Get it? “Part two” of our tale from French Lick. Ha! Sometimes we think we’re so clever.
After two nights, we bid the splendid West Baden Springs Hotel, “à bientôt” (see you soon) and headed 45-minutes south for a stay at the “Moondance” cabin to walk trails and watch the big boat traffic on the Ohio River. The barges showed up, but so did the rain.
April showers aren’t great for getting your steps in, unless you count dashing to the cabin across the street to do laundry.
The community supposedly gained its name in 1899 because the currents create a great deal of drift to be deposited on the bank at this bend in the river, as if “attracted by a magnet.”
After a few days of mostly rainy-day bird watching, it was time to take the country roads back to French Lick.
A beautiful morning, of course…
Aha! Finally. Part deux. What’s the big deal? Why return to French Lick? Well, first up, a ride on the French Lick Scenic Railway.
And then the real reason. Remember this shot from our last post?
We stayed in the area to see the ultra-light indoor planes. The boom was there a few days before to install plastic in the upper atrium framework so the little planes wouldn’t get stuck. These 12-inch to what seems like 2-foot- long planes are literally “light as a feather,” made of very, very thin balsa wood, super thin mylar, and a rubber band. Given the right bend of this or that, the idea is to release it and see how long it can stay afloat. Ten minutes? Sure, no problem. The bigger ones, close to thirty minutes! Some made it all the way to the top to whack the dome before slowly circling back down. Here’s a link for those interested: just released…
We spent a couple of hours watching the planes lazily drift in circles. Yeah, we’re old. But really, it was delightfully peaceful, like an aquarium… or Bob Ross…
After a nap, …umm, I mean a while, we popped over to see the other historical resort property, the French Lick Springs Hotel.
On an interesting side note, the hotel is the birthplace of, wait for it… tomato juice. Yes, tomato juice. What? in Indiana? Yep! We love random factoids like this.
One morning in 1917, the chef, Louis Perrin, after running out of oranges for juice, improvised with tomatoes and tried the concoction out on a group of businessmen, who loved it and spread the word. The first tomato juice canning factory was a Hoosier establishment, opened in Kokomo in 1928, and later sold to Libby Foods.
The first thing to capture the eye in the lobby, is the ceiling mural installed in 2005, telling the tale of Pluto.
Brief version: When Pluto, god of the underworld, took the lovely Persephone away to be his bride, her mother, Demeter, the Greek goddess of earth’s fertility, was heartbroken. Missing her daughter, Demeter caused the earth to become barren (winter). When Pluto allowed Persephone to visit her mother, the land once again became warm and fertile (summer). Thus, seasons were created, according to ancient myth.
This hotel is much larger than the nearby West Baden Springs Hotel. In addition to almost 1500 rooms, there’s a spa (of course), restaurants, shoppes, a pool, an arcade, even a small bowling alley.
where one of us (guess which) pulled the levers
The dogwood blossoms in the garden did nothing to mask the smell of the nearby mineral spring. Whew, nothing like sulfur!
You know what we need now, Honey? No, not mineral spring water – yuck. We need to go somewhere more “remote,” someplace with more trails and fewer facts and figures. Hang on; let’s see what we can come up with!
Our Travels 