Point Pleasant Shop WV

In Point Pleasant WV, there is a new shop where the old Mothman Museum used to be!  It was cooky and weird, and they had a nice selection of t-shirts, novelties, and Mothman!

I'm glad to see this shop in town!

Point Pleasant, WV

Last year, a friend who had just found out about the whole Mothman thing asked about going to Point Pleasant, so we went.

Well, I saw him the other day, and he asked about going again.  I am always looking for an excuse to go to Point Pleasant.  It is a great road trip.

Its a comfortable scenic drive.  There are some fun stops along the way and back.  AND, its a cool, weird little town.

They had just started decorating for Christmas too!

We got there in the morning, and stopped at the Coffee Grinder.  We love that place.

We then walked around and went to the antique shop, the Mason Jar.  I always find something there.  I actually found some books for my mother-in-law there this time.

There are some interesting old buildings there too that are just fun to look at.

We stopped by the Mothman Museum too.  We have been there numerous times, so we didn't take the tour, but we made some purchases in the gift shop.

We had a VERY John Keelish moment while we were in the gift shop.  Two young ladies walked in.  Someone welcomed them to the museum, asking, "Hi, how are you?"

In stereo, the two young ladies responded "Good, how are you?"

Everyone, including the two girls, seemed a bit shocked by their perfectly synced response.

We stopped by the Lowe Hotel too.

So, we hit the road to venture down for some hot dogs.  We then stopped at Huntington briefly.....  and finally we stopped in Morehead before getting to Lexington.

Nick Clifford- the VERY last Mt. Rushmore Carver

 We very recently got back from another trip to South Dakota!  I am still working my way through pictures....  and I have some other posts to get up first......  But I plan to post about our South Dakota trip soon.....

I DID just get news that Nick Clifford, the VERY last living man who worked on carving Mt. Rushmore passed away on November 25th of this year, 2019.

We had the privilege of talking to him at the gift shop at Mt. Rushmore, on both of our trips there in 2012 and this year.  He sold a book about his experience there, and he would sign copies!  he also included a cool signed baseball card!

Anyway, we did see him not that long ago.  I bought another copy of his book as a gift for a friend and talked to him again.  He was lacking 2 years to have made it to being a century old...  so he lived a good, and very long life.

When we saw him this year, he was moving a bit more slowly than the last time we saw him, but he looked great for his 98 years!  He still seemed happy to say hi and chat with visitors.

Still, this is a huge loss on so many levels.  I am glad that my life crossed with Nick's.

Coffee Grinder, Point Pleasant, WV

We find ourselves in Point Pleasant West Virginia a lot!  Its a cool, funky town with a lot going for it.

AND, we always stop at the Coffee Grinder!

Its a cozy little family coffee shop thats just so nice.  The staff is always friendly.  They are doing a good business too, as I always see locals going in and out.

We stopped by on a recent morning and the shop was decorated so nicely for Christmas.  We loved it.  They still had their Mothman decor up....  but Christmas was the main theme.  Oh, and they were playing Christmas music!

A VERY enthusiastic young barista asked us what we wanted to drink and she made a couple of great vanilla lattes.

We asked about Mothman cookies too, because last time we were here, they were out!  Luckily, they had a bunch on this trip.  They are charging about $4 each for them these days (and they are WORTH IT!....  they are big and full of Mothman goodness) but you MUST get one while in town.

Me and my traveling partner Jimmy both wanted some to take home....  so we got a dozen to split.

Check out the photo!  Where else can you get a box of 12 Mothmen???

Also, the Coffee Grinder has a "Take a Book, Leave a Book" shelf.  I had a couple of books in my car that my mother-in-law finished.  I keep a few books in my car for various reasons (like, when I find myself somewhere that has a book trade in shelf).  I left two Amish romance books on the shelf, and I took another similar book I thought my mother-in-law might like.  I also found a book on Robert E. Lee from the 70s that I never read.  I was pretty happy about the trade!

We sat and enjoyed our coffees for a bit before walking around the fun little town of Point Pleasant.

President Trump in Lexington KY

President Trump had a rally at Rupp Arena in Lexington recently (AND, he was just in these parts last year)!  I did not go myself, but a friend was in the area for work.  There were lots of vendors, and they picked up a few items for my presential button and nic nac collection!

Biblical Miniature Golf- Lexington KY

My mother in law wanted to go play mini golf when she found out there was a Bible themed course nearby!  So, we went!

Here are a few pics....  its not exactly a Gatlinburg caliber mini golf set up, but it is still pretty cool.

We did the 18 holes of the old testament.  There are two other 18 hole courses.....  I am sure we will be back to do those soon!

Harrodsburg Post Office Art

A very short walk from Fort Harrod is the Harrodsburg post office!  There are some great old paintings (I believe they were done in the 1940s) on display there!  Make sure you see them when you are in town!

Bob the TV Series Starring Bob Newhart

We are again watching the complete run of the great 80s show "Newhart" at my house...  You probably know that it is one of my all time favorite shows period.

