92 County Tour: Porter County (Part Two)

Earlier this week I told you about our hike at the Indiana Dunes and our visit to the little town of Chesterton (plus a couple of other things). All these were part of our visit to Porter County in the northern part of Indiana.

Today I'll wrap up the sights we saw in Porter County!

Sunday afternoon, we visited Valparaiso, Indiana, which you might have heard of because of Valparaiso University. On a whim, we decided to visit campus, and we also checked out a few other things around town. Here is a peek into our visit!

Our first order of business, upon arriving in town, though, was to find some ice cream. This part was kind of a comical debacle. In my pre-vacation research, I'd stumbled upon an ice cream shop called Valpo Velvet Ice Cream. It had great reviews, so I wrote it down as a place to visit. Ryan did some research of his own and also found this place on a list. He said to me, "We've got to try this Valpo Velvay Ice Cream place." I said, "Velvay?" He just looked at me like I was nuts, and I said, "VELVET?" We both cracked up. Apparently we are not high-falutin' enough for velvet to be pronounced velvay.

Some friends of mine (Hi, Jonathan and Jaclyn!) actually recommended this too, so we knew we had to go. When I double checked the hours online that Sunday afternoon, the website said they were closed on Sunday. But Facebook said they were open. We were so confused! We decided to just go see for ourselves. We found them open (although a sign painted onto the building said closed Sundays), but they only served ice cream and not the regular food menu on Sundays. Whew!

The inside of the shop was so cute. They even had painted all the chairs according to ice cream flavors! Ryan had to sit in the mint chocolate chip chair. Oh! And they actually HAD mint chocolate chip ice cream! (Remember how every place he has visited this summer has been out of mint chocolate chip when he gets there?) So it was kind of a red letter day. I really wanted to get a big fancy pants sundae, but we also needed to visit a coffee shop, so I was good and just got a single scoop of ice cream in a waffle cone.

 It was a really pretty afternoon, so we walked around the downtown area and searched for a coffee shop. We'd been told about a handful of them (college town = abundant coffee) and decided to just go into the first one we happened to encounter. And that was how we ended up in the Blackbird Cafe.

It was very much the kind of coffee shop you would expect in a college town (and close to campus, at that)! A cozy little place with local art on the walls, some baked goods, and multiple kinds of coffee. Ryan went with fresh brew, but I spied apple pie chai on the menu. (If you heard the podcast last week, you already know this story, so I apologize for the repeat.)

Apple pie chai is a drink I have only ever seen on the menu at McConn Coffee at IWU. It is my favorite non-coffee drink of all time, and actually ranks pretty high as my favorite drink of all time. It is truly like apple pie a la mode in a cup. I have never seen it on the menu at any other shop, but as soon as I saw the words, my mouth started watering and I just HAD to have it. I should have known when I asked for it to be made with nonfat milk, and the girl told me it didn't have milk...that I needed to ask more questions. But I didn't.

You guys, I tried SO HARD to like that drink but I just couldn't. It was a lot like drinking straight apple cider (with pie spice added) and I don't like apple cider all that well. I was SO SAD!!! It's the first time I have ever not liked a drink at a coffee shop, and in fact, I couldn't even finish it. Ryan did. I went back for fresh brew, and IT was really good. (Ryan said their fresh brew was the best he'd ever had at any shop.)

Apparently the key to the apple pie chai I like is that it's a chai latte. Important word.

We did enjoy sitting right by the front window that overlooked the street. We watched people out for walks with their dogs...very relaxing!

We walked around a bit more ourselves, after our coffee break, and then we decided since we were so close and the day was nice, we'd stop by the college and look around.

Valparaiso is a Lutheran college founded back in 1859, and it has some beautiful architecture. My favorite was the ENORMOUS chapel that was wide open for anyone to walk in. We took some photos. Breathtaking.

 Yes, this is the CHAPEL!

 View from the main doors.

 View from the balcony...amazing.

 Ryan had to take this one. Looking over the railing was too much for me.

When Ryan is set free in an empty church:

He cracks me up!

Also cracking me up...some rows were short on leg room:

We walked around for a while and saw some other really nice pieces of design:

We did get dinner before leaving the county - another of Jonathan and Jaclyn's recommendations turned out to be excellent. Tomato Bar Pizza was some of the tastiest I'd ever had. I loved sitting where I could see the guys hand toss the crusts. (Wanted to take a picture, but they could see me too, so I didn't want to be a creeper.)

So there you have it! Porter County did not disappoint! I'll wrap up our trip tomorrow - LaPorte County was our final stop on this tour!