We're back in Indiana
for another visit to Shipshewana, an Amish community with great shops and restaurants, a huge flea market, and plenty of horse-driven buggies clip-clopping along the roadways. This visit marks the 3rd time we've been here this year. However, although we have lots of photos from the previous visits, I've not posted a blog to share them. Since I seem to have nothing better to do tonight (K's watching "America's Got Talent" and so I am not able to watch the Red Sox game), I decided to post.
As you know, we just left Wisconsin this morning, after spending the past two weeks in that state.
If you've never been to Wisconsin, it reminds me very much of Vermont, with lots of dairy farms and cheese factories. It also has mountains with ski resorts, but much further north from where we were. Driving along the highways and byways, you'll see lots of corn fields and soy bean fields. Those seem to be the main crops along the way. As we found out, the corn is actually feed corn for the dairy cows. The corn crops also provide corn oil and is also used in the production of ethanol. We did manage to find some corn for eating, and it was delicious!! They call it bi-color corn, while we call it butter and sugar corn. The state of Wisconsin is also home to some of the most beautiful lakes and rivers. If you get the chance to visit, DO NOT pass it up.
OK! Indiana. Got here this afternoon and got settled at the campground (Shipshewana South). After settling in, we made a trip to the local "bulk foods" store, E & S Sales, which is just down the road from the campground. This is a great store for purchasing local food products in bulk. We bought out every bag of pretzel sticks they had on the shelves. We have found that the price of the pretzel sticks here is as low as many other sources we have found, but people LOVE these sticks when we put them out! Since we stocked up on cheese up in Wisconsin, we did not purchase any here, although the cheeses here are also wonderful.
On a previous visit
to the area, we visited South Bend and the Tippecanoe Place restaurant, along with the Studebaker Museum and got lots of photographs at both places. In addition, we also visited the RV Motor Home Hall of Fame and Museum in Elkhart. Have lots of photos from there, as well.
Tippecanoe Place is the former Studebaker Mansion in South Bend. It was sold back in the 1970s, I believe, and has been through several incarnations. Finally, back in the 1990s it was purchased by the current owners and converted into a restaurant. Most of the rooms in the mansion have been converted to dining rooms, and, overall, the restoration of the mansion is fantastic. Be sure to take a good look at the photos of this magnificent structure.
The Studebaker museum houses
a collection of Studebaker wagons and automobiles dating back to the 1800s. These vehicles are magnificent, also! Unfortunately, Studebaker ran into labor problems which it refused to bow to, and, subsequently, went out of business somewhere in the 1960s, or so.
The RV Motor Home Hall
of Fame and Museum is located in East Elkhart, just off of the Interstate (I-80/90) on County Road 17. It contains vehicles used in camping dating back to the early 1900s and continuing up to the present day. We saw some very interesting "campers" on our visit.
On our most recent visit
to the area, last month (July), we got to do some walking around the city of Elkhart, Indiana. We had noticed, as we drove through the city, that there were various sculptures of elks scattered around the city. (Which makes perfect sense, since Elks are also called Harts, thus the name of the city!) We decided to do a walking tour to photograph as many of the sculptures as we could find. As we discovered, each of the sculptures had a different scheme/color pattern. We also found a sculpture of a marching band, which reminded us of days past when we followed the UMass Minuteman Marching Band. Please take the time to view these photos, as well. The elk sculptures will capture your imagination.
I'm glad I was finally able to put this post and the photographs together. I think you will enjoy seeing some of the things we saw, especially if you've never been to this area of our beautiful country!
Here are the photographs:
South Bend, IN
RV Motor Home Hall of Fame and Museum
Elkhart, IN
Wakarusa, IN
2 comments:
The Tippecanoe Restaurant is absolutely gorgeous! Great pics! I also love the Elk/Hart statues.
Have a safe trip home!
Love ~ Dee
You were in South Bend? Did you check on the Irish? I'm expecting big things from them this year...
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