We had a great visit to the Evansville Zoo on Thursday.  They had animals we’d never seen at any other zoo, including this Barasingha.  It looked pretty elk-ish to me, but the sign said that it is one of the few zoos in the country with a breeding program for this particular animal, because the males are so aggressive.  Luckily this one was pretty docile while we were there.

And most of the animals were very active.  I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a rhino in the water before – I’m not sure I’ve ever even seen one not lying down!  The keeper told us they’d had  to remove the horn due to health issues, but it is in the process of growing back.  Very cool.

Thursday morning we got up early to head out & meet Arielle & her kids at the zoo in Evansville.  Jeff didn’t get to go with us, since he had to stay at the condo & work on getting a flat tire repaired, but Lindee, Mallory, Clara & I hit the road.  Before we’d gone far, though, just as we were crossing over Patoka Lake, eagle-eyed Clara, in fact, spotted a bald eagle up in a tree.  I’m not sure I had ever seen a bald eagle in the wild before.  Very cool.

From there it was on to the Mesker Park Zoo – the oldest zoo in Indiana.  We loved that our first animal siting there was this beautiful bird – what a way to kick off our day!

What a great time we had Wednesday night when Jeff’s brother Mark had a family cookout at his house, just so we could all hang out together.  Here are a couple of pictures.

Wednesday morning Jeff was hanging out with Mark, so Lindee, Mallory, Clara & I headed over to check out the West Baden Hotel.  Even though I’d just seen it a couple of days before with Andrew & Jenny, there are always new detail to discover.  This molding was in between each beam in the arch just of the small lobby – and small is definitely a relative term in this case.  Beautiful.

I do love a fancy dancy restroom, and this mirror at the one in the hotel was so huge all three of the girls could get their picture made together 🙂

Andrew, Jenny, & the boys headed out yesterday morning, and Lindee & the girls arrived late afternoon.  After they’d had a little recuperation time, we went to the restaurant in town that Larry Bird owns, 33 Brick Street, for supper.  The food was delicious and the sports memorabilia even better.  We loved checking out the trophy cases, although the ones on the top tier were too high for us to see exactly what they were.

There were all kinds of autographed jerseys on display, not only Larry Bird’s, or even just from the NBA, but all kinds of pro sports.  It was definitely our kind of place 🙂

Monday evening Jeff & An drew took Adam out to play Pokémon Go, and did some walking around in downtown French Lick.  Of course they had to get a picture with the Larry Bird Blvd sign 🙂

We had a low key day Monday, just checking things out around town here.  We visited the West Baden Hotel, which is about a mile down the road from the French Lick Hotel.  Equally beautiful, although smaller.  This was the lobby – so lovely.  The stained glass in all of the doors and the skylights about was beautiful.

Jeff & I took naps in the afternoon while Andrew & Jenny took the boys exploring and then to do some swimming.  By the time I headed down to the pool at the hotel the parking lot was full, so I had to park around in the garage.  It was a longer walk, but in the hallways were these cases with displays about the history of both hotels.  Of course I absolutely loved that. There were several displays of dishes that were used at different times during the history of both establishments.  I especially liked this one, because I had actually noticed the crest in the tilework of the floor when we were at the West Baden Hotel earlier in the day. 

Jeff’s sister Susan and her husband Bobby came over to hang out for a while Sunday night, and it was so good to see them.  Here are the four of us with their hilarious granddaughter Bella.

I don’t believe we ever stayed in a condo with a sauna actually in the room before, and Charlie & Adam took full advantage of it while they were here 🙂

Sunday evening we were back and in the beautiful pool at the hotel.  Arielle came over and brought Bella, Liam, & Christopher to join us – the first time we’d ever met that sweet Christopher.  Then they stayed and ate tacos with us in the condo.  Such a good time.

While we were in the pool Jeff went outside to take some pictures of the hotel itself.  And he & I are hoping to get to the casino pretty soon 🙂