Ask anyone in Indiana about 40 and over what comes to mind when you hear these two words: French Lick, and you might not get the answer you are thinking right now.
Any person born in Indiana (I try really hard NOT to use the word Hoosier because of my love for Purdue), should give you back two more words, actually a name: Larry Bird.
Yep, this is where the great one grew up and played ball, and let me tell you, it’s pretty darned hard to find a piece of ground flat enough to put a basketball hoop and even half a court.
As
a flat-lander, I keep forgetting that southern Indiana is full of hips and hollars,
even mountains or at least with road grades that would challenge any Colorado
native. Sheesh! I have nightmares about driving up steep
roads and tipping over backwards, and I drove up and down two of these roads
several times while staying at French Lick.
We
packed up the van, my folks, and met my niece and her family down there for
some family fun after Christmas. It was
a nice and uneventful trip all the way down 41/63 untill we turned east just
north of Vincennes. WOW! Lots of “snake roads” as we call them winding
around farms, creeks, rivers, towns, and these really tall things that come out
of the ground; I believe they are called tall hills! I vote them in as mountains.
We stayed at the French Lick Villas, just up
the “hill” from the French Lick Hotel, and I mean UP! Like dropping the van down into the lowest
gear to get up and then go down these roads.
While these villas are not brand new, they were full of space and we had
side by side condos so we could run back and forth as needed. This first picture is of the French Lick Hotel, and we were about eye level with its tallest spot!
Where we stayed:
So
what does one do at French Lick? There
is quite a list of activities to choose from, but we were there with our girls
and a 2 year old, my great nephew, so we didn’t hit every spot.
Here is a list my cousin Nancy gave us of
places to try. Her family loves coming down
here for gatherings and get-aways.
French Lick Winery - behind the CVS, has a nice Italian
lunch menu
Rowboat Cafe - restaurant - wonderful breakfast
place - we always go at least once depending on length of stay
Hagen's on the Don Ross Country Club, nice place to eat, not overly expensive
depending on what you order - kids can go, you can also go over to
French Lick Hotel and catch the shuttle so you don't have to drive out
there
Amish Buffet by go cart track (I think). Dan has eaten
there and says it's wonderful.
3 pizza places, have had pizza from all they are good.
Miniature golf course I think but have never been in that, can't
miss it lots of rocks out front and its close to turn to go up the hill to Big
Splash I believe.
Bowling Alley at French Lick fun.
Priest at the church is really interesting too, we usually go to
Saturday night.
Power Plant is nice bar at French Lick but not kid
friendly.
Walk through French Lick & check out shops Christmas
decorations last year were very pretty.
West Baden, a must see
I tried to link to a lot of these places because we only made it to two!
Believe it or not, we made a day of it at Big Splash. Tink, Bear, and Little Man had a blast, and
we older folks walked away without too many sore spots.
The main attraction for everyone but Little
Man was the five tubes you could ride through (after climbing up about three
stories, most of the time carrying your two-person tube!).
Try being almost 52, and walking up these steps too many times to count with a two person inner tube! I swear it was a good three story climb!
Tall Guy and Grandpa even got in on the
fun! There is also a lazy river and some
fun water play areas for the younger crowd.
You do have to measure up to go down the tubes so check this out before
taking your kiddos. Anyone close to but
not making the height requirement will probably not be a happy camper.
Next post will take
you on a tour of West Baden Springs Hotel.
It looks like y'all had a great time! It looks like a beautiful place to visit.
ReplyDeleteHope y'all are able to keep warm this cold winter. I don't know about you, but I'm ready for spring :)
Looks like a fun trip!
ReplyDeleteLarry!!! My favorite player growing up :)
ReplyDeleteWest Baden, what a beautiful building...definitely a must see! I never knew about the water park though. Looks like a great time.
We live not far from there, my kids love the train ride...Glad you had fun.
ReplyDelete