minutes to explore a place I could easily spend an hour in. I went in anyway, but really don’t think that I will comment on this part of the park for now, because there is no way I could do it justice. I am going to return to the park very soon, and plan on spending a lot of time exploring the Grissom memorial. I may even devote an entire blog post to it, because I find the ties that it brings Indiana to the space program, and U.S. history in general fascinating.

Speaking of return trips to Spring Mill, my next visit is planned for this Sunday May 29^th. The park is holding its first Civil War weekend, complete with battle reenactments and many other events. I will post a link to the Indiana DNR website at the end of this blog where you can go to learn more about Spring Mill, and all of the beautiful destinations in the state park system.

That is going to do it for this entry into the Hoosier Day Trip blog. I hope you enjoyed it, and I hope you feel inspired to visit some of the hidden treasures we have here in the Hoosier state. You really don’t have to travel that far from home to make some wonderful memories that will be passed down to future generations. Thanks for reading, and I hope to see YOU on my next Hoosier Day Trip.

                                                                                    Andrew

http://www.in.gov/dnr/parklake/

Hoosier Day Trip update. May 20, 2011

Hello friends, and thanks for reading this update from Hoosier Day Trip. I have a few things that I find pretty exciting to report on, and I hope you all enjoy them as well.

The first and most obvious thing is the move from the old Hoosier Day Trip blog site with GoDaddy, to an account with Google’s Blogger. The Hoosier Day Trip homepage is still with GoDaddy, and I am looking into moving that soon. I only include this information for others like myself, who are interested in learning about web design (if that is what I am doing) and the behind the scenes part of blogging, web hosting, online publishing and the like. For those who are NOT interested, I am sorry to include those mundane details, but I do it in the hopes that a reader will have an answer or solution to a problem I may be experiencing, and we can help ALL of us have a better blogging experience.

That being said, I am still having an issue with the “subscribe by Email” feature of the new blog site. This was the same sort of issue I was having on the GoDaddy site, but I NOW have the benefit of no “experts” telling that everything is working correctly. With Blogger, I feel I can get more into the nuts and bolts of WHY something is not working, and hopefully sort it out myself. Today I received the FIRST positive sign that I am starting to figure this issue out, as I received 2 test emails that I sent to a couple of my emails last night. Not as timely as I would want, but at least they were sent to the right place.

So friends, this is where YOU can really help me out. I am going to STOP sending test post to myself, and hope that a some of you will try the subscribe by email tab on the new site. I want real world feedback, and I would like to know if and when you receive the emailed post. This will help me a TON. Thanks in advance for your help.

So NOW on the serious business of Hoosier Day Tripping.  I spent a good part of yesterday in a REALLY backwoods part of Brown County. It is a little community called Gatesville, and if you have EVER heard about the “Hills of Brown County” this is probably where they were referring to. I do not know a lot about Gatesville, but I do know that they have a General  Store that seems to have some history, and that the locals are extremely embracing. I had lunch at the Gatesville General Store, and while the food was …Mediocre, the environment was warm and down homesy. It reminded me of some of the lunch counters I have visited in the south. I loved the experience and will write about it more later. These are the kinds of out of the way places I LOVE, and hope you all like hearing about.

Friends, that is going to do it for this Hoosier Day Trip update. Thanks for reading, and PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE help get the word out about Hoosier Day Trip if you like what I am doing. ALSO, please visit the blog site, and click on the “subscribe by email” tab, or simply follow me if you are on Blogger. Thank you for taking the time to read this update, and I hope you will take the time to subscribe and let me know how  it works. I REALLY want to make this blog extraordinary, because I LOVE Hoosier Day Tripping, and I feel passionate about bringing the experiences I have to others who will enjoy them.

Thanks again, and I hope to see YOU on my next Hoosier Day Trip                              Andrew

test again

last time tonight

new test post.

123

Columbus Indiana Chuck E. Cheese

Hello, and once again, thank you for taking the time to read the latest entry into the Hoosier Day Trip blog.  As you have probably concluded from the title this entry is about the Chuck E. Cheese restaurant in Columbus, Indiana.   There is no Chuck E. Cheese in Bloomington, where we live, so our options are Greenwood or Columbus.  Both places are about an hour away.  We have found the Columbus location to be very clean and rarely crowded. 

As I have written earlier, I do not believe that the only places that can, or SHOULD, be reviewed as a day trip are the places most of us think of as a "destination". So my goal is to convince my reader that a place like a Chuck E. Cheese restaurant could actually be a destination. To save time in the future, I think I will refer to these out of the way spots as "non-destinations". 

