Visiting Stacy

Ashley headed out to Indiana without Ben and Maia. The following are some of her experiences on the vacation.



Nate and Stacy are living in a big apartment in Bloomington, Indiana while Nate is attending law school. It is very cute and decorated tastefully! There was plenty of room for all of us to hang out and talk or watch movies.

The town is equally cool. It is a small town full of college students. It reminds me of a Park City/Manoa mix only much further away from a larger city. It only takes about five minutes to drive from one end to the other. However, they have some very neat shops and restaurants in between the borders. We went to a vegetarian burrito place called The Happy Planet, a small book store with reprints of children's books from the last century, a game store with a place to play WarHammer and Magic in the basement, a children's clothing boutique, and a very large grocery store where we got some icecream made from coconut milk.

We also did some things outside of the main part of Bloomington. We drove to Lake Monroe where we saw a beautiful egret and we climbed a firetower and walked for a bit in a state park. It was amazing looking out above the fall trees and imagining that we were looking across other states!

The most stunning thing about Bloomington was the university's campus. The building are made of limestone (which is quarried there) and the names of the colleges are etched in the stone above the doors. They have a nice arboretum and an area of untouched land on the campus, full of squirrels (more unbuilt, than untouched). There is also a lovely fountain, an antique book library, an impressive art museum, and a large union building which includes a hotel. I can see why the students choose to live next to nothing in exchange for the school. It is beautiful!

The most amazing thing that I saw was actually as I was leaving Indiana. My flight left quite early and from my window seat, I got to view the most incredible sunrise that I have ever seen!!! I feel lucky to be able to see that.