92 County Tour: The Wayne County Chocolate Trail

Want to hear about one of our adventures while we were gone?? I am starting with this one because it was so unique!

If you're new here at the blog, you may not know that Ryan and I are in the middle of a multi-year project to visit every county in the state of Indiana. And I told you yesterday that we knocked out a county tour while we were gone, and this time, it was Wayne County, which is in the southeastern part of Indiana. Wayne County was named for General "Mad" Anthony Wayne, who was an officer during the Revolutionary War. Ironically, there was also a fort named for General Wayne - which inspired the name of a city built around it: Fort Wayne. And the street where we stayed was called Fort Wayne Avenue, so everything just went full circle the entire time. Richmond also has a HUGE history with the Quaker (Friends) church, which is the denomination both Ryan and I grew up in, so that was another full circle moment for us on this trip. 

I have to give MAJOR credit to Wayne County for doing such a great job of making things available to do in their county - even in in the winter, and even in a pandemic. I believe this is county #33 for us in our visits, and while some counties have taken me FOREVER to plan, this one did most of the work for me. The chocolate trail was one of the things I found in my research, and it sounded fantastic to me!! And you want to know a secret? It was even better in real life than it seemed online. Take a look!

We stopped by the Visitor's Center in Richmond (which was VERY nice, by the way) and picked up a Chocolate Trail Passport. There's no charge for the passport, but you do have to have one to receive the free samples on the trail. We each received a passport, and then we each received samples everywhere we went! We loved it, because it took us into stores and restaurants we may not have otherwise visited, and we were able to help support local businesses while we were there. 

Here are the fun things we saw and tried!

Our first stop was Today's Harvest, which is actually just over the line into Ohio - but it's just outside of Richmond. It was a sweet store. They sold gifts, produce, donuts, ice cream, and even had a florist shop in the back! We purchased some Christmas gifts while we were there and had fun looking around. The people who worked inside were so friendly and talked to us about where we were from and our visit to Richmond. 

At this stop we had a choice between an ice cream containing chocolate or a donut with chocolate in it. We had JUST had ice cream for lunch, so we went with the donuts and ate them later for snacks. (I give two thumbs up to their donuts!) These have peanut butter icing, by the way. MMMMMM.

The next stop on the passport (though we did not do all the stops in order - or on the same day) was the Tin Cup Tea & Gift Shop. This was a really cute little shop with all kinds of tea and coffee related gift items - and actual tea for sale. It was right downtown in one of the old storefront type shops. 

The sample at this stop was a tea that included chocolate, and we chose peppermint chocolate tea. The lady in the shop was SO kind and we had the best time talking to her while we waited for her to made our tea. She poured a little sample into a cup for us to drink right then and then poured the remainder into to-go cups for us. As you know, we're coffee junkies, but we're not usually tea drinkers, so this was an extra good stop for us. It gave us the chance to try something different. We were able to get a Christmas gift while we were there, and the whole stop was a great experience.

One of the stops I was most excited about was this next one - and it wasn't as much fun as I'd hoped, which made me sad. It was Ullery's Homemade Ice Cream, which I had read multiple reviews for as I planned our trip. Everyone raved about their experience there! Bonus: this was half a block from where we were staying, so we were able to walk down there! I had basically been holding out for this ice cream experience, because you KNOW how I love, love, love my ice cream. I made the mistake of not checking their actual website before we went (only their Facebook page) so I didn't realize you could ONLY go to the walk-up window. 

The night we walked down there was super cold and not conducive to standing outside to figure out what I wanted beyond the sample. (I had fully intended to get the complete Ullery's experience, but instead I just went with the sample so I could get back in the warmth!)

Our free sample was a scoop of chocolate ice cream, which was both plentiful and delicious, and we did enjoy it up in our Airbnb after scurrying back. Maybe someday, in a nonpandemic year, I can go back and try the full, sit-down, waffle-cone-included experience! 

Right before we came home, we checked out Bismarck Donuts, which was a surprise stop for me. I had planned out our vacation itinerary using the list of businesses I found online, and this one wasn't on there. Must be a recent addition? 

This was a cute little family owned and operated donut/coffee shop with really friendly workers. They were so kind to us! (They were also really kind to the poor lady ahead of us who spilled her entire coffee in her car when she left and kept running in for more paper towels to clean up.) 

We took the liberty of getting a couple of iced sugar cookies for the road, and those were YUMMY, as were our freebies of two chocolate round donuts. We ate those for dessert at lunch, and sadly this is the only picture of that I got. Ha! Sorry, Ryan! (My donut had sprinkles, but there's no evidence of it now. All gone.) 

