She took the blue line train from the Chicago O'Hare Airport and hit up a pub for lunch, took a boat tour of the Chicago architecture, and made it to Navy Pier for me to pick her up. I was so excited that the three hour drive felt like an entire day!
Once I picked her up from Navy Pier (which was surprisingly easy!), we drove to Goshen for First Fridays. The theme for First Fridays-- which is a downtown festival that happens on the first Friday of each month where retailers and restaurants are open late and there are street vendors, music, etc-- was City on the Go: Goshen Arts Tour. There were local artists and paintings all along the street, but we were hungry and ready to eat dinner and celebrate Samantha's arrival to Indiana!
We couldn't go home without getting some local Goshen treats first! Our goody bag contained two chocolate crinkle cookies homemade by an Amish vendor at the Farmers Market, and these beauties seen below made by a famous chocolate shop on Main Street. The chocolate ones are maple creams, my FAVORITE Indiana specialty. The white pumpkins... well, the description will do no justice to how yummy they were. They were white chocolate truffles with pumpkin pie in the middle. They were knock-your-wool-socks-off yummy. It was one of those treats that you get sadder with each bite you take because you know the yummy goodness is about to come to an end in your stomach. Yummy!!
Below is a picture of a list of things I put together to explore when Samantha came. Not listed on there is a neat little Amish community called Grabill, an area we had a lot of fun exploring!
We woke up bright and early on Saturday morning, and after getting Samantha warmed up and the ice scraped off of the windshield, we were off to Fort Wayne to have Spyro's for breakfast!
Before we left for breakfast, Samantha insisted that I get a picture of Reith Village because of how beautiful it was amidst the frost. It's beautiful every day, but this day was cold and still-- something that people in Dallas never get to see!
We had to stop at Spyro's-- a restaurant I found for my dad and Erin when they came to visit-- for a delicious breakfast! Once our tummies were full of biscuits and gravy and French toast (and bacon!!) it was time to find the "Trader Days" going on in downtown Fort Wayne.
We found the building where Trader Days was happening. I expected, from looking at the website, for it to be this big festival. I guess since it was cold, not as many people were there that day. Trader Days happens on the first Saturday of each month, and Native American traders get together and sell homemade goods. They also make delicious frybread as seen in the pictures below!
Time to meet some adorable alpacas! They were funny to watch, even though they looked like they'd eat your clothes right off of you if you tried to pet them.
Since "Trader Days" were a lot smaller than we expected, we decided to go antique shopping downtown. We found a lot of great shops, and we both found things we wanted to buy! Alas, I did not want to spend $55 on a pink glass antique perfume spray bottle, and even though Samantha found some shutters and craft items she desperately wanted, there was no way to magically get them back to Dallas from here. However, we did find some funny signs in our day-long pursuit to see an actual horse and buggy!
We found a HUGE building with antique/etc vendors inside of it. When I say 'huge', I mean that the rooms went on FOREVER. It was like a maze and every corner had new stuff to look at! We looked and looked, and finally found some things that we decided would make good Christmas gifts!
I had to take a picture of the sign below because it described everything the building had been up to this day. It reads:
"Welcome friend!
In 1907 our husband and father unlocked these doors directly behind this sign opening his harness shop for business.
The windmill on the corner was sold to his father in 1908 and worked on the Souder homestead until 1970.
These walls have housed a jail, doctors office, fire engine house, cream station, barber shop, saloon, hotel, two schools, butcher shop, wool market, fair store, bank, drugstore, harness shop, buggy shop, variety store, tire store, gas station, farm equipment store, appliance store, grocery store, dry goods store, shoe store, and furniture store.
Come on in! Browse and relax in one of the few genuine country stores in America.
Thank you,
"Welcome friend!
In 1907 our husband and father unlocked these doors directly behind this sign opening his harness shop for business.
The windmill on the corner was sold to his father in 1908 and worked on the Souder homestead until 1970.
These walls have housed a jail, doctors office, fire engine house, cream station, barber shop, saloon, hotel, two schools, butcher shop, wool market, fair store, bank, drugstore, harness shop, buggy shop, variety store, tire store, gas station, farm equipment store, appliance store, grocery store, dry goods store, shoe store, and furniture store.
Come on in! Browse and relax in one of the few genuine country stores in America.
