Stalking the Amish...

Well I've went and done it again...  #amishstalker

On Saturday over Mother's Day weekend, Shawn was at his parents, and I wanted to go up north to Amish country again.  I asked Beth and Gavin if they wanted to go and was thrilled to have the company!  

Our first stop was at McDonald's for the mandatory mocha frappes! And then on to Odon, Indiana.  It's an hour and a half north of us, and an added hour for the time change.  We got on the interstate around 8:30, and was in line for donuts at 11:00 a.m.  

After getting our donuts, we went into the little shop next door and then over to the Odon Locker for a few of my favorite grocery items.

After all that, it was time to commence with #gettingthecardirty!  And dirty it got, but inside and out.  

We spent quite a few hours driving around just enjoying the peacefulness of the Amish/Mennonite lifestyles.  I just love driving around looking at their beautiful homes and well kept yards.  Seeing horses and buggy's every where you went.  Following the paths of horse poop on the roads cause you knew a horse and buggy had been that way.  Seeing all of the laundry out on the lines because Saturday is apparently wash day.  Men out in the fields with their horse drawn tractors and plows mowing and getting ready for planting.  Little ones out playing.

But my absolute favorite, and a first for me, was happening upon this lemonade stand!  We pulled up and asked how much the lemonade was.  In the most sweetest and southern-est accent, we were told 75 cents a cup and that they had homemade cookies too!  We got two cups, chatted for a second, and then drove off.  That lemonade was good and was homemade!

I just love our backroad adventures.  You never know where they will take you!  This one took us to an Amish family's driveway!  

We stopped at a greenhouse so I could get some plants.  And then we stopped at a couple little stores.  After not successfully finding all we were searching for, we stopped for lunch at Knepp's and then headed towards home.  

For those of you that didn't know, this is what NOT SLEEPING looks like...

Who's ready for another roadtrip?!?

Nashville Road Trip with Friends

For a couple years now, Heather and I have planned on taking a day trip to Nashville to walk on the pedestrian bridge and drive around downtown in music row.  Whether it was one thing or another, we kept missing out on opportunities to go.  A couple weeks ago, her husband had to work and mine was out of town, so Heather, Zoe and I loaded up the car and headed south for the day.  We planned on going to Marcy Jo's Mealhouse for breakfast which is about an hour on the other side of Nashville and then to drive back into Nasvhille to walk the pedestrian bridge.  The weather on this day was pretty chilly, but beautiful and sunny!

An unattractive selfie at a Tennessee rest stop.  Did I mention it was sunny and the sun was in our eyes?  That coupled with the wind and my jacked up selfie stick and this is what you get!

I had seen pics of Marcy Jo's before and thought it would be a neat road trip to go eat it, and the pics of the food looked delicious.  It wasn't until I started following the blog of Joey and Rory that I realized that Marcy Jo was the sister of Joey.  Joey and Rory lived just down the road from the restaurant so we wanted to drive by their house too.  Earlier this year, Joey passed away from her two-year battle with breast cancer.  You can read all about them in their blog. If you are a reader of their blog, the restaurant and their home will be all too familiar.

The following was taken off of the back of the postcard I bought while there:  Marcy Jo's Mealhouse - On the corner on Highways 99 and 431, in the small community of Pottsville, TN sits a refurbished old mercantile store built in the 1890's.  Once a major gathering place for the farmers and families of the area, it's now a charming country restaurant, thriving with new life, great fellowship and food.  Opened in January 2007 by sisters-in-law Joey Martin and Marcy Gary, the eatery has quickly become one of the most popular restaurants and music venues in middle Tennessee.  Whether it's the breads and bakery items that are homemade every morning or the gourmet country cooking that came from family recipes, you're sure to love your visit.  You never know, Joey and Rory might even pull out their guitar and sing you a song while you're there.  If you're in the area stop in and visit.

Our breakfast was really good.  The three of us shared this huge cinnamon with delicious cream cheese icing.

Heather and I both had the french toast breakfast - mine was stuffed with strawberries and cream cheese, hers was plain.

And then Zoe had the biscuit and gravy breakfast.  While my breakfast was good, that biscuit and gravy was really good!  This place is definitely going to be added to our stop anytime we travel south for vacations.

And this is Joey and Rory's Tennessee farm.  Once again if you are a blog reader of theirs, then you will be familiar with their farm.

Traveling back down the road I noticed alot of turkey's in the field.  Upon closer look, they were vultures...

...mealing on a buffet of cow!  BLECH!