(Our very last stop on our trip, though not the last one on the passport, was a bust for us. It was an Amish market where we were supposed to get a sample of homemade chocolate ice cream. They also sold sandwiches there, and we arrived at lunch time so we could get our lunch there to support them. When we went through the line for that, we asked the girl at the deli about the ice cream and she told us to ask at checkout because she didn't know. When we asked in checkout, that lady told us to get in line at the deli. Womp womp. I was super sad about it. So I have no report about that stop.)

But check out this one! We went to Warm Glow Candles, which is actually a place I've wanted to visit for a couple of years now. It's this HUGE candle store with an actual huge candle outside!

They had shelves and shelves of primitive candles inside, but they also had tons of gifts, and even a little cafe! (We didn't eat there.) They also had a whole section of vendor booths for gift items, and we were able to get some gifts and our Christmas ornament there.

Yes, this is a CANDLE I'm holding. Not a massive angel food cake loaf. 

Our gift at this location was a chocolate scented votive candle, which came in a glass jar, with a book of matches, all wrapped up in a bag! We were impressed! We probably could have spent a few more hours in this store, taking it all in, but we had a schedule to keep! (PS: staff was SUPER friendly. I really appreciated overhearing one of the guys who worked there honoring a price mistake for a customer ahead of us.)

Another fun stop was King's Cafe, in Cambridge City, which is just outside of Richmond. Talk about being loaded with character! This place was so Hallmarky. I LOVED it. Tons of character and charm. 

I wanted to take so many more pictures, but there were people at tables and I didn't want to appear creepy. I did NOT care, however, if this dinner-plate-sized cinnamon roll found me creepy. I REALLY wanted to buy this, but we didn't. 

(That muffin above it is jumbo, by the way.)

At this stop we were able to choose anything in the case that was chocolate themed, and the only thing in the case at that time that had chocolate was a chocolate chip muffin, so that was our winner! We actually used them for our anniversary cupcakes. (They basically were cupcakes minus the icing.) And the packaging was adorable. And the ladies working inside were so patient and kind. 

Just next door was a REALLY cool store that went on for several storefronts. Every time we thought we had reached the last section, it went a little farther! It's Building 125, and it's an antique shop! (Oh! And it has an upstairs and basement too, but we didn't have time to properly explore those.) We really loved their merchandise and had a great time looking around.

They did NOT give us antique chocolate - WHEW! But we found their sample really intriguing. It was a little bag of chocolate covered cherries...but the cherries were dried. So it was almost like a large chocolate covered raisin or other dried fruit. We thought they were really good - and unique!

Next stop? Abbott's Candies, which is a well-known chocolate shop in the little burg of Hagerstown. (I have family from Hagerstown, so it was not my first time to go there, but it WAS my first time to go to the candy shop.) The shop is in a building that used to be a church, and it has tons of charm and character. 

The lady we talked to in there was SO good at customer service and took great care of us. We actually got a free caramel (one of their specialties) for being a first time visitor and then a free milk chocolate cream for being on the chocolate trail. We also picked up a couple of gifts while we were there. My only sadness in this stop was that we weren't able to take a tour. They actually do tours, and I planned our whole trip around the time we would need to be there for it, but when Ryan called to make a reservation, they said they aren't doing them during the holidays. And then the lady in the shop told us you have to have at least ten people in your party for a tour. So that was sad, but the chocolate was still really delicious!

Last two mentions on the tour...there is a winery on the tour (A.R. Winery in Arcanum, Ohio, if you want to know) but we don't drink, so we skipped that stop. 

Because I had made my list off the internet list, we stopped in at this SUPER cute little store called The Village Forager. When we handed our passport to the owner to sign, she said, "What? I'm not on here!" Apparently they made a new version of the passport and forgot to include her! She was so glad I'd made my list from the web and she said she would call the Visitor's Center to see if they could fix it! 

We really loved looking around her cute store, which had all kinds of items. We bought a little treat for Abby the RV (we'll show you later) and had a great time talking with the owner! 

And our treat was SO CUTE! It's a turtle! (An actual chocolate turtle...in the shape of a turtle!)

So that was our experience on the chocolate trail. We loved everything about it. We loved all the friendly shop owners we met and talked to. We loved the treats that were beyond what we expected to receive. (We imagined true, tiny samples.) We loved being able to support small businesses, especially this year, when we know so many of them are hurting financially. 

Well done, Wayne County. This trail was a great way to promote your small businesses and saved me SO much time in planning our trip to your county!

