Evansville, Indiana

We took a short hiatus from football games and spent a weekend in my mom's hometown of Evansville, Indiana for my Uncle Alan's 50th birthday celebration. Bo had never been there before, or anywhere in Indiana for that matter, so this was pin #4 on our travel map this year. My mom was excited to show him around and we were looking forward to spending time with family members that we rarely get to see - some of whom Bo finally met for the first time after all these years!

We drove into town just in time for the surprise party at the Hornville Tavern, one of my mom's favorite restaurants. Uncle Alan was not so surprised when he walked in since he had figured out something was up...but he was surprised to see me and Bo there :)

 

 

 

That weekend was also Fall Festival, which almost everyone was involved with one way or another.  It's a large street food festival - second in size only to Mardi Gras! - and we split everything we tried to taste as much as possible.

My two favorite food booths are probably biased ;)  My cousin Dawn makes the chicken and dumplings for her church's booth and they are SO good (Dawn consider this a reminder to please send me that recipe!) Last year she won first place! We went over to her house later that night and had a few more bowls of it for dinner as well. My other favorite was the apple cobbler with vanilla ice cream, which was also my grandpa's favorite. I definitely know where I get my sweet tooth from.

The only downside to the fall festival is there is no alcohol ;)  So we stopped into the Gerst Haus for a few beers and some more food. We loved this restaurant!

After the festival we visited the cemetery, since the last time I was in Evansville was for Grandpa's funeral in 2010.  It was nice to see my grandparents' finished headstone as well as my cousin Jordan's since they were all buried in the same family section. I miss them so much and it was weird to be there without getting to see them, so this made do.

We spent the afternoon at Dawn and Ed's house to watch the LSU-Florida game, which began our losing streak this fall. That evening we all went over to my cousin Jenny's house and sat around the fire, drinking beer and telling stories. It was such a great time and we loved spending time with my long lost Evansville cousins and their families :) My only regret is not taking any pictures of us all together!

Sunday morning we stopped at Denny's for breakfast before making the drive home. Typically we avoid these kind of chain restaurants but it was my Grandpa's favorite. He just loved Denny's and had breakfast there all the time, so we figured if we ever went to Denny's this was the time and place to do it. And we had to admit it was actually pretty good. Thanks, Grandpa :)