Wick's Pizza in Louisville

We have some friends that swear by Wick's Pizza in Louisville!

Check it out, we went there after a ball game the other night and I love this place!  The atmosphere was nice, and the food was great!

http://www.wickspizza.com/index.stm

Jelly Belly- Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin

While a little south of Milwaukee (maybe 30 minutes away) we stopped by the Jelly Belly warehouse in Pleasant Prairie!

You walk in to their main entrance, and the staff there gives you a paper hat, as you are required to wear a hat of some sort on the tour.  The paper hat is actually pretty cool, and we saved ours for the scrap book!

Once inside of the warehouse, you take a seat on a mini tram.  The tram takes you on a lap around the Jelly Belly warehouse.

This is very cool because the trail around the warehouse is set up with Jelly Belly displays and different small short videos are played at some of the stops about the beans.

I enjoyed seeing the warehouse shelves full of jelly beans!

The tour was very informative.  I did not know that the writing on a jelly belly is done basically with marshmallow.

The good people at Jelly Belly gave us all a nice sample bag of Jelly Bellys on the way out, PLUS, there was a sampling station in the attached gift shop!

http://www.jellybelly.com/visit_jelly_belly/wisconsin_warehouse.aspx

XXX Family Diner in West Lafayette, Indiana

On our recent road trip, I FINALLY had the chance to stop at the XXX Family Diner in West Lafayette.  There are many reasons to stop here, and I personally wanted to make a stop here because it is the oldest diner in Indiana!

This place is VERY cool!  I love going to a place where, if no one is using their cell phone, you can almost imagine that you are in an entirely different era.  XXX can give you that experience.

We sat at the counter on a bar stool, in a very crowded way.  We loved it though.  That crowded diner feel is a big part of the charm.

I had a bacon burger that was perfect.  It was the kind of burger that you shouldn't eat if you are trying to be health conscious, but that you should definitely eat if you are at a legendary restaurant on vacation and you want to eat something very tasty.

We also picked up some of their famous root beer!  Check it out!  You can buy some to go too!

West Lafayette is the home to Purdue University and the town has a very cool college town vibe going on. The area is definitely going on my list of places I have to get back to soon to explore more.  It is right on the Wabash River and we saw what I assume to be the Purdue Rowing team out rowing.  Very cool.

https://www.triplexxxfamilyrestaurant.com/

Random Thoughts On Friday

This months outside of Kentucky theme, Lake Michigan (and the states of Wisconsin and Michigan) was done on purpose, as I recently completed a one week road trip circling the Lake! 

Over the next several days in April, I will include details and photos from my trip around the huge body of water.

Many of the touristy areas really don't get going until May or so, so we kind of went in the off season.  I like planning trips in the off season for various reasons.  I like going when the crowds are smaller (sometimes even non existent).  Plus, I think sometimes you get a chance to really see and experience an area in a more real way when it is not all dressed up for the tourists.

Along those lines, we also realized that getting to the restaurants and other site recommended by locals ALWAYS beats the heck out of going to the flashier tourist stops.  A popular spy themed restaurant and a place where your food is delivered by model train sounded good in the travel guides, but they failed when we actually went there.  Cool idea, but the food was not even close to average.

Here is a rough outline of our trip-

We drove from Louisville to Indianapolis to Chicago on the first day of our trip.  I was not thinking at all about the fact that a certain basketball game was going on in Indianapolis featuring U of L.  I have driven from Louisville to Indy MANY times and I have never witnessed traffic like that!  I will have to plan for things like that next time.

We drove through Milwaukee and the Wisconsin Dells, toured the football stadium in Green Bay and then worked our way through Michigan, hugging M-22 and stopping in every great little town we could!

For some reason, we kept finding AMAZING little coffee shops!  Usually, on a road trip like this, I might find 7-8, and of those 1 or 2 might be noteworthy, but not on this trip!  We stopped in several and each one was unique and perfect.  You know I love cozy little coffee shops and I will mention each and every one!

Also, I like the idea of following or circling a body of water for a road trip.  Have you ever done this?  I really enjoyed this route!

Wallace Station- Versailles Kentucky

I have mentioned Wallace Station near Lexington before, so I won't go on and on- but I was out there again the other day and I remembered just how good it was. 

Take a friend, you can share a sandwich with them and you will both be satisfied.  Their sandwiches are huge and tasty!