Start With the Airbnb

Yesterday was our 8th wedding anniversary, and planning a special celebration in the middle of a pandemic presented an interesting set of challenges for me/us! (I usually do the bulk of the trip planning.)

Here's the funny thing: I had a whole destination picked out for us and was busily researching what we could (maybe) do there, and just as importantly, where we could stay. Unfortunately my first destination of choice is a pretty popular tourist location at the holidays, so there weren't may options left - in our price range, anyway - by the time I got around to choosing an Airbnb. 

I'm not even sure how it happened that I ended up on a recommendation for the Airbnb I found, because it's not particularly close to my original destination, but somehow it came up. This is the honest truth: I changed our entire trip solely so we could stay at this Airbnb. We have stayed in several great Airbnb spots. We've loved them. Each one has a special story for us. But I think we will be hard-pressed to ever find something with this much raw charm ever again. This one was a gem, and it was worth rearranging every other detail of our trip. 

Though we booked it several weeks ago, before things started tightening again with regulations, I have to say that we both declared if all we could do for the whole trip was come and sit in this beautiful place and look at each other, it wouldn't be a loss at all. The Airbnb was cute enough to shelter in for a few days if we needed to. And if we could have packed up the whole place and brought it back to Grabill with us, you better know we would have. Adorable.

So what IS this place? And where is it? Well, it's in Richmond - Indiana, not Virginia - which most would probably not consider a destination high on the list. But I have to say, it turned out to be quite a fun-filled vacation, and we would highly recommend it. We doubled this as a county tour, and I'm not sure we could have seen all of Wayne County in any less than the four days we were gone. 

The Airbnb is called the Starr Loft, and it is everything you'd imagine about a loft: beams in the ceilings, exposed brick walls, and original hardwood floors with all their charming imperfections. Oh...and did I mention it sits perched above a coffee shop? 

Swoon.

It's in the depot district of Richmond, and we read on some reviews that the trains are annoying. Well, we live in the depot district of Grabill, so we've learned to tune out trains. We heard them throughout our visit, but they didn't bother us a bit. Sometimes we could hear coffee beans grinding downstairs or footsteps in and out the door, but all in all, the noises weren't at all distracting. And just wait until you SEE IT!! (Let's just do that now, shall we?)

Roscoe's is the coffee shop, and those four windows with white trim above it were our beautiful loft. We did have to tackle a bunch of stairs to get up there, but...workout, right?

(They mentioned if stairs weren't your thing, this might not be the stop for you...and we see why!) 

The stairs open into this massive open living/dining/kitchen with the windows overlooking the street. Breathtaking. 

The dining table (which we never used) was right at the top of the stairs.)

You can see a curtain in the back there, which is the "door" to the bedroom. I'll show you that in a minute. But first I'll swing around and let you see the living area that was on the other side. 

This was taken from the top of the stairs looking back toward the street. Amazing, right? That chandelier! And the little Christmas tree! And the drop cloth curtains! And the brick walls! and the beams! 

Just to the right of the Christmas tree was this daybed with a trundle. We didn't use it either, but it was cute! The TV was just to the right of it. 

The couches were deep and so comfortable. And so was that egg chair over in the corner!!

More deep, comfy couch love. 

And all this opened into a SWEET kitchen with a huge island. (We ate at that anytime we ate in.) This is taken from the window by the daybed, so you can see how it all fits together. 

Fancy fancy!

Ahhhhh that SINK!!!

And then there was this simple and beautiful bedroom. Not gonna lie: that bed was super comfy. This is our first trip since owning a weighted blanket that we haven't brought it along, and the covers were weighty enough that we slept perfectly soundly the whole time. 

The view from the bed looking out. 

Now...are you ready for the bathroom?

You're not...I can promise you. But prepare yourself!

Look at the SINK!!!!!!

And this TUB!!!!

And Ryan was super excited about the rain shower head (or whatever it's called) in the shower. 

Do you see now why this was worth choosing as a landing point, and planning a trip around it??

I'll tell you more about our trip in the coming days and you'll see we had plenty of adventures, but honestly we were back at the Airbnb by about 5:00 - or earlier! - every night and were perfectly happy to stay there and enjoy the amazing atmosphere. 

(Oh! And bonus: our stay came with 2 breakfasts AND 2 lattes every morning. All we had to do was run down all those stairs and zip into the next door over and tell the baristas we were staying upstairs. That may or may not have been another selling point.) 

As a precaution, we did re-sanitize all the surfaces when we arrived, though I know Airbnb has some pretty strict policies for owners to make sure they clean well. We loved our stay, and we would absolutely recommend this stop for ANYONE - especially those who appreciate character and atmosphere! 