So who will enjoy Chuck E. Cheese? Those with children: parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, godparents, etc.  If you have an afternoon to spend with young children, consider making a family outing of it at your local Chuck E. Cheese. Each restaurant offers pizza, wings, and salad bar and is separated into three areas: Toddler Zone, Kiddie Area, and Skill Games and Arcades.  There are video games, toddler rides, and entertainment. All of the games are only 1 token.  There is also a stage area with big screens with music videos with Chuck E. and his friends singing kid’s versions of popular songs.  Chuck E. himself comes out and interacts with the crowd several times a day.  He usually gives out extra tickets to the children.  We have never done a birthday party there, because it is an hour away, but I imagine they would do a very professional job. 

You have the opportunity to earn tickets with many of the games.  The tickets can then be traded for small prizes.  One thing I like better than other non-Chuck E. Cheese’s type establishments is that you can “add” tickets to your ticket amount for $.01 per ticket.  I also like that each game or ride is one token. Tokens can be purchased either with the meal, out of a machine, with a coupon, or at the counter, separately.  Another cool thing that Chuck E. Cheese does is, when you arrive they stamp the arm of each person in your party with a number. This number can only be seen with a black light.  At the exit of the restaurant is an employee who checks each person to verify that the child/children you are leaving with are, indeed, yours

Is the food any good, though? I think the food is good if you put it in the context of the entire experience. Would I travel there just for the food? No. However, it is TRULY better than most child-geared restaurants. The pizza is good. Not GREAT, but I would compare it to pizza at a lot of amusement parks.  Everything seems to taste better when you are having a good time.  The hot wings are MUCH better than I thought they would be.  The salad bar looked really fresh and nicely presented.  I overheard one of the skinnier people there claiming that it was, "really good”.  I took their word for it. 

We always use a coupon(s) when we go to Chuck E. Cheese.  You can print coupons directly off the Chuck E. Cheese website or, your local Sunday paper has them every few weeks.  We had a coupon that, for 39 dollars, got us a pizza, drinks, and 125 tokens. As the day went on we added a dessert pizza (cinnamon and sugar with icing) and bought additional tokens.  To be honest, I didn't keep a running tally of the actual dollar amount we spent, but I feel safe in saying we spent under 75 dollars. We are a family of five, but my son brought a friend, so we were six, today.  Seventy-five dollars for lunch AND about fours hours of entertainment is not so bad. 

As for the kids, they had a blast. They ate pizza and played about three hour’s worth of video games, all the while, laughing, dancing, cheering, and chasing each other.  We had fun visiting with family and friends that came along with us.

We left Bloomington around noon and returned home at about 6:30 pm. I guess the slogan, "Where a kid can be a kid!" was true for us, today.  We all got to be a kid for a few hours.  

See you on our next Hoosier Day Trip.

                                                                                                 Andrew

Posted by HoosierDayTrip at 3/19/2011 3:04 AM | Add Comment

Marengo Cave

Hello and thanks, once again, for checking out our latest Hoosier Day Trip adventure.   I am REALLY excited about this particular installment of the Hoosier Day Trip blog, because it brings back a childhood memory for me. From the feedback that I have received, at least a couple of you have your own memories, as well.

Recently my son and I took a trip down to Marengo Cave.  Located in Marengo Indiana, in the southern part of the state.  It's about a ninety minute drive from my home in Bloomington.  I had been to Marengo Cave before, around thirty years ago.  Honestly, there was a lot I couldn’t remember about this trip, but I know I had fun . My elementary school class took a trip there when I was around my sons age, nine.  With that amount of time having passed since my first visit, this trip would be, almost, like he and I both discovering it for the first time.

The drive down from Bloomington was pretty easy. I think my iphone took me through a longer route then was necessary, but we weren’t really in a hurry, so we just enjoyed the early spring views.  I have always loved watching the hills grow taller as you drive south. It was also nice to see the trees budding with flowers the further south we drove.

Driving into the town of Marengo, we were both on the lookout for restaurants.  We had passed a lot of fast food places on the way down.  However, we had agreed to wait until we were in Marengo to eat, assuming that a town with a tourist destination would have plenty of options.  We assumed wrong.  We only found three. There was a Mexican spot, a diner-type restaurant, and a pizza place.  We decided on a pizza place named Papenos.  It’s easier to locate the sign for Papenos, than the actual restaurant.  It is located in a mobile home type trailer next to one of the two gas stations on the highway. It is actually called Papenos Pizza and Tanning, because half of the trailer is filled with tanning beds. Despite our initial doubts, the food was excellent and very reasonably priced.

