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.

Streets of Frankfort Kentucky at Christmas Time!

Blue Heron Winery- Cannelton IN

This is a little bit of a long story.  A few weeks ago a buddy of mine got married in Cannelton Indiana.  He was having it at Blue Heron Winery.

We went and it was a very sweet wedding.  It was small- as only a couple dozen people or so were invited, but it was very nice.  This was actually a great venue for a small wedding.

We talked to the bride and groom a few days after the wedding, and I mentioned that I wanted to come back to Blue Heron soon.  We ended up meeting them at Blue Heron again the next weekend.


We arrived early and met our friends.  We were welcomed by Gary, the owner of the winery.  Gary obviously enjoys meeting new people, and telling them about the wines made at Blue Heron.

I think I have mentioned here before that I don't drink.  Over the years, I have done a few bourbon tastings and that sort of thing.....  but I just don't drink.

Well, we did a tasting here, and our friends ordered a karafe of sangria.  I had some of that and I did enjoy the flavors.

Our friends the newly weds told us they have visited Blue Heron over a dozen times.  They really enjoy the wines available here!

There is a cozy tasting room on the property, with a few tables.  As Gary circulated doing other work, we enjoyed talking to our friends.  Other couples would trickle in.

There are chairs and a beautiful wooden porch outside of the tasting area- looking out over the Ohio River.  I truly get the appeal of this place.

There is a cozy cabin on the property that Gary runs, with his partner in crime Lynn.  We walked over a short distance from the tasting room to see the cabin.  Lynn was straightening it up and let us look inside.  It was so perfect.  You know my wife and I love staying in places like this, and I am sure we will be back in the near future.

There is something truly amazing on the property that makes a visit to Blue Heron a must do for any road tripper, even if they aren't exactly in to wines.

Lynn and Gary commissioned local artist Greg Harris to sculpt a Celtic Cross into a huge boulder.

Working obsessively for nearly 2 years, the cross was completed.  They believe that it is the largest insitu Celtic Cross in the world.

Check out their website for more info on it.  It is something amazing and unique to see.  I would like to tell you more about it, but you really have to stand next to it to appreciate all that went in to it.

Pour House Tell City IN

The Pour House in Tell City looked to be an interesting place to stop for lunch.  It is a cool spacious place that seems popular with the locals.

They have converted old kegs into urinals in the bathroom.  Just an interesting side note.

We had nice fried pickels for appetizers.  We enjoyed a beer cheese pretzel too.  We had a very sweet and accommodating waitress.

Our food was generally above average.  I ordered a medium steak that came out very well done.  I politely told the waitress.  She replaced it.  The second steak was almost raw.

Still, I wouldn't let this keep me from going there again, but I would stick to the basic bar food next time.

Wired Rooster Coffee House

We were travelling to the Tell City Indiana area to see a couple of friends from Owensboro.  I was excited to see that a neat little independent coffee shop would be on our path there!

Hardinsburg Kentucky actually has a bit going for it for such a small town.AND they have Wired Rooster Coffee!

We stopped by on a recent morning and we enjoyed a couple of great drinks.  They are using Louisville's Sunegro's Coffee here, so they get some nice "Keeping it in Kentucky" cred.  Sunegros is just good coffee tea.


The coffee shop itself might be a little hard to find.  it is in the back of a building that has an insurance company in the front.

They have a GREAT logo.  I asked if they had shirts or stickers with their colorful rooster logo on it, but they didn't.

Two very pleasant young ladies were running the show.  They were helpful and friendly.  Just about everyone who came in seemed to know them.

They were listening to an oldies station, and the ladies were humming along to it most of the time.

The shop is small but modern.  A drive in window lets a good amount of light in.  This isn't one of the old downtown type coffee shops (not to knock those places, I love them too).


There was a room with seating with local artist paintings in it.  There is a booth, and a large table in the main room where you order.

AND, cute chicken decor is all around.

I really like this little coffee shop, and you should check it out!

Custer Kentucky Post Office

I collect postmarks as we travel....  as you probably know.  Well, we passed the Custer Kentucky PO a few Saturdays ago.  It was a bit after 9:30, their posted opening time.  I went in.  Lights were on.  The window wasn't up though.  I said "Hello" a few times, then left.

I will probably go back on another day that I am passing through....

Fuzzy Duck Coffee, Morehead, KY

We stopped at Morehead's Fuzzy Duck Coffee/Coffee Tree Books AGAIN.

I'm always stopping here in the evening, usually on my way back home from somewhere in West Virginia.  I'm going to have to go during the daytime sometime.

Anyway, they have good coffee, friendly staff, and they have a NICE book selection!  They are big into yarn and art too.  I always see people crocheting. 

Hillbilly Hot Dogs, Lesage, WV

I have mentioned Hillbilly Hot Dogs a lot, but it is such a great place....

We stopped by this day and had another great meal.  We had their fries, and we shared a Home Wrecker (we did tell them to hold the habanero).  Just for the record, my pal Jimmy ate his half.  I ate about half of a half.

There was a guy who took the challenge and tried to eat the Homewrecker in 12 minutes.  He didn't come close.

I've said this before, but I will say it again.  The place has a crazy gimmick, but they have great food too.  This is honestly one of my all time favorite places to stop for a meal