Weekend in Bloomington, Indiana: Part 2

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Onto part 2 of our weekend in Bloomington, Indiana! It was great to have a full day to explore the city… and we were blessed with amazing autumn weather. So we started the day with a light brunch at La Vie en Rose, which is a charming and authentic French cafe, specializing in French pastries and quiches, baked in house daily. We parked right out front, were quickly seated inside their cute cafe, and enjoyed lattes, quiches (leek & bacon was so good!) and split a butter-sugar crepe, which was my favorite. After brunch, we left the car parked there and decided to explore Bloomington by scooter!

Visit Bloomington sponsored this trip. As always, opinions are my own.

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First, we stopped to Hopscotch Coffee for a quick latte! I loved their matcha latte with soy. The interior is small — no place to sit at this location, but thankfully the weather was perfect to enjoy drinks outside! Super cute though. After that, we found a couple of scooters to ride around on! The scooters were one of my favorite parts of our trip to Bloomington. SO FUN. They are scattered all over the city, all you have to do is scan the code with an app, and you’re off! It was recommended to us that we ride scooters along the B-Line Trail. We hopped on and ended up at the end of a construction site where the new Switchyard Park is going to be (which looks so cool!) We stopped after spotting Cardinal Spirits (right on the trail) to try a couple of their cocktails on their outdoor patio! I went for the Cider House Yules, which was a hot cider with maple syrup, orange & lemon peel, cinnamon, clove and star anise. I added honey schnapps… so yummy!

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After that, we finished riding the trail to the end and back to our car, and decided to head out to Oliver Winery, which was probably my favorite thing we did the entire trip. I love wineries and wine, of course, but this place was SO special. First off, the grounds and the building itself was so beautiful. Second off, the service was exceptional! We got there, were able to sign up for a spot to wine taste (instead of crowding people waiting for them to leave), we didn’t have to wait long at all before we were up wine tasting. And I loved their wines. My favorite bottles (that we took home) were a wine (Apple Pie), their Beanblossom Hard Cider (Peach) and their Camelot Mead (which is a honey wine).

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We ended up buying an additional bottle of Apple Pie wine to enjoy outside. They have tons of picnic tables, places to sit, along with a nice selection of pretzels, dips, crackers, meats & cheeses. We got a little meat & cheese platter… and they had cups available, uncorked our wine, like… best experience ever right?! I loved it. Sitting outside in that autumn weather, drinking apple pie wine, ugh, I was in a little slice of heaven! Haha. After that, we snapped a few pictures in the vineyards, before heading back into downtown Bloomington for dinner!

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So we headed downtown, parked, and ended up stopping into their local Urban Outfitters for a minute to shop around before heading into dinner! I scored a cute blue-ish green teddy coat on sale for half off! After that, we walked next door to Lennie’s. We were seated right away, great service! We asked the waitress what to order for an appetizer, and she said the fried pickles were “kick the door down” good, hahaha. So we ended up ordering those (I love fried pickles!) and a split a Love Supreme pizza — which is red sauce, pepperoni, sausage, green peppers, onions and mushrooms. After that, we checked out Switchyard Brewing, which we also both loved. They had a seasonal hot hard cider that is house-mulled, and it was so good. I ended up having two mugs! Definitely recommend that brewery when visiting!

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And since I’m not doing a part 3 and we ended up heading out after brunch on our final day in Bloomington, just wanted to do a special shout out to The Uptown Cafe! That was our last meal of the trip… and a Bloomington favorite! It was recommended to try the Chorizo & Eggs, so that’s exactly what I did. It was delicious, served with corn tortillas, so I ate them like delicious breakfast tacos! We also got the cheddar jalapeño grits, also very yummy! It was a good combination actually to split both of those meals. So yeah, after that, we made the snowy trek back to Michigan! Thank you to Visit Bloomington for a wonderful trip… I loved exploring this new-to-us city and can’t wait to go back someday!

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outfits, travelTieka Knightautumn, indianaComment