A little get-away to welcome Spring…
First of all, I want to start off with the understanding that we don’t “have to” go pick up our favorite scholars and athletes from school and practices a couple of times a week.
We get to.
We don’t “have to” go to games, meets, tournaments and sit in uncomfortable chairs for rehearsals and such…we get to.
This is our choice for retirement and we would not have it any other way.
But this week we found ourselves between sports seasons and Zach had a day off so we decided to take an impromptu trip to Terre Haute, Indiana Wednesday afternoon. The plan was to visit the Larry Bird Museum that Russ had read about and also a Holocaust Museum on Thursday and return home Thursday early evening.
We had such a nice time.
Sometimes it is difficult to commit to something like this because there are always tasks around the house that could occupy our free time. But when Russ was telling me about wanting to go there for these sites and I realized we had white space on our calendar with just a two hour drive to our destination, we did it.
There were a lot of things packed in to this getaway and so I am breaking it down into three parts.
Today I want to share the restaurants we found in case you want to make a road trip yourself and are in the area.
Our first stop Wednesday was for dinner in Paris, Illinois. This worked for our late afternoon departure as we would be passing through around supper time and then just a short drive on to Terre Haute.
Russ had found a little family owned Italian Restaurant on the internet that was situated right on our path through town. The food was delicious and the staff so friendly.
I had an a la carte build your own pasta dish with a huge meatball and marinara on fettuccini. Russ got the signature dish of baked mostaccioli. Both came with a side salad, which is was not expecting since I got the a la carte! So nice. We had delicious bread sticks as well.
There is a nice patio that had lights strung above and cute cafe tables for warmer weather. I think it would be a fun place to go on a summer evening with friends.
On Thursday, after the Larry Bird Museum, we walked a few doors down and had lunch at The Terminal Public House. This is locally owned restaurant is located in a 100 year old building that has been a train and bus terminal along with several restaurants and bars over the years.
It is a very popular spot we discovered!
The only available seating was at the bar, but we were fine with that as the basketball games were playing. The staff was so kind as were the patrons around us.
I had a soup and salad combo. The soup was a Chicken Poblano. I have never had this but will be researching the recipe to try and duplicate. I had a lovely house salad with the best Green Goddess dressing. Russ opted for hamburger sliders and waffle fries. Both were amazing.
As a bonus, I am including a fun shop and restaurant a customer at the store where I work told me about.
For our return trip, Russ wanted to drive through Charleston as we used to visit often for sports and music events when raising our three. It was a beautiful day for a drive and we were not in a hurry to get back for anything.
Since we would be passing through Mattoon, I asked if we could locate these business I had heard rave reviews about a few weeks ago.
Both were right on our way through town so we drove passed the restaurant first. It is called Bimini’s and is only open Monday through Friday 11-2 for lunch. I was told by the customer that they sometimes close early and this was confirmed by the shop owner of the store around the corner that I wanted to check out.
Birch is located right around the corner from Bimini’s on the main street of businesses. It is a darling store that reminds me a bit of the one where I work. There is a bit of everything…clothing, specialty foods, kitchen wares, accessories, candles, home decor. It is so fun to walk in and is displayed in a unique way.
The vibe is different from Tournesol, which has a French Country/vintage feel. Birch is more reminiscent of a small business Anthropology, like Anthropology used to be. They even have a store dog as we have a store cat! The heart of the shoppe there is similar to where I work and I loved chatting with owner.
If you go to eat and shop, note that there is a door for Birch on the back side of the building just next door to the restaurant. The entrance to the shoppe is located on the front side of this so you either have to walk around the corner or move your car to park along the street.
There appeared to be several other fun shops along the street there so it would be a great destination day for dining and shopping!
All of these have a presence on social media if you want to check them out.
If you want to just visit online, here are the links.
As always, I don’t get any compensation for these. Just the joy of sharing fun places and promoting small businesses..that’s my kickback.
Rocky’s Italian Bistro: https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=rockys+italian+bistro&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8
The Terminal Public House: https://www.terminal812.com
Bimini’s : https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=biminis+mattoon+il&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8
Birch Boutique & Gifts: https://www.locally.com/store/279454/birch-boutique-gifts