Sinclair's at West Baden Springs Hotel Indiana

With our stay at West Baden Springs this time, we were able to enjoy a couple of breakfasts at Sinclair's!

I mentioned before that the service was great here!  We had a great waiter named Austin our first morning.  He was perfect.  He kept our coffee cups full and made sure we had what we needed.  We talked with him a bit about local history, the museum, and the hotel.  He said that he was from the area and loved it!

He also told us a great story about an interaction his dad had with local legend Larry Bird!

We had another great waiter named Thad the next morning who was just as good.  It was our last day at the resort though, and we had to hit the road, so we weren't able to talk to him as much.....  but he also took great care of us!

I had eggs Benedict one morning.  They were tasty.

I had steak and eggs another morning and man, that might have been one of the best breakfasts I have ever had in my life!  Seriously!  I am not a big breakfast person but I really enjoyed the meal.

I had a PERFECT cheesy hash brown casserole side each morning too that really made the breakfast special.

Owensboro Towne Square Mall at Christmas

 I stopped by the Owensboro Towne Square Mall right after Christmas this year.  It's no secret that the old mall is not the thriving place I remember from growing up in the 80 and 90s.....

Still, there are some shops there with some life.  They still have some impressive anchor stores that other malls have lost.  For what its worth, I thought the stores that are still there were giving great services and all of the shops had friendly staff.

I hated to see that "The Spots" second location that was opened here some time ago was gone.  The cool little record shop had closed its doors too.

Some local friends told me that the mall has been sold again....  and the new buyers are gong to try to get the mall going again.  I have heard that story before, but hopefully they can pull it off.

It was nice just walking around and seeing the Christmas decorations.  Christmas songs were played over the speakers.  The center of the mall looked very cute.  I do miss the old fountain though.

When I was in high school, we did a production of Charlotte's Web, and I remember the drama crew going out to the mall, and doing a short segment of the play by the fountain, hoping to drum up interest in our upcoming performance.

When I attended the nearby Burns Middle School, some Fridays after school my late cousin Matt and I would walk from school to the mall.

It was a nice walk, and a lot of fun.  We would get to the mall and play a few games in the arcade.  I remember that we would often get pizza at a pizza place that only lasted a year or so.  I want to say the place was called Luigi's.  There was a really nice guy who ran the place and I think it was the first pizza place I remember where a wood fire oven was used.  My memory could be fuzzy on that one though.

When I find myself in Owensboro, I really like going here for nostalgia's sake.  Hopefully the new owners can get locals to come back for more than just nostalgia.

French Lick Winery in Indiana

My buddy Brent recommended that we stop by French Lick Winery while we were in town.  He said they had good food.

We stopped by and were glad we did.

It is near the resorts and they have a lot of seating.

I had a nice personal pizza and my wife had a salad she really enjoyed.

I thought my pizza looked small, but it was thick and satisfying!

We didn't have time to try wines, but I am sure we will be back!

Ballard's in the Atrium at West Baden Springs Hotel in Indiana

Here are a few pictures of some of the meals my family and I had while at Ballard's at West Baden Springs.  In general, the food was good.  We had 2 meals here on this visit.  Service was great one time, and frankly bad the other.

Still, it is nice enjoying a meal while setting under the amazing West Baden Springs Dome!

French Lick at Christmas! in Indiana

We did spend a little time at the French Lick Hotel.  It was really decorated up for Christmas!  There are lots of fun Christmas displays....  This would be a great place for photo ops with the young kids!

Here are some pictures!

Our Room at West Baden Springs in Indiana

I mentioned that we again had a nice room at West Baden Springs.  here are a few photos.

We were very comfortable the whole time, and the room was great.  Again, this was our first time not in an atrium view room.  Out our window, we could see the main entrance people use when they arrive.

Here are some pictures!

West Baden Springs at Christmas Time!

 Not that long ago, I mentioned that we went to West Baden Springs in Indiana.  We talked about how the place was great, and how we knew we needed to get back soon.  Well, we made it back shortly after they put up their massive Christmas tree!

We got a great deal that included breakfast for us while we were there, a historic tour, and a cool back about the West Baden Springs and French Lick Resorts.

We arrived early, knowing that, even if we couldn’t check in, we could still enjoy the place.

We stopped first at the visitor center in tow, which is pretty close to West Baden Springs Resort.  There is always a nice staff person there to tell you about the area.  They also have a ton of great promotional magazine and brochures about various Southern Indiana towns!  I walked out with a handful of material to help me plan future trips!

Like I said, we were early to town, but we decided to go on to WBS and see if our room might be available.  As we assumed, it was not, but the check in staff was very pleasant about it and we were welcomed to enjoy the property as we waited.  We visited several of the shops on the main floor, and then we read for a while in the beautiful atrium.

Check out the photos of the atrium.  You can see how grand it all is….  But you can’t understand it unless you actually walk in to it, and feel being there under the huge dome. 

Speaking of reading in the atrium….  This is such a special and historic place.  I consider time spent reading in the atrium very special time.  It’s a great environment and I really enjoy relaxing with a book in this space.

After that, we enjoyed a one hour tour of the hotel that was included with our stay on this visit.  Several years ago, when we stayed the first time, we did the tour then too.  It was nice hearing the history again.  Our guide told us about the angel paintings done in the ceiling attached room just under huge roof.  You can’t access the area where the original paintings are, but there are copies around the Christmas tree.

