I’ve criss-crossed through Indiana – mostly to and from Chicago along I-90 – a few times, but the first time we actually stopped was the same afternoon we visited Maker’s Mark. On our way to St Louis, we passed through Santa Claus, Indiana (apparently known for thirty years as “Santaclause” – thanks, Wikipedia), where we took the photo above.

On our first road trip on our way out to Los Angeles in 2006, we started out in Rochester, dined in Ohio, and had an interesting afternoon driving and strolling through the unexpected Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. After walking the beach and checking out the restoration work on the House of Tomorrow, we continued on through the state and spent the first night of the trip in Rushville, about 40 miles outside Indianapolis and home to a Holiday Inn Express, if I remember correctly; we were working our way across the country through the chain, and by the middle of the trip had accumulated enough points for a free night’s stay.