Sunday, Aug 9 2015

Sorry for the delay in the blog.  WiFi is not the greatest and it is sometimes difficult to be in the right place at the right time.  Today we decided to have a VERY low key day since we have spent about 24 hours traveling in the last 2 days.  As a matter of fact - Kathy got up at 10 and took pictures of everyone.  The only ones up were grandpa, grandma and Aimee.  I scared grandma getting out of the shower (Hehehe.  Don't tell her that made the photoslide show!)
Everyone (except Kathy) had Krispy Kreme donuts for breakfast.  Then Grandma, Grandpa, Kathy and Andy went to finish registering, and to pick up a few supplies.  We headed to CVS and Jay C (grocery store).  When we got back we made homemade pizza for lunch.
After lunch Nick used the bathroom - when we asked why it took so long we were informed that it takes a while for the 2 foot snake to come out.  (Might I remind you that Nick thought a giraffe's neck is 21 inches) LMAO
At this time the whole group headed out to explore.  If you think this is an easy task getting 8 people moving out the door - to quote grandma (You got to be shittin me!)  Thinking I might need to go purchase a cattle prod!
We headed to the French Lick resort.  For nearly 170 years there has been a lodging establishment operating at the current site of French Lick Springs Hotel. It all began in 1845, when Dr. William Bowles, a physician from Paoli, Indiana, opened the first French Lick Springs Hotel.  In 1901 the outgoing mayor of Indianapolis, Tom Taggart, along with a small group of investors, formed the French Lick Hotel Company and bought the property. It was under Tom Taggart's imaginative direction that French Lick Springs Hotel made great strides in décor, development and transportation.
Taggart modernized and expanded the mineral springs for which the hotel was becoming famous. He built pavilions to shelter them and added a new bath building on the current site of the Spa at French Lick Springs Hotel. He brought electricity, a fresh water system and a trolley line to the town. He built a new bottling house to bottle water from his Pluto Spring for national distribution.

Also in 1917, the world famous chef Louis Perrin first served tomato juice. As luck would have it one morning he was out of oranges and could not serve the traditional orange juice. Needing to serve some sort of juice at breakfast, Chef Perrin squeezed tomatoes and the rest is history.
In 1946, Thomas Taggart, Junior sold French Lick Springs Hotel. Over the next nearly 60 years French Lick Springs Hotel was owned by five companies operating out of five different states, none of which was Indiana. It wasn’t until 2005 when French Lick Springs Hotel was purchased by COOK Group, Inc. The COOK Group, a global medical device manufacturing company, headquartered in Bloomington, Indiana, that stepped in to preserve both French Lick Springs Hotel and West Baden Springs Hotel. Under the direction of Bill, Gayle and their son, Carl Cook, both hotels and their grounds received a multi-million dollar renovation returning them to the grandeur of the days of Taggart and uniting them as one resort. In 2006, French Lick Springs Hotel reopened after an extensive renovation and new addition, French Lick Casino. The original 1917 “Hill Course” was reopened and restored as The Donald Ross Course. With the completion of the West Baden Springs Hotel restoration in 2007 French Lick Resort was born.
The hotel is gorgeous!  Bowling alley, arcade, shopping promenade, indoor and outdoor pool and tennis courts, golf course, riding stables, restaurants, bars, just to name a little.

At this time the group split up and grandma and grandpa hit the casino (did I forget to mention that!)
Everyone else, boarded the trolleys and headed to the sister property West Baden.  As pretty as French Lick - West Baden makes it look sad.  West Baden was so elegant.  Loved the domed center room with all the rooms overlooking it!

We managed to meet back up at French Lick - and we decided to take a carriage ride.  Not long after boarding - it began to POUR..  The driver radioed in and asked if we could go to the garage - he said it was fine but we were only going to get a little light rain! Ha - would love to see what he considers a down pour.  Rose, the horse, led us around the property, across covered bridge and by 9 deer!

By now we headed back to the room - still  exhausted from all our travel earlier.