Indiana!

I figured I should finally post about the second part of our Chicago trip; seeing as I will be leaving tomorrow on a new vacation/adventure.  One of the reasons we decided to visit Chicago was because my mom wanted to visit Amish country, namely Shipshewana.  She's been reading those bonnet lit books and really enjoying them.  She even brought along a book to read that took place in Middlebury, which is where we stayed in real life.  This was also our time to shop for fabric!  Yay! 

It took about two hours to get to Middlebury from our hotel in South Chicago but along the way we stopped at the University of Notre Dame.  I just wanted to see it.  We took an 1 hour 15 minute tour of the campus and it was pretty neat.  Here are some pictures.

This is the Basilica.  It is the tallest building on campus and ever will be.  When they needed to add seats to the football stadium they had to build out instead of up.  

The Grotto.  I don't know enough about Catholicism to know why this is important, but it seemed sacred.

St. Mary's Lake from a distance.  The dorms are close enough that you can run along the trails and enjoy the outdoors around this lake and St. Joseph's Lake.  It was beautiful and I was a little envious that my college campus wasn't this beautiful.  

The Main Building.  The gold dome gets resurfaced about every twelve years.  During the process they save the old gold flakes and add the gold to the paint for the football helmets and also to the ink on the University seal on every diploma.  The amount of gold up there is about the size of a fistful of gold leaf.  Very cool.  

Touchdown Jesus.  This is a pretty awesome work of art and it's on the library.  Spectators in the football stadium can see the top of the artwork as Jesus calls for the touchdown.  

Here are some views around St. Mary's Lake

Eventually, after stopping at four quilt stores, we found our way to Middlebury and to our Bed and Breakfast.  It was very picturesque and the weather was gorgeous.  The B and B was on one of the main drags so we heard the clip clop of Amish carriages constantly.  And these horses were the view right outside our window. 

Here is a lovely area farm across the street from an Amish shop.

There was a very picturesque covered bridge in Middlebury that I hiked over fields of grass to visit.  I don't get to walk in grass much so that was a fun experience.  And of course there was a little lake under the covered bridge.  

We had a great time venturing into Indiana.  I'm so glad we took the time to visit this less-visited area of the country.