7-25 to 7-26-2019 Short Trip to Northern Indiana

We went to northern Indiana Amish Country to work with a client up there. After work on Thursday evening we drove over
to South Bend to walk around downtown. First we walked along the riverwalk by the East Race Waterway, a man-made
channel that was used by mills back in the 1800s, but has now been transformed into a whitewater kayaking/rafting course.

We walked to the mouth of the waterway where the East Race Waterway joins the St. Joseph River.

We saw a mother duck feasting with her ducklings in the canal.

We wandered over to the downtown area and found a nice statue.

We saw that several restaurants downtown were offering Restaurant Week deals, and we chose to try South Bend Brew
Werks because they had a good deal and yummy sounding vegetarian food for Cara.

Their gazpacho soup was light and refreshing.

The roasted jalapeno cheese dip was nicely spiced and served with hearty, warm tortilla chips.

Cara's Buffalo Cauliflower Wrap was delicious, and Eric enjoyed his Dill Chicken Salad Sandwich.

We each got a giant peanut butter cookie (gluten free) for dessert.

Evening view of the St. Joseph River on our walk back to the car.

After we finished work the following day we headed to nearby Shipshewana to our favorite Amish cheese shop. 

We also stopped at the discount grocery to get good deals and some freshly ground cinnamon
peanut butter.

The Amish shop here too, as you can see.

Before we met up with another business contact we killed some time checking out small towns. This is downtown Ligonier.

We also found another fabulous discount grocery near Wolcottville.

Then we found a lovely tasting room and event center called Sylvan Cellars outside Rome City.

 

We enjoyed a drink on the nice patio, where they were going to have live music later that evening.

6-1 to 6-2-2018 Riverlights Music Festival in South Bend, IN

Still in northern Indiana, our friend Chris told us about a music festival in South Bend. We saw it as we explored downtown South Bend on our own on the Friday evening before we met up with her.

We saw lots of people out on the East Race Waterway, where the St. Joseph River is diverted and they created a whitewater course. 

We walked the riverwalk next to the St. Joe as well.

 

We later learned that all the people on the East Race were going for free as a part of South Bend's "Best Week Ever".

There were lots of things going on downtown as a part of this promotion.

We had dinner downtown and saw the river lights.

 

On the walk back we happened upon a bridge where it looked like they were going to set off fireworks. So, we decided to
stay for a bit.

We were shocked that we could be so close to the action, and basically have a front row seat.

 

The next day we met up with our friend Chris for the festival and to explore downtown with her.

We ran into a couple of Eric's college friends, and their daughter was trying rafting on the East Race with some friends.

We walked around and found a nice park to chill for a bit.

Back at the festival we found and shared a delicious Thai Peanut Salad from a food tent: zucchini noodles, green papaya, daikon radish carrots, red cabbage, Thai peanut satay sauce, peanuts, pickled red onions - yum!.

The bands rotated between two stages, so there was always music. Some we liked, some we didn't, but it was fun.