Owen County Tour - Main Street Coffee!

First of all, a happy birthday to our friend Odie!!! We hope you have a wonderful day today!

Ryan and I only have a couple of free Saturdays this fall, and we had/have high hopes to visit two more counties on those days. This past Saturday was the first of the two, and we had tentative plans to hike a state park. We were a little nervous about it earlier in the week, because the forecast for Saturday included some pretty cold temps (in comparison to our fall so far). But as the week went along and we saw it was at least going to be sunny, we decided to go for it. We could layer up, right?

We are so glad we went. Gorgeous day, cold and all!

Our county this time was Owen County, and to be honest with you, we didn't really know anything about it before we went. (Including the fact that it existed.) It doesn't get a lot of press - and sometimes that's not a bad thing, right? We learned that the county is 200 years old THIS YEAR, having been formed in 1819. It's named after Abraham Owen, a colonel who died in Battle of Tippecanoe. The county only has two cities listed in its roster, and neither one is very big. It's mostly made up of little burgs and villages - and a whole lotta pretty scenery.

We got up early Saturday morning (six a.m. is insane on a Saturday) and were on the road by 7:00 for the two hour drive to Owen County. For those of you who may be as clueless as we were about where this county is located, it's about an hour south of the Indianapolis area and is just a bit west of Bloomington.

We stopped in the city of Spencer, Indiana first, so we could get our coffee shop fix. My goodness, we were certainly NOT disappointed. I'd only found one coffee shop online, but when we arrived, we discovered there were two - and they're directly across the street from each other. We went to Main Street Coffee, and it was one of the most adorable shops I think we've ever been to. It was also one of the smallest, but that did not seem to bother a soul inside. (Regardless of its square footage space, it may have also been one of the most highly-visited shops we've been to. Many times we'll almost have a shop to ourselves. Definitely not this time!

Main Street Coffee is located in this character-laden old downtown building, and I gathered from the conversation that the owners live upstairs. There was a big old spiral staircase behind the register, and I told Ryan that is just the dreamiest kind of commute. Live above a coffee shop and work there? OKAY!!!!!

Though tiny, this place was just as cute - AND CLEAN! - as could be on the inside! I was so impressed. Both owners were there (with a handful of other employees) and everyone who came in was served quickly. I also loved it that everyone sat at a table (until they ran out of them) and enjoyed their coffee and breakfast while they talked together. It was so cozy.

This was just inside the front door:

 The counter area, with the crew hard at work:

 Handsome husband in the front - and adorable signage in the back.

 My life in a sign:

 Cute little cups!

We ended up getting the same thing to drink: a peanut butter mocha latte. DELISH.

Ryan also found this book in the reading materials, and it was a fun book to glance through while we enjoyed our coffee!

I will tell you about the hiking part of our trip tomorrow. There is a state park and a state recreational area there. We only had time/energy/daylight for one of them, so we chose the state park. We are definitely going to have to go back to do the recreational area, though, because it has a covered bridge in it, and you know I love a covered bridge! (It also has waterfalls, and I need to see those, too!)

But if you're ever in the area, we absolutely recommend this shop. I think it shot into our top three with no question!!!