Madison IN

Just outside of the state park was the small town of Madison, Indiana. With about 12,000 people, separated into two main areas, I'd say tourism might be their big business. With what seemed like a dozen places with Red in the name, and a few other random places, the tourist area was our main hangout beyond Clifty Falls. 

We started in a parking lot near the middle of town, between the town and a river. Ironically, the first place we stopped at was a bike shop. Fizz'z bike shop was practically a hole in the wall, but hey. so are most of the great bike shops. I know deep down, I was hoping for a Montague, something I have been trying to chase down since the day my dad died. (Back in August 2003, the day before the great Midwest Blackout. I discovered my bike had been stolen between finding out my dad died, and the power going out. It was not a great couple of days.) The bike shop didn't have any Montagues, but they did have a tandem with riser bars. It was very tempting, and I really could have bought it if I really wanted to. But while it was a good price, my new car had zero chance of getting that thing back home. Maybe if I had a roof rack? Then again, the shop's internet was down that day, and with it, the credit card machine. So... Onward we went.

Up next was Gifts That Last which was very much a new age store. It has been years since I've been inside a place like that, it would have to have been when I was an Undergrad. Not even Crazy Wisdom in A2 compares in many ways. There were some neat things there, crystals, terra cotta warriors, large geodes, and so on. It brought back a lot of memories from when I was in high school, back when I had a nice rock collection.

We proceeded to Madison Made, which was pretty much a laid-back shop that seemed to be there to cater to tourists. We got some cups there but didn't really feel a draw to any of the shirts. (If we went back a second time, maybe.) 

We then stopped at Red Roaster, which was part of the whole Red places. (We had planned to get a pizza from the Red Pepperoni, which was across the street from the Red Pepper, but didn't get around to it.) I got hot tea, and it practically burned my fingers through the cup. And by that, I mean I had to wait almost half an hour to even begin drinking it. I like hot tea and coffee, really, but there are limits to just how hot it needs to be. Their tea was way too hot. It would actually cause us to have to double back for McWhiggins, since I couldn't take my drink inside. 

The next place we were able to stop was Fountain Alley Body Care. Somehow, we ended up buying a bar of soap. It smells nice, for what its worth, and we probably would go back for more I guess. We laughed about this a little since when we were in New Orleans there were two different stores handing out slivers of similar soaps. These slivers easily could have been mistaken for candy, and that would have been a horrible mistake to make. Full bars don't look like candy though, so yeah‽

We also stopped into Madison Buy Sell Trade which reminded me in some ways of the antique store one of my friends dad had years ago, but with a heavier lean towards modern things. I picked up a manga sampler from Yen press, who for some reason I had thought went out of business. I am so far behind on manga, though it is really expensive over the long term. 

By now, my tea was gone, and we could enter the maze that was McWhiggins. It was a strange mix of modern and vintage toys, and some really random toys that I honestly have no idea what era they came from. There were things I hadn't seen in years, and there were a lot of tempting things there. I'm honestly not sure how we got out of there without spending a bunch of money.

After this, we headed over to Lanthier Winery. It was actually the second one we stopped at, but the first one, Thomas Family Winery, was closed. No sign on the door, just closed. So, one thing that is interesting about Indiana compared to Ohio is that they are not required to charge for wine samples. Now, I do find that interesting, because there seems like there is a great imbalance between Ohio and Indiana in this. Indiana is free, and Ohio is like $1 for a sample. Maybe Ohio is going for profit. No idea, and trying to look it up just got me outdated and weird information. The law seems confusing on purpose. (Actually, I can follow it, but I can't explain it. Though I now understand why different places have different prices while still saying State Minimum pricing.)

After this, we headed back to the park. That evening, after a Walmart run, we stopped at Mad Love where they seem to have a thing for smash burgers. Honestly, until that night, I thought smash burgers were a trademark of the restaurant with that name, not a style. I think I had eaten too much, maybe it was the giant pretzel, but I struggled to finish that meal. I think this might have been among my favorite places in Madison that we stopped at for food, not that we stopped at a lot of places. Mad Love really reminded me of a mix of Hard Rock Cafe and the bar at the hotel we stayed at during our last trip to New Orleans. While I think there is a Hard Rock in Indiana, I really don't care to go to it. (We went on both trips to NOLA though.)

Madison was an interesting place, but I don't think the downtown would hold my interest for more than a day. A few of the places I would go back to, but I don't know if I would be able to make a true multi-day trip out of it. I hope to get back there when it is warmer to explore the park more, though I don't think it will be a priority. Maybe if I get back into camping this summer, I might camp there. I don't know. 

Car Shopping and Wine

Replacing my car has been a goal for quite a while now. I've had issues with Kia, and after finally getting the radio replaced after two years, which was part of a separate shitshow, I was done with them. Almost done, actually. I gave them a second chance in November, with an upgraded version of my Niro they had set for delivery. After work, I stopped at the dealership the day it was delivered, and we began the process. However, the numbers all came back a lot higher than expected. I walked away from the dealership after two hours, finding out a few days later that they had raised the price of the car by $3000. They ran the credit checks without telling me about the drastic price change. They didn't care that I caught them, so I knew I was done with the local Kia dealer.

Then, just as the year came to an end, I saw two Nissan Kicks listed in Indiana, about an hour away. It was funny, because they had two that appeared identical, but was about a $500 difference in price. I finally figured out why, and it was because one of the models lacked a spoiler. A quick check with Saris showed me that my old Bones rack that I hadn't been able to use since I traded in my Blazer about 4 years ago was able to be used on the Kicks, but only without the spoiler. The lack of a spoiler was a huge benefit, so my wife and I got in the Kia, and headed to Indiana. 

The dealership happened to be part of the same company that sold us the Kia in the first place, which had been great to deal with, but they were two hours away. It helped a bit with trade-in, getting a better offer than the local Kia dealer made, and we were offered lower payments and a lower interest rate. We even were able to use the refund of the Gap coverage as a down payment. I did take a hit on fuel economy, but it is a much nicer ride. It doesn't center in the lane, but it has better safety features and a remote starter. It reminds me a lot of the Jeep Renegade I used to have, which I don't miss nearly as much now. 

Since we had the day largely filled, with going to look at the car, and with the previous experience of the process not working out, we planned to hit a winery or two on the way home. Time-wise though, we only had time for one, and we went with the Olde Schoolhouse Vineyard and Winery near Eaton, OH. Somewhat obviously, it was an old one-room schoolhouse converted into a winery. I got a cider flite, and my wife got a wine flight. There were some really good ciders in the flite, and my wife took interest in one seasonal wine that tasted like cotton candy.  (It was called Circ Ass, but I couldn't find it on the website.) We brought a bottle home, and I think she would have been happy had we picked up two bottles instead. 

An interesting thing is that the winery is part of the Darke County Whiskey, Wine, & Ale Trail, which I found amusing since it is actually in Preble County. I think another one of the locations is in Miami County, for what that is worth.  Aside from The Winery at Versailles, we haven't been to any of them before. (We have had products from a few of the others though.) We will need to stop in Versailles sometime and get the booklet we got stamped. I don't know which location will actually be next, but the Olde Schoolhouse was a nice surprise.