We saw Santa Claus!!

6/26/2014

We left Crawfordsville this morning and it was a beautiful day - a little foggy early, but nice and cool and great for top down motoring.  And, Hwy 231 was great - I would rate it good to very good.  We passed through the towns of Raccoon and Brick Chapel before getting to Greencastle, home of DePaw University. All along the way we passed fields of corn and beans.  At times, there was corn on both sides of the road, and planted  to within about 10-15 feet of the road.  In places it was higher than the car, so we were traveling between two green walls that we could not see over!  We then continued south on 231, which remained in good condition and passed through Freedom, before stopping in Worthington for lunch.  There were several antique stores that we checked out before eating at the Route 67 Diner.  People were very friendly and the food decent and reasonably priced.

Route 67 Diner in Worthington, IN

Downtown Worthington, IN

After lunch we continued down 231 through Loogootee and to Jasper, home to the very large, very old and beautiful St. Joseph Catholic church, circa 1841.

St. Joseph Catholic church- Jasper, IN

We then continued through Huntingburg before taking a slight detour to the town of Santa Claus!

On the road to Santa Claus, we passed a very large, 600 acre, gated residence that is the personal residence of a wealthy businessman.  A little further and you come to Santa Claus!  There is not much there except a water park (think Wally World) and a post office that is probably the busiest post office in the country for a couple of days a year!  Oh, and Santa Claus' famous resident (besides Santa Claus) is Chicago Bears QB Jay Cutler who grew up here.

Busiest PO in the country - for a few days every year.

After Santa Claus, it was across the Ohio river and on to Owensboro, KY where we stopped for the night.  The hotel clerk recommended a restaurant, the Miller House, which is housed in a restored historic home built in 1905 and located in the downtown historic district.  The interior of the home is beautiful and the food and service were also excellent.  We ate in the basement which houses the bar and the collection of over 350 bourbons.  While not a big bourbon drinker, I had to try an Old Fashion, which was quite good.  If you are ever in Owensboro, KY, you have to eat here.  After dinner, we drove through the downtown and along the River Front, which is a very nice park that runs for several blocks along the river.

Miller House restaurant - Owensboro, IN

Part of the 300+ bottles of bourbon available for your tasting pleasure!

Tomorrow we will head to Hopkinsville,KY, Clarksville, TN and Ft. Campbell to visit our son before heading home on Sunday.