Today is the first day of our vacation. Since this is the first real vacation that we are taking as a family of 3 we decided that it needed a catchy name, thus becoming Storming the South 2011.
On this trip our ultimate destination is Tennessee, but we decided that it would be better to break up the drive and spend the first night in Indianapolis Indiana. Here is how we got there.
We started out leaving behind schedule, but really, what trip doesn’t start that way. Thanks to the wonders of the portable DVD player Megan did excellent on the 5 hour car ride to Indy. She took a good nap shortly after we started out and when she woke up we were just outside of Valparaiso IN and we all needed to stop for lunch. This lead us to one of our favorite traveling restaurants.
Good old Panera Bread. Megan enjoyed some Mac and Cheese, her favorite, and Momma and Daddy some great pastries.
As we were coming up to the exit for Valparaiso, I noticed a sign for a chocolate factory and retail outlet. Well of course we had to check it out.
Boy are we glad we did. It was like a scene out of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the old school one not the creepy Johnny Depp remake, complete with chocolate waterfall and bin after bin of colorful sweets.
Unfortunately we did not spot any Umpa Lumpas, but Megan did fall in love with a giant lollipop, I think it was almost as big as her head.
After purchasing some yummy treats it was time to get back on the road for the second leg of driving day 1.
One of the most incredible and oddly beautiful site we saw was a wind turbine farm. It was amazing the number of spinning turbines and that there could be something so graceful on the side of the interstate. Of course the blogger in me had to snap a few photos:
We finally arrive at our hotel in Indianapolis at 5pm and were definitely ready for dinner. We headed across the street to a place called Cheeseburger in Paradise. Little did we know that Butler was playing in the Final Four the restaurant would be packed with fans and we were told there would be a long wait. That was OK, it gave Megan time to check out the décor:
We actually didn’t have to wait long and the loud crowd kept Megan looking around while Daddy and I got to enjoy some food.
Overall it was a very good first day of vacation. We plan to get an early start tomorrow and stop somewhere in Kentucky before making our way to the condo that we have rented for a week outside of Knoxville TN. Here’s to a good nights rest and another fun travel day. Goodnight.
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