From Jasper we wound down the road to French Lick. We stopped at the French Lick Springs Hotel is beautiful. The renovated hotel is connected to a casino. I turned my $20 dollars in to $25 on a video poker game. I then turned that in to $15 on a slot machine.
I was anxious to check out West Baden Springs Hotel. Click here for some history. The photo above is taken from one end of the lobby (a classic 'long arm' photograph- stretching my arm out as long as I can and snapping the picture). The 200 foot in diameter dome was the largest in the world for sixty years and called The Eighth Wonder of the World for decades. The hotel fell in disrepair, was used as a seminary, community college and Larry Bird basketball camp before totally closing in the mid 1980s. The Historic Landmarks Foundation of Indiana, with the help of community financial support bought the property. The renovation has spent decades, but they are doing it right - it is amazing.
Karen and I got a cocktail at the lobby bar and settled in the big chairs under the middle of the dome to get a taste of how the other half lives. I can't wait to go back and visit.
I had a nice nap on the way home. Thanks for driving Jim!
The wedding and the take-our-time trip home felt like a little vacation. It was wonderful.
1 comment:
Oh Man,
WBS Hotel is on my short list of must see places in Indiana. Did I ever tell you about Band Camp 1975? We stayed at the WBS Hotel when it was Manchester College. Yikes! It was like something out of The Shining. Very creepy then.
I want to see it restored in all its glory.
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