These photos were taken over the course of two days in Central Illinois. The first day I was attempting to get to Joplin, MO but I got a late start. Since there were many severe storms in both Illinois and Missouri I did not want to drive after dark. I have already experienced tornadoes at night and they are not very photogenic. When I got close to Illiopolis I had my GPS find somewhere to eat. The first place that came up was Uncle Monkey\’s Bar & Grill. I admit, when I pulled up I fully expected that I would be going in strictly to ask for a real restaurant. It turns out that this place has great, homemade Chinese food. If I am ever in that part of Illinois again I will definitely go back for seconds.
Additionally, when the bartender/waitress (sorry, I forgot her name. Jen sticks in my mind though) found out I was going to Joplin, she asked if I could drop off some blankets and other goods she had collected for the tornado victims. In case she is reading this, they were delivered.
These photos are from dining establishments in and around Valparaiso, IN. Next week will mark four years that I have been a regular visitor to Valpo. When I first started coming here I used to think that I would have to go to Chicago to get a decent meal. Steak \’n Shake and Bob Evans were not exactly my idea of fine dining. I eventually found a couple places that would satisfy my culinary desires, but even Cracker Barrel can only go so far. During my most recent visit to Indiana I did more exploring and discovered that there are some fine dining establishments in and around the Valpo area.
Featured in this gallery are ZaZa Italian Ristorante, Bon Femme [French] Cafe, Pikk\’s Tavern, Don Quijote Spanish Restaurant and Three Floyds Brew Pub. Each of these places were a pleasure to discover and I will be visiting each again, as soon as possible.
These photos were taken over a few days in the last month or so. I seem to keep returning before I can get all my photos up. Anyway, these are primarily in the downtown Valpo area. One evening we happened to be there when they were having a movie night, with \’How To Train a Dragon\’ being featured. It was a little cooler than people are used to at that time of year, but it still had a good turn out.
These photos are from a day in Kentucky, specifically, Bullitt County, the Jim Beam Distillery and Bardstown. As my regular readers have probably figured out, when Tanya and I travel together we are frequently distracted. It is less than 300 miles from Valparaiso, IN to Louisville, KY and we barely made it there in a day. As it turned out, my cousin had to make a run up into Indiana so we had some time to kill. When I saw a sign advertising that we were close to the Jim Beam Distillery, it was clear that another detour was coming up. While touring the grounds, my cousin called and we discovered we were only 15 miles apart from each other, so we decided to meet for lunch at a nearby town. After eating, Tanya and I decided to take another detour to Bardstown and then drove along the Bluegrass Parkway.
These photos are from Battle Ground, IN and the Tippecanoe battle field. One day, while visiting Indiana, I decided to try and meet up with a cousin that lives in Tennessee. We had not seen each other in close to 40 years, and since we were on the same side of the Mississippi River, I figured it was worth a try. Tanya, Buddy and I got in the Charger and headed south. A couple of hours later we came upon a sign that suggested we were close to Battle Ground and Tippecanoe. Since I can not resist visiting historical sites, a detour was made.
Tippecanoe really surprised me in that it is not very large. To imagine a battle taking place in such a small area left me with the impression that it must have been pretty intense. We attempted to visit neighboring Prophetstown, but there was an entry gate so you could pay to get in and the girl at the gate seemed more interested in chatting it up than collecting fees and letting people pass. After 10 or 15 minutes of waiting, and a quick Google image search, we decided to turn around and continue on our journey.
It is Flag Day and I am still in Valparaiso, IN. Tanya informed me that there was a replica of one of our nation\’s first official flags being displayed at the Porter County Courthouse, so I took a drive over there to take some photos.
I have to admit, I always thought that the first flag had the 13 stars in a circle, but apparently that is not the case. I also thought that the stars had 5 points, but this flag\’s stars has 6. After researching this, I discovered that there is some debate as to which way was first used.
[Not a valid template]These photos were taken over the course of two days I spent driving around Lake Michigan, in Michigan. After exploring Indiana Dunes I continued on to MI and came to New Buffalo and Warren Dunes State Park. While it was extremely windy and not much of a beach day, Buddy did not seem to mind. He could not get enough of the Warren Dunes State Park. He had so much fun, we had to come back a second day with Tanya.
These are photos from Indiana Dunes and the Lake Michigan shoreline in Indiana. After arriving in Indiana I had to take care of some issues with my laptop (the reason these photos were not put up on the day they were taken). Since I had some time to kill, I decided to take a drive up to Lake Michigan and explore Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore.
When I visit Tanya in Valparaiso, there are a couple of restaurants I try to always make time to visit. My favorite restaurant in Valpo has to be Don Quijote Spanish Restaurante. We discovered this gem due to a billboard on the highway claiming it was the only Spanish restaurant in Indiana. I guess a second Spanish restaurant has opened in Indy, so they will have to settle for being the first and, most likely, the best. Elena, one of the owners is very friendly and seems to always hire friendly people as servers. We always enjoy ourselves and having visited Spain twice, I think their food is quite authentic.
Another place I enjoy is the Longhorn Steakhouse in Merrillville. I usually get their filet mignon and lobster combo with a Margarita. I can not believe I am saying this, but their lobster is always good. This time I did something different and did chicken. It was okay. We also visited Pestos in Valparaiso. They catered a charity bash for one of Tanya\’s cousins, so I figured one good deed deserves another, and I brought them some business.