Visit to story, nashville, and the zoo

Jane and I are both on vacation this week, so Tuesday we decided to take a drive down to Brown County, Indiana. Son Isaac is getting married in Story later this year and we had never been to Nashville, IN, so while we were taking a noon walk we decided on the spur of the moment to go check it out.

It took about 3 hrs. to get there, but it was very easy to find. We took I-69 to Indy and got on I-465S. We took that to I-65S and when we got to exit 68 near Columbus, IN we got off and took Rt. 46W. In about 14 miles you come to Rt. 135S and you take a left to get to Story. It is about 10 miles of winding, hilly, narrow road. To get to Nashville you just stay on Rt. 46 and it is about 2 miles past the turn for Story.

We were a little surprised when we got to Story. We had read a little bit about it, but... it took us a while to get used to it. Once we did, though, it is a pretty neat place. This is where the wedding and reception will be, and it's not really a town so much as it's the Story Inn. There is an old general store that has been converted into a restaurant and there are four rooms upstairs that make it an Inn. There are also several houses scattered about that are available, and that's it. Oh, and the old barn out back - which is where the wedding ceremony will take place. I guess I was expecting rustic as in 'vintage.' This is rustic as in... original/old. It is pretty much all original. The actual Inn (restaurant and upstairs rooms) is basically just like an old house. The wood appears original, and the stairs are all slanted and cock-eyed. It's kind of a hoot, actually. There are no tv's, radio's, phones, internet, and they don't guarantee cell phone reception even. Oh, and there is a bar in the basement of the Inn. But it's not really a nice basement. It's like the basement of an old house. But it's a neat little place and should be a fun time for the wedding and activities.

After we checked out Story we headed to Nashville. There will be some wedding guests who need to stay there because there aren't enough rooms in Story, plus we are planning to have the rehearsal dinner at the Brown County Inn. When we pulled up to the Brown County Inn we were less than thrilled. It is pretty old too, but not really in a historic way. It's just an old hotel. But we decided to go in and check it out. We had supper in the restaurant and it was really good. There is also a nice lounge/bar, and another room for parties. They have a nice outdoor pool that has a roof over it, as well as tennis courts and a big playground and such. We also asked to check out a room and they happily obliged. They actually still use room KEYS... as in an actual metal key... but the rooms were nice. It looked much better on the inside than the outside.

There are also several other hotel options right in the same place. The Comfort Inn is pretty big and would be a good choice for people wanting more of a modern hotel. There is a McDonald's and a grocery store, and Pizza King, and a little tavern right in the same area. There were also a couple of other hotels too.

We did make a brief drive through the downtown of Nashville. It looks pretty neat, but it started raining so we didn't linger too long. Hopefully we can come back some day and just spend a few days visiting there. It looks really neat. We headed hope and were on the backside of a nasty thunderstorm. We had to pull off the road a couple of times because it was raining so hard. We stopped in Anderson on the way home and dropped off some things for Isaac and Ricci, but didn't stay too long because we wanted to try to get ahead of the storm. It was a very nice day.

Then yesterday we went to the Fort Wayne Zoo with Carrie, Anna and Bennett. We hadn't been to the zoo for a couple of years. It is a really nice zoo, and is so much fun now that Anna is older. Carrie has a pass so she and the kids go quite often. It was a beautiful day and we had a nice time just hanging out.

Today is the fourth of July. For some reason I just don't get into making loud bangs and stuff, but we will probably do something tonight.