Eight is Great

 

Today is one of my most favorite days in all the year: our anniversary. Today we celebrate eight years of doing life together! Every year on our anniversary, we read a letter we wrote to each other the year before, and then we write a new one to be read next year. And every year we say some version of, "well, we never imagined this year bringing along THAT!" 

Well, we'll be saying it again this year for sure - and in the biggest way ever so far. (Makes me nervous for next year!) 

So in the spirit of "didn't see that coming!" allow me to share some of my favorite moments from each of the last twelve months that show why I love doing life with Ryan, even if I didn't know to expect whatever God sent our way in this life!

December

Right after we arrived home from our seventh anniversary trip, we stepped into dressy clothes and onto the platform at our church to serve as narrators for The Sights and Sounds of Christmas. We didn't know it at the time, but it was our last time to be part of this program. Our worship pastor retired this past summer, gatherings of this size have been nixed, AND we moved away from town. We had no idea this was our last time. It was THE most powerful program. I plan to watch the DVD of it this year, because it was that moving. The music was amazing, and getting to serve with Ryan in this way was a joy for me. It always is.

January

In January, I went back to work full time - serving as a fill-in at church. This picture represents all the times Ryan surprised me at work at lunch to have a date with me, or got up early to take me on a pre-work coffee date or drove me to work because the roads were slick and slippery roads terrify me. He really is such a thoughtful husband in all the little details, and I love that about him. 

February

For Valentine's Day, Ryan planned a surprise overnight getaway to Indianapolis. He picked out a tiny Airbnb that overlooked the canal and the skyline, and we had the BEST time. There was a coffee shop IN OUR BUILDING, we were able to tour downtown the next day, and we had a great time together. We had NO idea that inside of a month, we wouldn't be able to travel on a whim anymore, so this was an extra wonderful surprise. I love all the detail he puts into things like this for us. Of course I love travel planning - and plan most of our trips! - but the fact that he's not afraid to dream up surprises like this makes me so happy!

March

Ahhh, the month when the world shut down.  When everything happened so quickly, he took it all in stride. He was reassigned for his job and welcomed the chance to try something different for a while. He served (without complaining) as the designated household runner, doing all the grocery shopping and anything else we needed so I could stay inside the house. (My job was also moved home at that point.) He launched into home improvement projects, knocking out a complete gut/remodel of our guest bathroom. He began perfecting his breakfast-making game and joined me on the couch for jammie church every Sunday. The world missed all the beats, but Ryan never missed one. When I was anxious about the changes, he calmed me. If you're going to be sheltered in place in a pandemic, you want to be sheltered with Ryan. It's the best gig.

April

We were still sheltering in April, and that month was SO different for us. We celebrated Ryan's birthday - at home. I turned our sun porch into a Giordano's restaurant and tried to make a special pie-themed night for him. We completely redecorated our guest room together. We celebrated Easter all by ourselves - doing all the cooking and having a very special day of worship together. But most of all, I was proud of Ryan for being part of a proning team for the hospital. He worked on a COVID unit and was trained to turn patients - even if they were on a ventilator. He spent his days working with a team that became dear to him, and he did all of this without showing an ounce of fear. I learned so much from him during this season - the embracing of change, the foraging ahead without fear, and the joy of being home together all day, every day. In fact, that was what led to some pretty big changes for us.

May

May was MY birthday month, and he planned an extravagant back-up party for me. His original plan (which I still don't know in case it could happen at another time) was canceled because of the virus, so he planned a beautiful Anne of Green Gables party for two. He made all the food from scratch (food inspired by the books and movie) and decorated our new guest room with Anne printables. Then we watched the movie in there and had a sleepover in our own guest room. He kept working on home projects - board and batten in our entry, plus painting in the living room and kitchen - and we had another BIG moment that month. We applied for a new job - just to see if God would open a door for us to work together. I loved celebrating with Ryan, working alongside him at home, and dreaming of working alongside him FOR work, too.

June

And so it was that in June, we were invited to interview for this new job. We went together and sat for three hours in a conference room, answering dozens of questions (that were really hard and deep!) and touring WillowBridge, wondering if it would be our new home someday. We were accepted for the job and one day later, Ryan's hospital announced its closure, eliminating his job. We launched into motion to sell our house (done in a jiffy!) and begin packing for our move!

