My Road Trip to Indiana

 

My friend Lisa and I have wanted to take this road trip to the state over from our home state of Illinois for a while now. She wanted to visit the late actor James Dean's hometown. I knew who James was but I'd never really payed attention; all I knew was that he was VERY cute. 

I then watched Rebel Without a Cause a few years ago and I was HOOKED. James Dean was my man. I mean, it was the 1950's, but I really loved that movie. 

So, for Lisa's golden birthday, we traveled to the state of Indiana to have a fun time. 

I have to admit, I didn't plan this trip at all, I just was a passenger in the car. I let Lisa decide what to do and where to go and I still had a blast. 

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Day 1: August 29th

We left home to drive the 3.5 hour trip to Indianapolis to go to P&D Flower Farm. It was a "You-Pick" farm where you pick your own flowers and pay at the end. It was $10 for 14 stems, which was what I bought. 

Unfortunately, the flowers were pretty much bare bones. Nothing was really there. I was shocked. BUT one of the (really great) employees told Lisa that a girl made a Tik Tok about the flower farm which brought so much traffic that they weren't prepared for! So that's why everything was already picked! I got some smaller flowers and I still thought they were pretty. I also wanted to make sure I got some to put on James' grave the next day. 

Lisa had heard of this town called Carmel, Indiana. I guess she knew someone who lives there but she said she saw it was a cute town and we were very hungry for dinner. So we drove a little ways away to get to the cutest little town (it was so cute that Lisa and I kept saying how much we would definitely move there). It was actually really bustling, too. We chose a restaurant called Juniper on Main. We put our name on the list and waited about 20 minutes to get a seat. Not terrible for a Saturday. 

We ended up getting the best waitress we could get. Her name is Sara and she was THE sweetest. I immediately was drawn to her as a person (also, her husband is named Josh, so HI JOSH AND SARA!) I got the most amazing tacos I've ever eaten: Crab Rangoon Tacos. I was all around so happy and calm while sitting there, sipping my water and eating our appetizer of huge cornbread. 

Lisa and I headed to our AirBnB pretty late that night. We got there when it was dark, around 9:30 pm. It was in a place called Upland, Indiana. I swear, it was the cutest BoHo set up I've ever seen. I'm not even being dramatic. We took some pictures of the place and I made myself a drink and we just...relaxed. I wasn't the one driving, but it felt good to relax for me, too! I got pretty sleepy around 10 pm and we were getting up pretty early, so I went into my cute bedroom and tried to sleep the night away (I said "tried" because I barely slept. I have a hard time sleeping in new places sometimes!)

Day 2: August 30

The next morning, we took some more cute pictures with the AirBnB in Upland, then left that cute little place. We went to Cracker Barrel for breakfast and I forgot how good their hash browns were. I should have bought some to go...

But then we were on our way to Fairmount, Indiana, the hometown of James Dean!

When we go to the Fairmount, it was real quiet. Then we figured out it was Sunday and church hadn't gotten out yet. Lisa and I went to the cemetery first to put our kind-of wilted flowers on James' resting place. There is a tradition to kiss is grave stone and it was all over the internet about doing it. So I bought the reddest and cheapest lipstick I could find and yes, I did kiss James Dean. 

Lisa and I then headed to the James Dean Gallery. Thank God it was open on Sunday because literally everything else in the town was closed! Even the coffee shop. But the gallery had so many cool artifacts and things that James had written and touched. What really made me put things in perspective that James was a real person and not just a legend, was the 1950's candid photos of him. Real film with a real guy on it. It was wild to me for some reason. 

Back in the small gallery gift shop, we met Lenny. Lenny has worked in the gallery for 30 years and we talked to him for a good 30 minutes (at least!). He was the best guy ever and I learned so much more about James. Lenny told us that the gate keeper at the cemetery cleans off this grave site every week because it gets piled with so many things: cowboy boots, blue jeans, beer, cigarettes. He then said "people kiss it too! I guess it's really hard to get off". Oh my GOD. I didn't tell Lenny what I just did, but with the cheap lipstick I bought, I was hoping it would come off easy...but also, it's literally in the town map to go and kiss the headstone. NOT MY FAULT! I LOVE JAMES. 

Lenny then went on to tell us the good spots in the town to visit. I'm trying to not talk about Lenny too much because boy, I could go on forever. But when we were leaving, he said "see the guy mowing across the street? That's James' second cousin!" So freaking cool. I guess some of the family still live in the town, which I think is so awesome as it kind of preserves the history.

We then went to the middle of Fairmount. A town with only 1 stop light. Lisa and I took some really cool pictures. I am obsessed with the picture Lisa took of me standing in front of the same exact bank that James stood in front of. I also leaned against the same brick wall as him, no big deal. Also, the townspeople were incredibly nice. They waved at us, they stopped for us when we were in the middle of the street taking pictures. What a sweet little town. 

Then later, after getting our James Dean fill, we were off to go to Cataract Falls: Indiana's Largest Waterfall. When we got there, we didn't know we had to pay. I guess it IS the largest waterfall, so making money would be a top priority.

IT WAS NOT LARGE AT ALL! 

But it was still pretty neat. Not good paths at all, though. The rock "steps" were loose and it was so uneven that I also fell twice. Mind you, I was in a maxi dress I bought from Target. I didn't know I was going hiking...

When we got down to one of the falls (there are 2 apparently), kids were playing underneath it. Why couldn't I play underneath it, too? That would make for cute pictures! So, in a blue maxi dress and seeing glasses still on my face, I got drenched in a waterfall. It was actually pretty cool. I definitely got more soaked than I thought I would, though!

After leaving the "HUGE" waterfalls, we were on our way home.

 After a pit stop for me to change in a gas station bathroom into drier clothes. But the 4.5 hours home was nice. We listened to music while Lisa dramatically screamed when bugs flew into her windshield.

All in all, I had such a fun time. Wonderful pictures, wonderful memories, wonderful people.   

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I'd like to say a HUGE thank you to Lisa for planning this trip (and driving!) 

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