A Slice of Americana

While staying in Batesville, IN, I felt like we got to experience all types of American life: small towns, rural areas and city life. Batesville is a small city centrally located between Cincinnati, Indianapolis and Louisville. We like to stay there at a Thousand Trails campground to visit our daughter Kim and son in law Greg who live in Cincinnati. It is a nice area and we always find plenty to do while Kim and Greg are busy working.

This trip, we visited some of the small towns in the area that my therapist recommended. Our first stop was Oldenburg, IN. This town was settled in 1817 by German immigrants and a German priest. It has a strong German and Catholic culture. The Catholic church, grade school, high school and convent are located in the center of town and many of the businesses and streets have German names. We enjoyed walking around the town and enjoyed lunch at a local pub. The church was open so I went in to admire its beautiful altar. Their church festival was the following Sunday so we went back and enjoyed some of the games and even won a few prizes. Definitely a friendly small town that is worth a visit.

On another day we took a ride through the countryside on a very winding road to visit Metamora, IN. The drive itself was somewhat scenic, initially passing cornfields and farms, the winding through woods and along a river eventually arriving at the gristmill at the end of the Main Street. This is another historic small town known for the mill located on the Whitewater canal. The gristmill is worth a stop to get some cornmeal that they still grind there as well as to walk along the old canal. You almost feel like you took a step into the past in this little town. At the end of the street is the only covered wood aqueduct still in existence in the USA. It doesn’t take long to see the town no but it was worth the trip.

The aqueduct where the canal flows over a creek. looks like a covered bridge but water flows through it instead of a road.

They were preparing for the Canal Days Festival when we visited Metamora. Parking was pretty limited so I have no idea how they accommodate approximately 100,000 people over 3 days. Although Canal Days sounded like fun, I can’t imagine the traffic and parking issues. I am glad we didn’t go on those days.

Every time that we have stayed at Indian Lakes, we have visited Ertel Cellars Winery. It is a short jaunt from the campground out through more cornfields. I told Tim that driving down that road is quintessentially Indiana. You definitely know you are in the Midwest with the corn fields on both sides of you. We made a few stops for lunch at Ertels on this trip. If you are the area, it is a must stop for some great food and wines. On the last stop, the day before we left, they were plowing down the corn stalks. It was so weird to dive along with just flat fields along the road.

After spending time in farm country and small towns, we had to experience city life. In all the times visitIng Kim and Greg, we never spent time in downtown Cincinnati. We went in one Saturday morning and spent the day enjoying the city. First stop was to Smale Park along the Ohio River for a stroll along the water and then lunch at a brewery overlooking the river. The Roebling Suspension Bridge crosses the Ohio River there. What a beautiful bridge but I think we were too close to it to get a good picture.

THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD MUSEUM IS IN THE BUILDING BEHIND THIS SIGN

We browsed around that area of town and if we had more time , I would have gone to the Underground Railroad Museum. Definitely have to do that next time.

Kim and Greg then took us to the OTR area of town. We stopped in Rhinegiest Brewery and played some cornhole and enjoyrd the city view from their rooftop bar. Afterwards we walked through Findlay Market where you can buy just about anything. The butcher shops had some great cuts of meat.

I ENJOYED THE MURALS WE FOUND THROUGHOUT THE CITY

We ended our day in the city with a stop at Ghost Baby for drinks. It is a bar/jazz club located in a tunnel that was built in the 1920’s for a subway. Unfortunately we couldn’t get reservations to see the jazz band but the cocktails in the bar area were fantastic. Have to go hear jazz on our next trip.

GHOST BABY - REALLY COOL BAR IN THIS UNDERGROUND TUNNEL

I also found time for daily walks in the morning with a camping neighbor, Anna. We enjoyed walking around the campground and watching the sunrise. All in all, it was a wonderful stay in Indiana.

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