An Indiana Easter

This Easter Kelly and I took some time off and headed down to southern Indiana to spend the weekend.

We were originally going to head north up to Frankfort, MI and stay on the shores of Lake Michigan, but a late winter storm had us making last minute preparations for somewhere south.

We were lucky to find a nice place to stay at the Patoka Lake 4 Seasons... there were a few cabins still available and we were able to find one with a jacuzzi and fireplace.

After a long 6-hour drive from NW Ohio through Cincinnati and Louisville, KY, we finally headed west on I-64 into southern Indiana.

These pictures from their site are from the very cabin we rented for the weekend. It really looks that nice in person...

I have to say that the staff was great, the cabins were well kept and overall we had a nice experience. I'd definitely go back.

Kelly and I had never ventured into southern Indiana, and what struck us the most was how this area has been skipped over my commercialization. There is very little in the way of chain restaurants, grocery stores, or chain store shopping. The geography of the area - a mostly rural, sparsely populated, hilly country, part of the Hoosier National Forest, and economically depressed, have somehow protected these hills from becoming an Anytown, USA and have left their original character in tact. We drove through little towns like Birdseye, Eckerty, Mifflin, Taswell... places that at best had a little general store on the corner covered with hand-painted advertisements. At worst the town was a collection of dilapidated houses clustered around an intersection.

On Saturday we decided to head south towards the Ohio River. On the way we stopped by St. Meinrad, one of only 2 archabbeys in the United States.

It was the day before Easter, so none of the 150+ monks in residence were anywhere in sight. We checked out the book store, saw a pickup truck driving around with a lamb in a cage in the back, and then took a peek into the church.

Despite the church being fairly old, the interior is rather contemporary. The pews have been removed and replaced with chairs. What also struck Kelly & I was how plain the nave was. Then again, it was during Easter vigil, so odds are they had stripped the nave as per the Good Friday ritual.

We didn't spend too long at the church. Soon we were back on the road winding through the Hoosier National forest and headed for another quirky place hidden in southern Indiana: Santa Claus!


Santa Claus, Indiana. With landmarks like Frosty's Place, Santa's Candy Castle, and Christmas Lake, this town definitely lives up to its name. Here's Kelly standing in front of the Santa Claus Post Office. Statues of Santa like this one can be found all over town. And a big one sits on top of the tallest hill in town.

This statue, at the bottom reads "Dedicated to the children of the world in memory of an undying love." When it was erected it was said to be made of granite, but now that it is aged it is obvious that the statue is made of concrete.

Just down the lane from the statue site Santa's Candy Castle. The castle was originally ran by the same people that made the Baby Ruth candy bar. It has sat in disrepair for decades. But just recently, a developer bought the property and started restoring it. The candy castle just opened last year. In its heyday, Santa's Candy Castle included a toy workshop and even Santa's shooting range. The inside of Santa's candy castle includes many archival photos and artifacts from its earlier days. And on the day we visited, the Easter Bunny had made an appearance. Several families had brought their children to come do some Easter activites (Egg Hunt, coloring contest, dyeing eggs, etc.) and they all seemed to be having a great time. We ordered some fudge to snack on and sent out some postcards to our friends and family from the land of Santa Claus.

After getting turned around a few times, we were back on our way towards the Ohio River when this little roadside decoration caught my eye: The Bunny express

There it was, within 10 feet of the road out on the side of a cornfield. Cute, and well built for just a decoration. The folks in Santa Claus sure love their holidays. In fact, they have an amusement park in town named Holiday World, where the rides are themed to major American Holidays like Christmas, Halloween, Independence Day, and Thanksgiving.


We finally made it to the Ohio River, and drove alongside it for a ways. We reached Troy, IN, and headed back north. On one of our maps a covered bridge was marked and we wanted to check it out. Eventually, we found it. The entrance above the bridge says "Huffman Mill Bridge - Built in 1863 - Cost: $5,700". We took a walk across the bridge. The timbers making up the floor creaked as we walked out to the middle. This bridge is definitely old and I'm sure has seen better days. About this time we were getting hungry. There isn't much in the way of restaurants down in this section of Indiana, but we had brought plenty of groceries with us, so we headed back to the cabin to prepare supper and then just kick back, relax, and enjoy our weekend.


And what a relaxing weekend it was! If you want a weekend away from it all, southern Indiana is a pretty remote place!