We took some out of town friends with us.  They enjoyed the scenic drive out there too!  Beautiful area!

http://www.wallacestation.com/Wallace_Station_Deli_and_Bakery/Home.html

Paul Bunyan- Manistique, Michigan

In the extremely cool Upper Peninsula town of Manistique, in front of the visitor center stands Paul Bunyan.

I went in to the center to find more out about the area (and to ask about Paul).

First off, I asked the very friendly staff about the statue out front, which I VERY erroneously called a Muffler Man.  I was immediately corrected, as their giant is NOT a Muffler Man.  He IS Paul Bunyan, as the town claims that the real guy was from the area!  I was even given a short flyer that the town gives out about Paul!

We ended up chatting with the very friendly staff there for a LONG time!  Like us, they enjoy road trips and visiting parks.  They gave us some great tips on other sites in the area.  If you stop by to see Paul Bunyan, make sure you go inside to ask about the other places to see in the area!

Belle Isle Michigan

The top postcard with the great skyline reads-

The bridge in the foreground connects the city to the famous pleasure island, Belle Isle Park.  In the left background is the Ambassador bridge linking Canada to the United States.  On Belle Isle's 768 acres are tennis courts, golf course, canoe livery, bathing beaches, riding academy, playgrounds, athletic fields, aquarium, conservatory, zoo, a virgin forest, orchestra shell, model yacht basin, maintained and operated by the Detroit Department of Parks and Recreation, Detroit, Michigan.

Ford Building, Deteroit Michigan 1914

A one cent stamp accompanied this postcard in 1914 From Detroit!

On the back it says- Ford Building is an 18 story office building, on the corner of Congress and Griswold.  It is 250 feet high.

It also mentions that tourists can get a great view of Detroit and Canada from the roof!

The Witches Gateway, Dells of the Wisconsin River

Cadillac Square, Detroit Michigan 1905

   Sent from Detroit to Fort Wayne Indiana in 1905!

Cookie Monster

I saw Cookie Monster on the back of a bike the other day!  I think I was kind of close to Bardstown.

Fisher Building, Detroit Michigan

"The Fisher Building has been justly called a cathedral of business.  Here master minds have assembled marble, onyx, bronze and other materials in striking array with the Fisher Theatre in Mayan architecture reproduction."

Sunergos Coffee Louisville

Louisville has so much going for it these days!  It is funny how I just randomly find really cool areas and places in the town even now- and I have explored it a lot!

We had some time to kill before an event at Freedom Hall recently and we discovered this great near by coffee shop!

We went in and had some of their basic coffee, and it was GREAT! 

I actually have a stock pile of beans at home (EVERYONE gets me beans for Christmas and my birthday) but we still bought some on the way out because it was that good!

Check them out though, they have several locations in Louisville, and the shops are cozy!

http://www.sunergoscoffee.com/

Ford Rotunda- Dearborn, Michigan

"The world's largest privately owned display building- host to millions of visitors.  The Rotunda was completely redisgned and reopened in 1953, during Ford Motor Company's Fiftieth Anniversary observance."

Sheep near Utica Kentucky

First Ford Factory- Michigan 1927

Sent from Detroit in 1927 to a friend in Muncie!  The sender says they left yesterday morning and drove 232 miles!  They plan to visit Canada after sending the postcard!

 

 

West Grand Circus Park, Detroit Michigan

Zehnder's Frankenmuth, Michigan

 

 

Zehnder's is legendary!  See my older blog entries on this one.  It still looks similar to this very old postcard.....

Random Photos of Louisville

Water Front by Illumination, Detroit Michigan

River Breeze Corner Cafe- Ripley, OH

River Breeze Corner Cafe in Ripley Ohio (a very short drive from Maysville, Kentucky) is a great place to grab breakfast!

We stopped by here because they sell antiques and other items too, but they were serving breakfast so we ordered!

The place is charming, the staff great and the food excellent!  Check out the biscuits!  Two people could make a meal of of them!

Unlike some of the larger chain type breakfast places, the Corner Cafe is so small asking for more coffee is no problem.  We never had to ask though.  Warm ups came about every 10 minutes or so.

Also, check out the cool cow creamer!  I have been to some small local joints that use the small, room temperature condiment type containers.  Not this place!

We thought this place was tops!  Ripley and Maysville are worth a day or weekend trip each!  We are planning another trip there soon, and a meal at the River Breeze Corner Cafe is a must!