I am still amazed at how West Baden Springs went from being a bit of a crumbling mess in 1996 to a functioning hotel in 1998.  Now, it is nearly flawless.  There are pictures on the wall, that our guide pointed out, showing the massive hotel throughout its history.  Some of the photos show rubble.

I enjoy hearing about some of the window art in the front check in area.  There were 8 angels painted on different sections.  Well, as the hotel sat abandoned, all 8 windows were stolen.  Well, 4 of the angels were found at an antique shop in Kentucky.  The thieves who took them were never found.  The 4 missing angel windows were replicated.

After our tour, our room was ready!  This was our first time not having a room overlooking the atrium.  The room was great, and we loved it…  but there is something special about the atrium here, and having an atrium view is a real treat.  Then again, we did hang out in the atrium a lot on this visit.

We ended up having dinner at Ballard’s in the Atrium on this day.  I love WBS so much, I hate to be critical, but there are some issues with Ballard’s in the Atrium.  Our food was, for the most part good (I had a Reuben on Rye and end of the bread was rock hard).  We had to ask for refills and things, including salad dressing for my wife’s salad after the dressing less salad was brought out.

Some of my family from Owensboro met us at Ballard’s the next day for a family lunch and our experience was totally different.  We had a very nice waiter named Austin that was on the ball and great. 

We ended up having our two breakfasts at Sinclair’s.  More on that later but those meals were ridiculously perfect.  We had a different Austin as our waiter and he was great too.

It was cold, and even rainy at times while we were at West Baden Springs, but it didn’t matter.  

There were lights and other Christmas decorations up everywhere.  The garden area was lighted beautifully, and it was so nice walking around and admiring everything- inside and out.

Village Lights Bookstore in Madison Indiana.... and their cat!

On our way home from Indianapolis, we drove through Madison.  It ads a little time to our drive, but it is a more rural route...  and you avoid driving through some of the bigger cities...
When we are in Madison, we always stop by Village Lights Bookstore!

Its in a very nice old building, and they have a great selection of books.  Its a great bookstore to explore slowly.

They have a VERY nice restroom for customers too!  I had to include a picture!

AND, they have a very cool cat there!  Unfortunately, we were told by the store owners that a couple of their other cats had recently passed away.  There is still one who livens the place up and likes to hang out on the bookshelves!

Oh, they have a NICE selection of $1 classics and some obscure local interest books!

Shopping In Indianapolis at Keystone Crossing

 I think I have mentioned before that my wife and I have a November/December tradition of going to Indianapolis at some point before Christmas.  This started a LONG time ago. 

We met friends there one year around Thanksgiving.  We realized a year or two later that Indianapolis is a great town, and they REALLY enjoy Christmas there!  We knew that getting to Indy each year around the holidays should be a tradition for us..  and it now is!

Sure, we have missed a year or two here and there.  AND we have retooled how we do things some.  For a long time, we would go over Thanksgiving weekend, and we would stay downtown.  Now we try to get there for a day trip or we stay in the Keystone area for a nice weekend trip.

This year we couldn’t do any sort of an overnight visit, but we did squeeze in a day trip.  We made the most of our day, but we couldn’t get downtown, and we didn’t get to make it to the Greenwood area.

WE DID make it to the Keystone Fashion Mall though!  I know it might sound lame, but my wife and I REALLY love this mall.  Its special to us.  Like I said before, we have been coming here a lot since we first got married.  The mall has changed a lot, but it has stayed consistently nice and classy. 

 It is a very upscale mall (there is a Tesla dealership inside).  They have nice restaurants and nice shops.  I can honestly say that it is a mall that I enjoy hanging out at.

So, early on a recent Saturday, we drove to town.  If you love books, this is a great area to visit too, as Indy has several Half Price Books, and there is a great Barnes and Nobles right by the mall.  

We hit a Half Price books first, and found several nice books we were looking for, and we found some nice gifts too!  I always go to the local interest section at any book store.  I found a few more nice books on Indianapolis…  more on those later.  They had several copies of books by my pal Alan Hunter, who has written THE book on Indianapolis Haunts.  In fact, they had 2 copies of his “Indianapolis Haunts” book at the bargain price of $4.99!  I bought both and they will make great gifts. 

We stopped by the Barnes and Nobles next.  They also had a great local interest section, though, unfortunately, they did not have any of Alan’s books.

We went on to the Keystone Fashion Mall.  We arrived early enough that there was plenty of parking, this would change later in the day…  and I am sure it won’t be the case over the next few weeks.

My wife has several stores she likes a lot here.  We visited them all.

We found a REALLY cute little seasonal pop up store called  Becker Supply Co.  They had some cute nature type shirts, stickers and other outdoorsy items.

One of the highlights of our day was getting to go by David’s Tea again.  Man, do we love their stuff.  We bought some nice teas for us and for some friends.  They make interesting drinks there too…  So we each got one and then had a seat in a nice little relaxing area at the mall.  It was very nice just enjoying our teas and relaxing in the mall.

I went over to see the set up for Santa Claus.  I talked here before about my love and appreciation for the Santa Claus at Keystone over the last several years.  

Well, there is a new one now.  I am sure he will be doing a great job, just like the Santa before him.  They had a very cute set up where kids had to walk through a Christmas tree to see Santa.

We had lunch at the cozy and warm small sit down restaurant Napolese.  They are big on very fresh ingredient pizzas.  I had a very nice one called a “Woodstock” for the Peanuts character.  My wife had a salad.  The food was above average.  The seating area is a bit small though.  I would probably not even try to get a seat here on a busy day.