Well, we decided to give "Bob"- a later series starring Bob Newhart a try just to break things up a bit.  You can buy the complete 2 season run online pretty cheaply.

We really liked this one, especially the first season.  Bob is a comic book artist who ends up working in greeting-cards.  In the first episode, an old comic he created gets some new life, and he goes back to working for a comic book company.

Its very cute and funny, though it does have some standard 90s sitcom type situations.  We really liked all of the actors- especially Bob's daughter and his co-workers on the comic book.

For the shortened second season they totally retooled the show.  Bob looses his job on the comic book, and has to go back to working on greeting cards.  Other than his wife and daughter, the entire cast is changed and Betty White appears in about every other episode.  Also, and this is never explained, the home Bob and his family live in is totally different.

It was fun seeing Betty and Bob work together, but the show just isn't as interesting after the changes.

Still, Bob Newhart to me is one of the funniest actors ever......  I really love the guy and wish this one could have stuck around longer.

West Baden Springs: Legacy of Dreams by Chris Bundy

West Baden Springs:  Legacy of Dreams is a book that I have had in my collection for some time.  It is a really nice resource to have around giving the history of West Baden Springs.  There are lots of colorful and black and white photos....  It is a very attractive book.

It is scattered a bit in its organization, but that doesn't take away from it at all.  There are early descriptions of the hotel, tales about some of the characters associated with it, etc.

I really enjoyed hearing about the times the building was used as something other than a hotel.

Anyway, this is a fun book to read through before or after a visit to West Baden Springs.

Chicago's Pizza in French Lick Indiana

Some locals recommended Chicago's Pizza to us while we were in town!  It looks like this is a small Indiana chain.

They had some really nice specials going.  For $16, you got an order of sticks, a medium pizza and 2 drinks!  We added a salad and an extra topping on half of our pizza, and, with tip, still paid just over $25!

We LOVED the pizza here!  The bread sticks were exactly the same that I remember from Noble Romans, probably my personal all time favorite pizza chain.


They had a good crowd the evening we were there (again, the locals know how great the pizza is) but we were able to find a table and the staff was very helpful.

33 Brick Street in French Lick Indiana

While in French Lick, we stopped by 33 Brick Street, the restaurant associated with French Licks most famous celebrity, Larry Bird!

They had a LOT of memorabilia from Bird's career, and they had some cool jerseys signed by other athletes.

It is a bit gimmicky with all of the sports stuff, but, unlike similar sports places, the food was GREAT!

We had some really nice meals with generous portions and very fair prices.  I had soup and salad thinking that it would be a small  bowl of each, but that wasn't the case.  The food was GREAT too!

Our waitress was very sweet and kept our glasses full.

My only complaint is that they don't have any merch!  I probably would have picked up a shirt or something, but nothing was available!

The food was very nice though and I am sure we will be back!

West Baden Bagel Bistro in Indiana

It was a casual 5 minute walk (I timed it) from the front steps of the West Baden Springs Hotel to the West Baden Bagel Bistro in West Baden Indiana.  We noticed this little place when we drove in to town and knew we should give it a try.

So, we walked over one morning and grabbed a couple of sandwiches!

There was a VERY nice young couple running the place and they were super friendly.  As there are a few Star Wars toys on the shelves, I talked to one of them about the toys I had when I was a kid.  Somehow, that conversation evolved into a discussion of music.

Anyway, it was early, but their hot beef bagel sounded REALLY interesting.  For around $20, we got a coffee, a tea, and two bagel sandwiches.

I really enjoyed my coffee.  They have one of the neatest sugar and cream areas I have ever seen (full jars of sugar and sugar in the raw were nice to see!).

I can honestly say that the roast beef bagel was the BEST roast beef sandwich I have ever had.  It had onions and a horseradish thing going on that was really nice.  We went back the morning before we left town, and I wanted to try something different, but I had to get the roast beef again.

I kept some water handy, but drinking it with a hot coffee kinda created some heat in my head.

The shop is in an old historic building (former hotel) in town and there are some cute shops connected to the Bagel Bistro (including the previously mentioned CJs Boutique).  It looks like there are also some apartments in the same building.

There is a part of me that almost fantasizes about how cool it would be to live at a place like that!  You could get great bagel sandwiches all the time, live in a historic old building, and walk the grounds of West Baden Springs whenever!

WBBB had bookshelves with old board games and books on them.  There was an area with some old video games on a TV, and there was a cool fuss-ball coffee type table.

Even with these touches, the place was uncluttered and clean.You can tell that these guys care about what they are doing!

They asked us a couple of times how the sandwiches were, and they thanked us for coming in again on the second day we went in.

You know, I really love hanging out at the resorts here in town.  I have had some great meals at those places, and I will again- but make sure you stop here when you are in the area.....  In fact, if I were doing a day trip to the area, and I only had time for one meal....  this would be the place I would want to eat at.

They are breakfast and lunch oriented, they open at 8 and close around 2 I think.  They DO open at 8am on Sundays though....  and that might help fill out a nice Sunday day trip to the area.

Anyway, you know West Baden Bagel gets my highest possible recommendation!  I can't wait to stop by here again!