July

And that's how July became garage sale/pack furiously/move temporarily/train for a new job/move for real month. Ryan was a rock star in it all. He helped me organize and run the garage sales. He helped me pack as many boxes as he could. He helped me choose what to bring for the temporary move. Together we sat through probably close to 50 hours of training for this new job, minds swirling to comprehend it all. And then he did all the heavy lifting in the move. If you ever move, you should have Ryan. He's the best at it. 

August

And then came August - where we took ownership of our new jobs for real. We planned community nights, settled into our new home, worked on organizing the building, and tried to figure out everything we needed to do. I learned in NO TIME that working alongside him every single day was really the absolute best plan in life. All day every day - from morning to night, we get to share life, and we love it.

September

We started to feel like we found our footing a bit by September. We kayaked and biked and took long walks and visited a sunflower farm. We had the best time outside of work and continued loving our work AT work. But we also realized it wouldn't kill us to be able to get away from the building on our days off, so we saw a new dream realized: we bought an RV. It was on the bucket list, and then it happened. I never could have imagined it. We are so excited for this chapter!

October

Felt like we found even more of our groove in October. We began to learn to balance work and regular life better, having fun in both. We embraced fall in all of its fallness - with pumpkins and corn mazes and salted caramel coffee - until we did the sugar detox. That's another thing we did together, because Ryan is that amazing and will detox with me even if he doesn't need to do it. We got back on a healthy eating train, and we both feel better!

November

The couple that remodels together...wears a lot of paint! We finished out this year of marriage by painting and painting and painting in our RV. And we decorated for Christmas. And we learned we can get through long solo runs of work if we band together. 

This is not the year we saw coming. We didn't see lost jobs and new jobs and apartment living and working in social work and sheltering in ANY place and buying an RV and demo for days in all kinds of places, but here we are, and there isn't another soul on this planet I would rather have all these adventures with. Ryan makes everything fun, easy, and delightful. He teaches me every single day. He models Christlikeness. He pursues God. He leads me - and leads me well. He spoils me, and I don't take him for granted.

Ryan, thank you for being my pandemic year partner. Thanks for eight astonishingly amazing years. Thank you for making the hard days better by the end of them. Thank you for bringing my coffee to me every morning and understanding when I need a scrapbooking break. Thank you for leading us so well. Thank you for working hard. Thank you for being YOU. I love you so much. Happy anniversary!

Thanksgiving in Shafferland

Happy DECEMBER FIRST, everyone! Eight years ago today we were rolling into Florida, then not rolling anywhere for three hours during the longest traffic jam my engaged heart had ever seen, and then finally rolling into our resort for our wedding! We were married just over 24 hours after we arrived. (That still boggles my mind when I look back on it.)

Today we are not driving anywhere, though we are enjoying our anniversary celebration and can't wait to tell you all about it. MEANWHILE...may I tell you about our Thanksgiving? I know. It was so last week. ;) So last month. But it was monumental, so I wanted to share!

Someone has to be on duty at WillowBridge at all times, so we sat down and worked out holiday breaks with Tim and Justine. It worked out that this year they would be off for Thanksgiving, so that meant we were on duty throughout that whole week, including Thanksgiving Day! We didn't invite anyone to join us, because we feared as soon as we made plans, something would come up work related, and we would have to abandon our company. So it was just us for Thanksgiving Day, and it was actually a really sweet and meaningful day to us. 

I shared with you a couple of weeks ago the menu I had planned - with all the recipes coming from Dashing Dish. We made them all and liked them! 

The night before Thanksgiving, I made the pumpkin scones, which, by the way, were really soft and delicious. I also made our no bake pumpkin cheesecake with an almond/oat flour crust, and I really enjoyed that, too!

I got up super early on Thanksgiving morning to put the ham and marinade in the slow cooker, and then I went back to bed. Ha! We got up a little later and spent the entire morning rotating between daily work chores and cooking our dishes!

Everything was done right on schedule! (Two of the dishes we baked had to be done at one temperature and two at another, so we used our oven and the community room oven simultaneously and it worked perfectly!

We didn't want the food to get cold, so we didn't mess with a tripod picture that day.

Braeya wanted to make her presence known. ALWAYS when she smells ham, does she make her presence known.

She thinks she's so sneaky.

After lunch, Ryan got to watch some football for a while, and then we went to get our live Christmas tree, which I will tell you about on another day.

Last year we ran from gathering to gathering - four in total, actually. This year was much more restful, even though we did all the work ourselves, and even though we were working. (We did more work throughout the evening and into the night to make up for our holiday meal time.) 

I know a Thanksgiving like this would probably make some sad, and that is okay, but we found it really sweet in its own way! And I was so excited to say we had cooked an entire Thanksgiving meal on our own!