2nd Annual Challenge of Travel

Welcome to the 2nd Annual Challenge of Travel.  Erin had the idea of a Staycation edition - what can be done for fun in your location. Mostly mine is a history, college and food journey of Lafayette/West Lafayette, Indiana.

Welcome to Lafayette - the third smartest city in the country - according to Lumosity's Smartest Cities website.  And yes, I was surprised to learn about this as anyone else - seriously - Lafayette????

Wabash River - The name "Wabash" is an English spelling of the French name for the river, "Ouabache." French traders named the river after the Miami Indian word for the river, waapaahšiiki, meaning "it shines white", "pure white", or "water over white stones" (Wiki)

Just so you have an idea of geographic location of where Lafayette is; it is 63 miles northwest of Indianapolis, 108 miles southeast of Chicago and is on the Wabash River.  West Lafayette is located on the other side of the Wabash River and is home to Purdue University. (Wiki)

Downtown courthouse

The town of Lafayette was platted in May 1825 by William Digby, a trader.  Like many frontier towns Lafayette was named for General Lafayette.  (Wiki)

Purdue University was founded on May 6, 1869 as a land-grant university.  The Indiana General Assembly accepted a donation of land and money from Lafayette businessman John Purdue, to establish a college of science, technology, and agriculture in his name.  The first classes were held on Sept 16, 1874 with six instructors and 39 students. (Wiki)

Saturday Farmer's Market

A few weeks ago mom and I decided to walk around Lafayette and take pictures of some of our favorite hangouts. 

On Saturday's mom and I head downtown to stop at the farmer's market to pick up some fruits and veggies for the week.  This is the really the first year we have done this on a consistent basis (mom was diagnosed with diabetes so we are eating lots and lots of fruits and veggies and trying to be healthy).

"Purdue P" on campus

Both mom and I work at Purdue.  I have been working there since 2001 and mom has been working there, on and off, since 1985.  We both love walking on campus and taking photos of the buildings and of course the flowers at the hort park.

Columbian Park is where we will take the kids when they are here for a visit.  They love going to the swim park and every once and awhile they want to go to the zoo or play on the playground.   And of course the Colt World Series happens here each year.

Now onto my favorite things in Lafayette - the food :)

Dog N Suds (photo from FB Site)

Dog N Suds is a 55-year old drive in restaurant with some awesome burgers, coney dogs and of course their homemade root beer in a frosted glass. 

McCord Candies shop (no we are not part of this McCord family, rats!)  opened in 1912 as Glatz's Candy. At the time, the first floor was up a flight of stairs (The ground was a barber shop and a millinery shop. Lee Glatz eventually remodeled and operated the shop until his death in 1928. Ivey McCord purchased the business in 1947 and members of the McCord family joined the business over the years. Current owners Michael and Melissa Becker bought the business in 2005. In keeping with the rich tradition of this downtown landmark, the Becker's continue to offer many candies made in the third floor kitchens. The original McCord traditions and the old-fashioned atmosphere remain. (from McCord Candies website)  I think the best thing from this store is their handmade candy canes during the Christmas holidays!

Arni's Pizza - "Square" Pizza

Arni's pizza - In 1965 the first Arni’s opened at Market Square Shopping Center in Lafayette by Arni Cohen (website).   Because my dad was in the Army, we only had Arni's pizza when we came to visit my grandparents.  My brother and I always called it square pizza because we never could remember the name of the restaurant and they sliced the pizza in to square pieces.  When we moved back home in 1985 we had Arni's a lot, and I do have to say I kind of got tired of it :)  Still, they make some great pizzas and salads!

This is of course one of the best treats out there - the original Frozen Custard.  I tried to find the history of it but no such luck yet.  I just remember going here as a kid and getting a chocolate custard cone and thinking this was the best thing ever!  I think my favorite thing now is their fruit drink and when it is made properly their pineapple sherbert (YUMO)!

Okay, now that I have given a small taste of Lafayette here is what mom and I ended up creating for our challenge piece.

Indiana Fan Pull

Mom and I first had an idea of taking all the pics that we took and making a collage and then having it printed on metal - that didn't happen.  So, last week I came up with the idea of sawing out a pendant of the state of Indiana.

Well, the pendant ended up being bigger than our normal pendants so mom asked me what are you going to do with it now - so I decided on a fan pull :)  The pendant is sawed out from 20 gauge copper (I sawed out the perimeter and mom sawed out the star and the "P").  The star is the location of Lafayette and I used a "P" for Purdue.  The colors I used were blue and gold, from our state flag and gold and black for the "P" since that is Purdue's colors.

The beads are ones that I made and of course it is black and gold for Purdue.  The wire is something mom made up when we were into making wire bracelets a few years ago.

So, that is our piece for the 2nd Annual Challenge of Travel - Staycation.  Please head on over to Erin's blog, Treasures Found, to see what everyone else has created.  I am now off to check everyone out.  Thanks for stopping by and learning a bit about our little corner of the universe.