So, now, back to the cave. We actually had to drive PAST the cave, from the direction we were coming from, to get to the gas stations and food.  The entrance to the cave is very well marked and easy to spot. If you find the town of Marengo, you WILL find the cave.

As we pulled into the parking lot, I noticed that it was a lot more crowded than I had expected for a Sunday afternoon. I also immediately noticed the amount of those cars that had out-of-state plates.  All four of Indiana’s border states where there, as well as cars from Tennessee, Georgia, and Florida. I doubt many of these families came exclusively to Indiana for the cave, but I still found it encouraging that families from other states were interested enough to make it part of their Hoosier Trip.

After finding a parking spot, I noticed the sign on the fence directly in front of our car, as well as the headstones on the other side of the fence. It was a sign for the Springtown cemetery.  It was one of the first cemeteries in the area, dating to the early 1800’s. Marengo was known as Springtown then, and the land was donated to the city by Samuel M. Stewart, the original owner of the land at the time the cave was discovered. One of the two original discoverers of the cave is buried there. I find the historical aspect of cemeteries very interesting, and normally would have taken a few minutes to walk through, but my son was intent on finding the snack bar, gift shop, and cave entrance, in that order.

Entering the building that houses the snacks, trinkets, and ticket purchases, I found the sign for  “Ticket Sales”  above the cash register.  We walked up and ask about taking a tour of the cave. Marengo Cave actually offers two separate walking tours. One is called the Crystal Palace tour, and the other is the Dripstone Trail tour. They are forty and seventy minutes in length, respectively.  You can purchase a ticket for both tours at a prorated price.  We opted for the longer Dripstone Trail tour. Prices are $7.00 for children and $13.50 for adults for the Crystal Palace tour.  The Dripstone trail is $7.50 for children and $15.00 for adults. They also offer other tours, including canoe tours, walking tours, and out of your way places tours. Check our their website if you are interested in some of these, because several require a two week reservation. You can find their website at www.marengocave.com . In addition to the tours, they also offer gemstone mining, hiking, and picnicking. Check out their site. I am almost sure I have forgotten  to include a few things that you will find there.

Now our tickets are paid for, and we are waiting outside for our guide to start the tour. A couple of things to remember before you go into the cave. First: NO food or drink is allowed inside the cave. This was not a problem for us considering we ate lunch before going, but don’t go hungry. Second: NO bathrooms. What could be worse than getting hungry inside? Well…THAT! You are with a tour of 15 to 20 people. I would hate to be the guy who interrupted the tour for….umm ...not being able to hold it. The bathrooms in the gift shop are located right next to the door where you exit to start the tour, just a helpful reminder.

Speaking of helpful reminders, as you walk out of the door to begin the tour, the gift shop has a sign on the door pointing out that the temperature in the cave is 52 degrees. All year. They also point out that they sell sweatshirts.  Clever marketing while helping guests stay comfortable. Thankfully, we brought our own.

Once the guide started the tour, we walked for about five minutes before our group was at a door in the side of a hill. This is where our tour began.  As we enter the manmade tunnel that leads you into this section of the cave, you could feel the temps drop. As we entered the actual cave, my mind turned to the recent earthquake in Japan.  What goes on in a cave during an earthquake, and could it affect us here if the quake is half way around the world? Yes, I thought of these things. On the drive home, I received a text about a 6.7 quake in Indonesia that occurred WHILE we were in the cave. Nothing was felt in the cave. I am honestly glad this occurred, as it answered my questions about quakes while in a cave.

After the guide started our tour, we were led through a maze of pathways, chambers, and rooms. We saw a lot of different cave formations and natural phenomenon. I will not even pretend that I remember them all, but I did retain the difference in a stelagtite (it holds tight to the ceiling) and a stalagmite (it might reach the ceiling from the floor of the cave.)

There are a couple of final points that I want to point out about the Dripstone Trail tour itself, before I move us back into the gift shop. First, is the penny room, which is one of the few things I could remember about the first trip, I made there thirty-plus years ago.  The penny room is an area of the cave where sticky brown mud has formed on the ceiling.  Children are allowed to throw coins and try to stick them in the ceiling.  All of the money is collected for charity.  I think of it as a caves version of a wishing well. My son had a blast trying to stick coins into the ceiling mud, exactly as I did almost 30 years ago. This was a REALLY cool connection that we shared, as I had told him about me doing it ages ago.

