Monroe County History Center

I almost started this blog out by saying I recently had the opportunity to visit a real hidden gem of a Hoosier Day Trip destination, but I quickly realized that that statement would have been inaccurate. I have had NUMEROUS opportunities to visit this particular destination, but I only recently took advantage of it. It is the Monroe County History Center.

I have driven and walked by this place many times. To be fair, it was always a place I thought would be neat to check out, but there hours never seemed to coincide with what I was in the area for. I kept telling myself I would check it out..Someday.

Well someday came a couple of days ago. I was walking North on Washington street in Bloomington headed to another destination and I had my son with me. As we passed it I noticed that it was open, and suggested to my son that we take a quick trip inside to look around. He was onboard with that idea.

We walked in and were quickly greeted by some VERY friendly employees. I call these people employees in the sense that they work there for a paycheck, but I almost got the impression that the center should take a page from Disney and refer to them as Cast Members or some other term befitting someone who enjoys their job and takes some pride in it. To be honest I didn’t ask them, but I am only assuming they were employees. 

They may have been volunteers. They seemed to like what they did regardless.

We were then informed that there were some free exhibits we could check out, but the main part of the museum was upstairs and that a charge to enter that part did apply. The charge was $2 for myself as an adult and $1 for my son. I had NO problem with this upon entering, but when I left I really realized what a value it is. My son and I were entertained for almost an hour, and that was only because we were in a little bit of a hurry. It is well worth the fee, and I think they would be justified in charging more but I hope they don’t.

So now we were in the museum itself. I am not really going to reveal all that is there. I will say this. If you are a fan of history, a fan of Bloomington, a fan of Monroe County, or southern Indiana in general, take the time to visit the center. As a lifelong resident of Monroe County I saw things that made me smile. Memories brought back from my childhood, and many new things learned that I never knew.  The staff there gave my son a worksheet that was a scavenger hunt of sorts. It reminded me of the Kidcot type of activities you can do at Disney Worlds’ EPCOT center.

After my son and I had finished in the main part of the museum we returned back downstairs where and employee checked out his answers on the scavenger hunt, and I made my way to the gift shop.  Time and money WERE issues that particular day, but I will say that I would like to return to the gift shop soon when both are more abundant.

In short, I found this destination to be extremely interesting and well worth the money to visit. The staff was extremely friendly and informed and the price was well worth it. If you know me well, or have read any blogs of mine before, you probably know what a big fan of the state park systems I am. I found this experience almost comparable to visiting a state park but right in town.

I really enjoyed this experience as did my son. This is a must do in my opinion. I think for the value you will not leave disappointed.

That’s going to do it for this entry into the Hoosier Day Trip blog. Thanks for going along, and I hope to see YOU on my next Hoosier Day Trip.

Andrew

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