We finally made it back into Nashville to walk the pedestrian bridge.  It was definitely chilly on the bridge that day and really windy.  Our hair can attest to that!  Not the most flattering pictures to follow, but we had a great time making memories!

And as cold as it was, I couldn't believe all the people out and about hanging out in Nashville listening to tunes and enjoying their drinks of choice.  

Tuckered out.  It's hard work sitting in the back seat and doing nothing.  

We stopped in Bowling Green for dinner at one of my favorite restaurants - Chuy's.  Thanks Heather ;)

Our Overnight Trip to Kentucky

Earlier this month, Shawn and I took an overnight road trip to Kentucky to visit the new Ark Encounter.  While we were there, we also went to the Newport Aquarium, the Creation Museum, and stayed at the Holiday Inn Express.  Since I'm behind on my blogging, this post is a combination of pictures and my reviews I posted on Trip Advisor to tell the story of our weekend.

We visited the Newport Aquarium earlier this month and after reading mixed reviews on Trip Advisor, I wasn't sure what to expect. We arrived on a Friday morning shortly after they opened and had no wait at all to get in. I had ordered and printed our tickets online so we were able to immediately go right in. Since they had just opened, there wasn't much of a crowd at all. We toured all the exhibits and in fact were finished way before I expected us to be. I'd say we were there a total of two hours including trying to find a parking spot and getting to the aquarium once we parked. The aquarium was nice and I could of spent hours standing there watching the very active turtles, and then the big aquarium animals - sharks, sea turtles and stingrays.

After we left the aquarium, we had lunch at a place called Pompeii's.  It was a little mom and pop Italian restaurant.  I had the spaghetti and meatballs and Shawn had the lasagna.  Both meals came with salad and bread.  For dessert we went to Graeter's Ice Cream shop.  Both were just alright, but I wouldn't visit them again if in the area.

After lunch, we checked into the hotel (see pictures and write up below) and swam for a little bit and then got ready and went to the Ark Encounter.  After the Ark, we headed back into Florence for dinner at Chuy's and then back to the hotel to rest my tired and swollen piggies for the night.  

We ate our first Chuy's on the evening of August 5 in Florence, KY and since then, we've eaten at two others near us - one in Louisville, KY and the other in Bowling Green, KY (actually twice now). This place is seriously good!  At the one in Florence, I had their chicken and steak fajitas and their steak was out of this world. It's like I can't get enough of it! Between the steak and that yummy jalapeno ranch dip, oh my! My husband had the comida deluxe dinner and enjoyed it. You definitely get alot of food and leave full. While I don't remember our waitress' name, she was friendly and took good care of us. We also had a piece of the Tres Leches cake to go. WOW!! One of my fave desserts ever!

We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express in Florence, Kentucky which was centrally located to all of our destinations.  

Nice hotel, and nice stay. Room was clean, comfy, and decorated nicely. Hotel staff was friendly. Would definitely stay here again if in the area.

Had a few concerns and addressed with the front desk - pool water definitely wasn't heated and was chilly - front desk said they would let maintenance know. We didn't swim again so not sure if it was taken care of or not. Our other concern was that housekeeping needs to wipe down the headboards when cleaning the rooms for the next guest.

Our only negative comment would be the free breakfast we were supposed to get with our room. I booked the rooms that came with two free breakfast buffets. Waited entirely too long for the buffet to be refilled with food and it never was. Decided to leave and go elsewhere for breakfast. The restaurant was definitely the worst and we ended up at the Waffle House. At checkout informed the front desk of this and we were given a $30 discount on our room.

The OCD in me wants to move that picture that is behind the lamp!

On Saturday morning, we got up and tried to have breakfast at the hotel buffet, but that didn't pan out well and we ended up at a Waffle House.  I didn't want to go there, but the food was really good and I'm glad we stopped.

After breakfast, we headed to the Creation Museum.  We had bought a combo ticket for it when we bought our Ark Encounter tickets.  I really didn't read up much on it since Shawn wanted to go.  It was similiar in some aspects to the reading of the Ark, but it was definitely big, crowded and hot.  I started having an anxiety attack and had to move through that place fast without seeing much of it.  I probably should of investigated it more and planned to get us there earlier in the morning to beat the rush!  They did have a huge botanical gardens that I was excited about walking through and taking pictures, but by the time we got outside, it was rather warm and I started getting sick to my stomach and told Shawn I was just ready to go.  We still had about a 4 hour drive back home and I was spent.  I was bummed too because there was an IKEA store about a half hour away that I wanted to visit too :(  But there is one in St. Louis and we will be there in December so I'll go to that one.