Second, when they shut the lights out, you have NEVER experienced dark like this. There IS NO light for your eyes to adjust to. They could leave the lights off for 30 seconds or 30 minutes. You are not going to make out so much as a shape.  It’s a cool experience that you will quickly be glad is temporary.

So now the tour is over. You exit back up into the gift shop, which is remarkably affordable. You can spend as much as you want, but I was able to satisfy three kids with some trinkets for under five dollars.

I hope you enjoyed reading this, and I hope you will check out our future adventures. We are looking at checking out Blue Spring Caverns soon.

Thanks, and I hope to see YOU on my next Hoosier Day Trip.

                                                            Andrew

Indiana DNR Annual Entrance Permits. Posted 3-20-2011

Hello, and thanks once again for checking out our Hoosier Day Trip blog. This particular entry is one I am pretty excited about. We are going to explore the Indiana DNR annual entrance permits. From my own families personal experience, I would say this permit is probably one of the best values a Hoosier family can get for taking day trips around the state. These passes will allow you entry into Indiana state parks, SRA's (state recreation areas) and pretty much anyplace that Indiana DNR charges entrance fees to get into.

So lets explore the actual value. The permit currently is priced at $36 for Indiana residents, and $46 for non Hoosiers.  If you compare this to the daily price into one of these locations, you will see that it doesn't take many visits to break even, or come out ahead. The pricing for daily entries is somewhat detailed depending on dates and locations. I will post a link so that you can view it for yourself, but a basic rule of thumb for Hoosier residents is $4 per car Monday-Thursday. $5 per Indiana plated car Friday-Sunday.  If you do the math, that comes out to around 9 visits per year at the weekday rate, or 8 if you go on the weekends. In my  opinion $36 for prepaid admission to SO many choices of locations around the state is one of the best values around today. 

I assume some readers are now thinking, "But I haven't been to a state park in YEARS....There is NO WAY I would go 8 or 9 times a year!".  Well if you haven't been to a state park in awhile here is the perfect opportunity to pay one upfront rate and go as often, and to as many as you like.  State parks, and SRA's are one of my families favorite things to do together. Actually my wife and I were married in Brown County state park, so our love affair with them even precedes our marriage. We have spent birthdays, anniversaries, and days that really didn't symbolize anything at all except low cost memory making day trips, at state parks.

How close to most Hoosiers are these locations? I tried to find a statistic that showed how close each Hoosier resident is based on numbers of residents compared to numbers of locations and combined with some mathematical formula that I would not have understood anyway. I couldn't. I WAS, however, able to count that DNR reports 25 state parks, and 9 reservoirs in every area of the state. I feel safe in assuming most Hoosier residents are within Day Tripping distance of at least one location. 

So, back to the prepaid aspect of this permit. It is probably my favorite part. As I pointed out earlier, many people may make the argument that they have not visited state parks in years. If you are one of those people, consider this. Many families are having a tough time buying food right now, let alone paying for trips or entertainment. If you could manage $36, then you have already paid for admission for a YEAR to over 25 stunning locations. I cant even begin to see how anyone could find fault with this value.   Even if you didn't buy the annual pass, I think the daily rate is a value. But if you paid 36 dollars upfront, for the entire year, you would have prepaid admission to a TON of  locations when money was tight. A loaf of bread, some Bologna or Peanut butter, and gas money, and your family is SET for a fun weekend. 

But lets say it's not just a money aspect. If you and your family want something fun and easy to do, WHAT, my friends, is easier than a state park that is nearby, and already paid for. You get a handy card to simply show to the attendant at the park. Pick the state park you want to visit. Drive there, Show the attendant your permit, go in and enjoy. No getting kids out of the car, buying tickets, loading them back in, etc, etc. It is a really simple formula. Buy the pass, Pick the park, Drive there. Show the card. ENJOY THE PARK. 

As great of a value as I already feel this is, I wondered if maybe some other benefits or discounts were included. As far as I can tell, there are none. I personally feel the pass is a great value as it stands, but if I learn of any others, I will be sure to pass them along. 

I hope you have enjoyed reading this blog, as much as I have enjoyed writing it. My family and I are big fans of the Indiana State Park system, and hope you enjoy it too. Many wonderful memories can be made there. Just while writing this I thought of a couple of things I had forgotten about doing with my wife and kids. I hope you can make some of the same types of memories with your own family. 

