Is cabin fever setting in? Need to get out and enjoy the countryside. Get back to traveling? Well now you can. Join me this week on a virtual vacation.
Posting
every night from Tuesday through Saturday. Enjoy
Thursday
starts with another continental breakfast and leave by 8AM.
I'll be traveling west away from the sunrise, so I top off the car
and head off to the blue highways. This will be a short hour and a
half drive to Connersville IN.
To
start off take US 35 to Gettysburg Ave south to Ohio 4. Then its on
to Ohio 725 west.
According
to the map this jogs to become Indiana 44. That will take me right
into Connersville.
Wow,
no sweat there. Just keep my eyes open.
Southern
Indiana has always been a favorite of mine to drive. Rolling hills,
forests and greenery everywhere. My great-great-grandfather arrived
in the area in the early 1800's as a “sawyer”. These were timber
men who cleared the virgin timber and opened it up to farming. He
met my Great-Great-Grandmother just a few miles north of the path I
was now on.
Dayton
has an oldies radio station to carry me for awhile.
It
does evoke old memories driving on the state roads and not the
institutional Interstates. Yes the speeds were lower but I'm not in
any hurry today. I have reservations for the Whitewater Valley
Railroad in Connersville. There I have booked a scenic excursion run
to the historic canal town of Metamora.
It
was 9:40AM
when I made town. Finding the train station was not difficult and
soon I was boarding the “American Limited”. This is the best way
for the trip. Just sit back and just enjoy the landscape.
On
the trip a young guide tells of a Civil War battle that occurred
there. It was hard to imagine the two armys locked in a bloody
battle on the lush countryside. I left it up to my imagination to
fill in images of gun powder smoke. The relative I was thinking
about earlier may have fought right in front of where these tracks
ran. It was an unhurried 19 mile trip taking about an hour and a
half.
The early hand-dug canals were designed to move goods and people. They were located near rivers and natural waterways which provided necessary water. Draft animals pulled long, narrow boats by a rope next to the canal on a towpath. Although canal travel was painfully slow, this method was much better than wagons for large, heavy loads.
Whitewater Canal was one of several projects completed at the time.
The town is a nice little tourist trap all set up like it was in the 1800's. I payed a quick visit to the old time gristmill and bought a bag of their freshly stone-ground cornmeal.
Then it was off to ride in a canal boat. Holding the cornmeal made me wish I had waited to buy it on the way home, but I had it and that was that.
I walked down to the dock to board the Ben Franklin III, a canal boat pulled by two Belgian draft horses. This 30 minute ride is an education about canals, the boats, and the Duck Creek Aqueduct. This is perhaps the only covered wooden aqueduct still operating in the United States. The canal is carried over the creek on its own bridge-like structure.
The biggest thing that struck me was the quietness. The soft lapping of the water and the steady clop of the big draft horses. A fresh breeze carried the clean county air over the boat. I could almost take a nap!
Metamora is an example of the kind of towns that grew along the canal routes in Indiana. Stationed every few miles, these towns provided a source of fresh horses, food and lodging for travelers and a place for farmers and others to buy and sell their goods along the canal route. Commerce was so heavy by 1842 that the White Water Valley Canal Company, had their own bank and printed their own currency at their headquarters in Connersville!
Today
there must have been 40 different businesses consisting of shops,
eateries and lodging.
I
just had to visit Grannies Ice Cream and Cookie Jars before boarding
the train for the leisurely trip back to Connersville.
Indiana 44 west takes me to Indiana 3 south. I briefly join the Interstate 65 south before again taking the state road 56 at Scotsburg. This will carry me right into the famous old spa town of French Lick.
This was the historic world class spa my 3rd grade class had studied. I admit, I refreshed my memory for this write-up.
French
Lick Springs and West Baden Springs Hotels had become iconic symbols.
The small towns of French Lick and West Baden, became a famed
vacation destination for the wealthy.
20
years before the Civil War, Dr. William Bowles built French Lick
Springs Hotel. Drawing guests from as far as 100 miles away to
partake of the “miracle waters” from the sulfur springs in the
area. Five years later, another doctor, seeing its success, decided
to build his own health resort naming it West Baden Springs after the
famous mineral springs in Wiesbaden, Germany.
“miracle
waters” of the area’s naturally occurring mineral springs did not
call me as much as the whole spa experience of being pampered. I'll
decide latter on partaking an aromatherapy massage, hydrating facial
or a signature Pluto mineral bath.
This
old resort is nestled among the hills of the Hoosier National Forest.
Old World opulence amid modern comforts. Well that's what the
brochure says. I'm ready to be pampered.
I
unpack and unwind. Take a quick nap before dressed for dinner at 7PM
Ballard's in the Atrium
My
choice is the Chicken Penne Vodka…$34
Grilled
Chicken, Penne Pasta, Italian Tomatoes sautéed in a Creamy Vodka
Sauce topped with Parmesan Cheese
Desert
was Chocolate Lava Cake $11
Molten
Chocolate Cake with Vanilla Ice Cream and Chocolate Sauce. You only
live once.
Off
to bed in my opulent room by 8:30PM.
Looks
like another night of Watching DVD and falling asleep.
Tomorrow
will be a day of spa treats, hope they can melt away the pounds
gained by the fantastic food.
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