Quality Inn Bloomington

I do have some rules.
If I...

by gkitzmil

I do have some rules.
If I post a place, I've been there!! If I recommend a hotel, I know that hotel!! AND I only put 'I will be there' next to places I am going SOON. No dreaming -- this is my real life!

I rate exactly as I see it. So, yes I've actually given a 'not very helpful' rating -- but otherwise this is just a game for people.

I love this site but do not want to abuse it.
your friend in Travel. -- Greg

Tibetan Cultural Center - 3655...

by gkitzmil

Tibetan Cultural Center - 3655 Snoddy Road, Bloomington. (812) 334-7046. Dedicated to the people of Tibet, this Cultural Center offers a relaxing and peaceful setting for meditating and reflecting. The Tibetan Chorten here is the only one in the nation. Hours: Grounds open Wednesday from noon - 4 p.m., Saturday and Sunday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Center open Sundays 1 p.m. - 3 p.m. www.kiva.net/~tcc

Dagon Garden Tensung Ling Monastery - Cascades Park, 102 Clubhouse Drive, Bloomington. (812) 339-0857.

Good Bread

by gkitzmil about Bakehouse -- of Scholar's Inn

More than a bakery this is a small restaurant for breakfast and lunch (though they don't seem to open until 8:00 AM so it is fine if you eat breakfast later than I do). The breads are truly the best in town.

However, for 'take out' coffee while it is very good you get the smallest cup among competitors at the same price and they charged me extra for a shot of soy milk.

blooming gulch

by dancarrigan

"also the comic strip bloom county..."

here's another place i would have never become so intimate with if i hadn't had vehicle problems. i spent a whoe summer there and part of the fall with a faulty transmission that was pulled twice and evetually failed to strand me in punta gorda (see that city).
it's a little oasis with limestone buildings and about seventy-five percent of the population is kids attending indiana university. this means that at the end of the csummer it goes from being a cute little college town to a never-ending cascade of young adults sliding along in their flip-flops, mining the area with chewing gum, and throwing food at each other at night, drunk , and urinating in public. also manifest there is the perpensity to break windows, which i think might be a chicago thing. i heard of windows being broken. i had my own van window smashed too. that had also happened in the mission district of san fran' but at least they took the cb radio. a lot of the wage earners are college graduates that likd it so much they graduated and setled down instead of leaving. the general i.q. is about twice the u.s. average, balanced by a good contingent of red neck ingorants who can barely read. north of bloomington is martinsville which is or was some kind of kkk hold out. at one time indiana was four fifths kkk! but bloomington is full of ethnic restaurants and old hippies and nerds and college hotties and the music and business scholls of i.u. are reputable. the limestone comes from a small town nearby and is the capital of the world for that. some astronauts also eminated from there, the first ones. something in the water? the bike film "breaking away" was filmed there, and john cougar is a native too. i had some audio mastered at red bud studios, where i was told he used to rehearse. there's a lot of national forest around there and a large artificial lake called monroe. i've gotten chiggers twice in those woods and would advise all to be carefull. i will not camp there again. but the poeple are mostly friendly. the library is one of the best i've ever seen and the social services are good and plenty. you can see horse driven carts on the sie of the highways regularly. amish? the dali lama's brother or cousin has a restaurant there i think and like asheville, is supposed to be a vortex or something.

Greg's Local Tips

by gkitzmil

"Hometown"

Bloomington, Indiana is the home of Indiana University, but is also quite a nice town

I already built an IU travelogue on my Indiana Page so please look there. Otherwise, Bloomington is a somewhat diverse town because of the many students from many countries who come here. Bloomington, DO NOT come here looking for the Mall of America.:-) as that is in MN not IN

There are restaurants representing Thai food, Japanese food, Tibetan food (the Dhali Llama visit regularly), Ethiopian food, and many more. I love the Mexican food here though it is not as good in Mexico! Bloomington still has a vibrant town square. Oh, and it has ME!

Monroe County was created by an Act of the Indiana General Assembly in 1818. Its present county boundaries were established by 1836. Bloomington first became a settlement about 1816 when President James Monroe selected the site for a seminary. A few people had settled here, probably because it was on a trading route, springwater was available in abundance and drainage was good. In 1818 the settlement was surveyed and losts were sold to create a town that was made the county seat of the newly established Monroe County.

In 1820 the state confirmed Bloomington as the site of Indiana University, at that time called Indiana Seminary. The site was then near the center of population of the state. The location her of the university has had a major influence upon the growth adn development of the town.

There are many legends surrounding the naming of Bloomington. One oral tradition maintains that the name was suggested when a group of early settlers, gazing from a hill overlooking the site, were impressed by the flowers and foliage which were in bloom. Another legend suggests that the name honors an early settler, William Bloom.

local weather click here

"SMALL TOWN"

Bloomington is also a great hometown. It is the current home of singer John Mellencamp, of many famous artists, writers, and many others of us who love a small town but one with many restaurants and a beautiful setting.

If you like this page, please rate it. Not so many people do and I'd love to know of you like it -- thanks, Greg

"MANY RESTAURANTS"

During 2009 I plan to take more pictures around town. Kirkwood Avenue and the Town Square are great areas to find restaurants.

My favorite restaurants but NOT in a rank order include:
Uptown Cafe
Irish Lion
Nick's as a Bloomington tradition
Crazy Horse (great beer selection)
Lennie's (and the Bloomington Brewing Company)
Samira for unusual Afghan cuisine
the Farm for a great slow food concept
Talent for wonderful owners and haute cuisine
Longhorn Steakhouse as best CHAIN in town
Yogi's for second best beer selection and good food