The goal of this blog was to  introduce you to the Indiana DNR annual pass. The state parks themselves each deserve separate examinations. I hope to explore them all soon. 

Here is a link for locations.

www.in.gov/dnr/parklake/5062.htm

Thanks, and I hope to see you on my next Hoosier Day Trip.

                                                                                                                                              Andrew

Spring Break 2011 Day 1. Posted 3-15-11

Hello, and thanks, once again, for taking the time to view my blog. I am humbled by the fact that anyone would take the time to view the ideas that I have to share.  The response has been better than I could have hoped for.  I do not intend to make this a daily blog, but I really wanted to share the experience my family had today.  

We decided to make it a day around town and try not spend a lot of money...the key word is "try".  We didn't leave the house until around 2:00 P:m We went to lunch at O'Charlies. We could have easily went to Micky D's again, but we were all sick of it! (except for Elizabeth). We spent around upper 40 something there. 50 after a tip. Not to bad for a family of 5.

Next, we went to the Dollar Tree to stock up on candy to smuggle into the theater.  This may sound wrong, but if cheating the theater Gods out of OBSCENE candy profits is wrong...I don't wanna be right.  Candy=$7.00 at Dollar Tree.

Finally, all 5 of us, during a weekday afternoon at AMC theatres, are $5.00 apiece.   You keeping track?  That's about 80 bucks, so far. The popcorn and soda that we DID let the theater drain out of my begrudging debit card was $22.00.  My math tells me that is a total of $102.00. I am not complaining. We all had a good time, but I just wanted to compare this to show how $102.00 dollars CAN be spent so quickly on a simple afternoon around town.  Let's see how we can stretch $102.00 to visiting around the state. 

                                                                                                        Stay tuned,

                                                                                                                          Andrew

First post from old blog page

Hello, and welcome to my first official blog on Hoosier Day Trip.  I am glad you are reading this, and I really hope I live up to the goals that I have set up for myself with this blog.  If you have seen my home page, then you know this site is for all Hoosier families, finding and celebrating the hidden treasures, we have in this region.  

Indiana is full of wonderful day trip destinations.  Most of us know (if you grew up in the region) about some of the well-publicized destinations.  If you grew up in the Hoosier state, (and are over the age of 30) you have likely seen the Brady Bunch Kings Island television special. Who hasn’t tried to pick out the locations in Kings Island that were visible on TV?  You probably remember when Holiday World was still Santa Claus Land, right?  Kings Island and Holiday World are two examples of wonderful Hoosier Day Trips my family still enjoy.  I hope to explore both theme parks on future blogs.  But still, I think there are many destinations that are unknown to most. These are the hidden treasures of Indiana that I want to explore the most.

Not all of the topics we cover here are going to be theme park related.  There are plenty of restaurants, wineries, micro-breweries, museums, gardens, historical settlements, bakeries, flea markets, candy stores, specialty shops, theatres, railroads, artist colonies, fairs and festivals (we could go on and on), that could be considered Hoosier Day Trips.  Add to those places, state parks, state recreation areas, and the list grows beyond what you probably ever thought of as a Hoosier Day Trip.  I am really excited about the idea of sharing what I know, and what I hope to learn with my readers. 

I thank you for taking the time to read this.  Very soon, I want to explore the D.N.R. annual pass, which I have yet to purchase this year.  This is a value worthy of an entire blog itself.  

Again, I really appreciate your support with this venture.   Thanks, and maybe we will run into each other on a Hoosier Day Trip

Andrew

Hello, and thanks SO much for checking out the new blog.

Hey friends, thanks for checking out the new blog site. I am really excited about using blogger.com as my new blog provider, as I think this will be a vast improvement over the previous blog. This move should NOT affect the HoosierDayTrip.com site that you can log into us with. Nor should it affect being able to link directly to the blog from the blog tab on the homepage. I am working on saving the old blogs from the old blog site. I am not sure how much of an interest there would be in having these first few blogs listed here. I might link this site to the old blog site so that they can be accessed there, but HONESTLY, I do not think there will be that much interested in them. As such, I will probably just archive them myself, and should ANYONE EVER be interested in the initial Chucky Cheese review, (I was trying to make something out of a spark of an idea folks) I will make sure you are able to access a copy. 

That being said, and me being PRETTY sure the older blogs are safe where they are, I REALLY do thank you for sticking with me thus far. The new blog is a bit of a start over, but I think everything moves upward and onward from this point. Thanks, Andrew