FUN STUFF NEAR B/N UPDATED April 25th, 2011
People have the mental image before they get to Illinois that it is made up of Chicago and cornfields!
There are so may great places around Bloomington/Normal to see and have fun. I would like to dedicate this page to those places. Please e-mail me your favorite places that you would like to share with the rest of us.
Some of the places that I enjoy are described below along with web sites: CASTLE THEATRE, MILLER PARK ZOO, SUGAR GROVE NATURE CENTER, WELDON SPRINGS STATE PARK, STARVED ROCK STATE PARK and ALLERTON PARK.
MORE TO COME IN 2011! FIRST STOPS...BEACHY'S, BEEF HOUSE, EITELJORG MUSEUM OF AMERICAN INDIAN AND WESTERN ART,
April 24th, 2011. The Beef House, Covington Indiana. Please
take the 1st Indiana exit at mile marker 4 off I-74..or you might end up turning around at the exit for Turkey Run State park like I did. :( The Beef House is about half way to Indianapolis if you are going in that direction for the Indy 500 etc. The food at the Beef House is very good and never disappoints.
If you are going on a day trip in that direction I have found the zoo and botanical gardens very underwhelming compared to Chicago or St. Louis.
However: the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indian and Western Art is very unique. It is located next to the Indianapolis Zoo
A museum with John Wayne can't be all bad!
April 8th, 2011. First day trip this year was to Beachy's. I could say Arthur Illinois just as easy but.... Beachy's is the mental image of where I am going. It is a bulk food store patronized by the Amish and full of great stuff! Like one aisle dedicated to hard candy and another to spices.
This store is lit by skylights during the day and gas lamps when it gets dark. For me in a way I feel that this a lot like it must have been all over the U.S. in the early 1900's. My heartbeat slows and my blood pressure drops. You can drive around and stop at individual homesteads that have signs out front. We stopped this time at a nursery and got some plants and have in the past gotten fresh produce, eggs, and handcrafted items. We drove past some pre-school Amish kids riding on their kid sized buggy pulled by a pony.
This may be the only Dollar General where the buggy's outnumber the cars! A great pace to eat is Yoder's on Rt 133 in Arthur. $7.95 buffet and I could not eat for the rest of the day after a late lunch. The fried chicken is excellent!!! Arthur and Beachy's is literally a hundred years away from B/N.
November 17 The Castle Theatre has recently gone through a 1.5 million dollar restoration to bring it back to its original splendor. It was originally built in 1916 as a 1000 seat theater.
It probably seats about 200 "ish" now and is set up with balcony seating, single seats near the stage and 8 seat tables farther back (first come, first served). It is located on Wahiington Street near Main across the street from PNC bank (Formerly known as National City).
The Theatre serves beer, wine and mixed drinks...no food nor can you bring in food. the night I was there the doors opened at 6:30 and the warm up band started at 7:30 with the main act at 8:15. A lot of the nights advertise as 21+. Most nights appear to be $10-15 a ticket. Website is www.thecastletheatre.com
November 18 Miller Park Zoo
Please don't over look Miller Park Zoo located off West Wood Street in Bloomington. This is a great little zoo. Best time to come is when the animals get fed starting with the Sea Lions and Otters at 3:00 and then the tiger, leopard and bear at 4:00 and on from there.
The park has a great rainforest exibit. So when you get tired of snow this winter come to the tropics for a break.
I also noticied that a lot of the local North American animals such as wolves and bobcats seem to be more animated now that the hot weather is over. So don't write off the zoo just because the weather is colder.
Jay Tetzloff ,the Miller Park Zoo Superintendent is the Snow Leopard Species Survival Plan Coordinator which is government speak for the man in charge of breeding Snow Leopards in Capitivity. Miller Park will be receiving a young male snow leopard in the spring of 2011 from Oklahoma City Zoo and a female snow leopard from the Granby Zoo in Canada via the Bronx Zoo. Since this leopard needs to be imported it may take a year or two. If this is not enough, Jay also manages the Tammar Wallaby(small kangaroo) Population Plan and studbook. 
I had to throw in the goat from the children's petting zoo since he gave me such a great smile!