Thank you,
The Souders"
Can you BELIEVE the list of all the things that this building has housed? I was in disbelief and pretty impressed!
Can you BELIEVE the list of all the things that this building has housed? I was in disbelief and pretty impressed!
Speaking of the Souders, now it was time to go around the corner and check out the famous H. Souder & Sons General Merchandise Store. I absolutely love general stores, and I was in heaven when I opened the doors to this one. There was so much to look at! I love stores like this!
LOOK AT ALL THAT STUFF! I was in love with this store!
"Be on the lookout for a horse and buggy!" Suddenly, here comes a horse and buggy! We quickly took a picture and watched as the young boy, probably around 10 years old, took the reigns and led the horses past us. Their culture is so interesting!
By this time, our tummies were hungry again. We asked the cashier at the antique vendor store about local places to eat that were close. She recommended we go to The Grabill Inn, and so we did!
We both had chicken fried steak. I got baked beans and "American potatoes" while Samantha got mac n' cheese. It was yummy!
We both had chicken fried steak. I got baked beans and "American potatoes" while Samantha got mac n' cheese. It was yummy!
Last but not least, we drove out into literally the middle-of-nowhere in order to find this "country store". When we walked in, there were three younger girls dressed in traditional Amish dress behind the counter. We were not acknowledged, but ignored, which was strange for both of us because we were not accustomed to that type of greeting. It was interesting to look around the store, and Samantha got some neat Christmas presents!
You would think that the girls would be happy that we were supporting their store, but they were in a hurry to get us out. Oh well, we wanted a cultural experience and we certainly got one!
Needing a break and to sit down, and since we had plenty of time before our comedy show, we decided to find a place with good margaritas! Where did we end up? A restaurant called "La Margarita", of course! We relaxed, watched some football, and had some chips and 'white' queso. Before we knew it, we were bored and wanted a new adventure. What else is there to see in Fort Wayne, you ask?
Why, you guessed it! Johnny Appleseed's grave site! How random is that? We parked and got out, and right across from the site is the "Coliseum". We laughed at all the strange looking dogs that were out on the grass in pens. We decided they must be having a dog show because of a woman who was parading her mastiff around on the grass next to us in a bright blue suit. Back to Johnny Appleseed!
If you want to read the text on the picture, just click on the actual picture. It should then open in a new window, allowing you to more easily view the text. It was a pretty interesting site!
John Chapman "Johnny Appleseed" Died 1845 -o- Erected by Indiana Horticultural Society
Finally, it was time to head back into town and get to the comedy club called Snickerz. We had rsvp'd for the early show! I was ready for some laughs. Even though these guys weren't that funny, I think it was because their jokes and references were for an older crowd. They kept tossing around jokes and themes that were too 'old' for me to understand.
One of the comedians, Ross Bennett, has been on several well known XM radio shows and has been featured on Comedy Central several times. He was lined up to be the main act tonight. Therefore, I had high hopes... but it was average. If asked to return, I probably would not go back. Quinn Patterson, the comedian who preceded Ross, wasn't that great and was hard to understand at times. The host... well, he needs to reconsider a job in comedy. A lot of his material I had already seen on internet memes or on Pinterest under 'humor'. That being said, the set was nice...
Two Texans Take On Chicago!
On Sunday, we drove to the Harlem part of Chicago. We parked the car and hopped on the blue line to head to downtown Chicago! Boy, were we in for a surprise when we got off the train -- it was FREEZING cold outside! What is funny is that when I got out of the car, it was sunny and I was warm. I asked Samantha if I should leave my coat in the car. She saved my life when she said to keep it on! The clouds rolled in, and the temperature dropped. What an incredible change from the temperature in Dallas!
We decided to meet one of Samantha's friends in downtown for a delicious lunch at Lou Malnati's pizzeria. The wait took longer than we expected, but it was totally worth it! The Chicago-style sausage pizza was DELICIOUS. The Chicago-style pepperoni pizza I had a Giordano's was delicious, too, and when asked to compare the two I simply could not do it.
Samantha's friend then informed me that Giordano's considers their pizzas to be "stuffed" pizza, while Lou Malnati's considers their pizzas to be "Chicago deep dish". Apparently this is the root of heated arguments in the Chicago area!
Mmmm.... if only you could taste through a computer.
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