admin Today is low key day with roaming around Shipshewana, I’ll (quaint Amish village we stayed in last night).
- https://www.thebluegate.com
A nice hotel with class acts playing here throughout the year. None while we were there but next month they have Billy Joel, Bos Scaggs and others. The town is quaint much like several we visit in PA.
our first stop was the Red Barn https://www.facebook.com/Yoders-Red-Barn-Shoppes-2259426237657380 with dozens of great shops from candy, clothing, soaps, ( lotions and potions cool shop, you can create your own perfume here) a cafe (with soft pretzels the size of a small house) teas, coffees, meats cheeses and some outstanding handmade furniture to die for. After helping a few of the shops meet this weeks payroll we headed downtown to see what else we might find fun and interesting to do.
We found a bakery that had my head spinning. I am so glad this village isn’t within a 3 hour drive from Auburn. Pastries, cakes, cookies, donuts, pies (delicious pies, cookies cinnamon buns so far) and so much more, and what they have, they have tons of. Did I mention it’s almost like they want to see just how silly folks are. By this I mean the cinnamon buns are about 8 to 11” square and covered with crime cheese frosting, or maple glaze or regular old white frosting glaze and yes we got one and had to wait for a dozen or so folks ahead of us first.
here is 1/4 of one
this area would be so bad for my, wallet, gut, health, and those who I would drag here with me.
I got soft molasses cookies I’ll tell you later how those are. I got a slice of dark tart cherry pie, oh yeah, can you say awesome!
these areas also have foods and things that you just don’t find in our area, yes I’m sure they say the same thing when they travel to Maine. (speaking of which, we have been stopped or just asked no less than a dozen times what part of maine we are from and is that anywhere near “Bar Harbor”.) We have red hot dogs and a few other things, they have soft brittle (peanut, pretzels, and other varieties) they have fudge everywhere and yes some flavors we don’t have, but they also don’t have some we have, like sherbet, apple, maple and others.
A lot of handmade goods and at very reasonable prices. Very crafty folks.
Well after a few hours here we headed for our next stop Beliot, IL for the night.
We stopped for lunch at Gator Bites in some small town out in the middle of nowhere. The service was very good and the food not so much. While it was good it was just good not great, but hell, what do we expect, great food everywhere.
I tried to avoid driving anywhere near Chicago but wasn’t as successful as I’d hope. A long traffic jam from what appeared to be an accident. A whole 1 mile stretch of Highway was close and rerouted for what looked like the accident area where it looked like a worker had fallen from scaffolding on bridge work – onto the highway. A small price to pay for us but not for the worker🙁
After we got through this mess we headed full steam ahead to Beloit. We got in unpacked and were about to call it a night, when we both said “what’s for dinner”? I went down and asked the manager at the front desk what’s good in town that is NOT a franchise, we like to eat at local places when we travel. He said we were in luck as a new (7 months or so old) pub opened up next door and hey have heard great things from guests who have gone there. Yes great spot. A cross between gippers and gridiron. Great pub food, good service and fine prices
http://www.jerseysbarandgrillbeloit.com/home.aspx
We had a Swiss burger, cheese curds, a salad and homemade chips (homemade chips have been on the menus of the last 5 or 6 places since we left Binghamton NY).
Tomorrow we’re off to Mars Cheese Castle and Hollers apple orchards, but hats tomorrow- now it’s time to call it a night.
tonight’s sunset
