Quiz: Is this place for real?

While I’m in Indiana, see if you can tell which of these places from t.v. and movies really exist. Even if you’re not familiar with the shows or the state, take your best shot!

Answers to each question are after the photos (which are from other places, so they won’t give anything away).

1. Hoosiers

Let’s start with some facts about a quintessential Indiana classic: the film Hoosiers. Yes, people from Indiana do call themselves Hoosiers for reasons that are unclear. Yes, basketball is huge in the state.

Question: Was Hoosiers based on the actual basketball team of Hickory High School?

A: No. The Hoosiers story was based on Milan High School in Milan, Indiana. There’s a Hickory Creek, Hickory Ridge, and even a Hickory Elementary School, but no town of Hickory or Hickory High School.

2. Parks and Recreation

The recently-concluded sitcom took place in the quirky Parks Department of a small town.

Q: Is there a Pawnee, Indiana?

A: Knope. While there is a Pawnee Drive in Jefferson, Indiana, you’d have to cross into neighboring state Illinois to find a town named Pawnee.

Hopefully, the rampant raccoon problem and polluted river are also fictional.

3. The Music Man

This is a musical about a small town visited by the traveling Harold Hill, who (spoiler alert!) never attended the Gary Conservatory.

Q: What about his supposed home sweet home? Is there even a place called Gary, Indiana (Gary INdiana, Gary Indiana…)?

A: Yes! There’s also a New Paris, York, and Rome! And a Louisiana Street in Gary.

4. The Middle

This show is about a family in the middle of the country with a middle income and especially about their middle child.

Q: Is there a town of Orson somewhere in the middle of Indiana?

A: Once again, Orson Only exists in Illinois.

I’m also starting to suspect there are no Thundering Hens.

5. Bridges of Madison County

This was a book and then a movie. I haven’t read/seen either. Any good?

Q: Is there a Madison County, Indiana?

A: Yes. But, as it turns out, Bridges of Madison County is actually referring to Madison County, Iowa.

While Indiana’s Polke County claims to be the covered bridge capital of the world, there may not be any in Madison County, Indiana. Most of our trip itinerary is within that county, so we’ll have more on what you actually can find there soon.

How’d you do on the quiz?

July 6, 2015June 30, 2015

Everything Else

We finally found a roadside store along the Southern Arizona highway, and it was huge.

Inside they had all kinds of stuff for sale – postcards, gum, travel toothbrushes, beef jerky, deodorant, wind chimes, ceramic cow skulls, dolls with fairy wings, silver and turquoise Native American jewelry, rolling suitcases, and Michael Jackson frog figurines.

Everything except tampons.

Which is actually all I had needed.

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July 2, 2015July 5, 2022

Honey Bear’s BBQ

[UPDATE March 2022: Since writing this, Honey Bear’s has remodeled their original restaurant on Van Buren, and (I believe) closed their additional locations. I don’t get to Phoenix as often these days, but, from what I hear, their food remains delicious!]

In Phoenix, summer barbecue season means feeling like you’re on the grill whenever you step outside.

When I was looking through photos for pre-Independence Day post ideas, I came across some from Honey Bear’s BBQ, and I thought, “well, that beats standing in the sun in triple-digit temps!”

Inside a building with a charmingly ramshackle facade on Van Buren in Phoenix, two families have been serving slow-cooked Tenessee-style barbecue since 1986. They regularly win New Times Best of Phoenix awards.

If you can’t decide between a barbecue pork, beef, or chicken sandwich, you can get sliders and try them all. They also have really good sides – classics like cole slaw and mac + cheese.

The original Van Buren location is not far from Papago Park. In fact, the last time we visited was right after a trip to the Phoenix Zoo. They also have a restaurant on Central. And you’ll be able to find them at several events around the Valley of the Sun 4th of July weekend.

June 29, 2015June 25, 2019

Indypendence Day

I’ve got a family reunion coming up in Indiana over the 4th of July weekend.

I tend to spend a fair amount of time while I’m there sitting on porches, catching up with great aunts and uncles and cousins, sipping sweet tea and eating really delicious pie.

This time, we’ll also be checking out some local sights and craft – and keeping an eye out for sweet corn stands.

If I don’t drown in the humidity, it should be a nice time.

I have posts scheduled to go up here while I’m gone, and you can follow our Indiana fun on Instagram (#heartlandiana).

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June 25, 2015June 25, 2015

Life Crush

1. The Mountains

After a very cold winter in the tiny former mining town of Silver Plume, Colorado, the weather finally cleared up enough for Dram Apothecary to open up their patio on a mid-March Saturday.

On Instagram, they post shots of their rustic bakery-turned-cocktail-tasting-room or of things they make – teas, cocktails, syrups – or of founder Shae Whitney foraging for wild herb ingredients. They are near a place called Snowdrift Gulch, which was especially fitting the months that their photos were of white streets, foggy gray skies, and flurries outside the windows.

Then, one weekend, they posted a photo of their (finally) sunny patio and announced they’d planned a party, complete with a DJ spinning super old school tracks from the ’20s, ’30s, and ’40s.

A lot of people thought that sounded like fun (it did!), but one comment jumped out at me: “I want this life.”

It made me wonder what the commenter’s life was like.

So I clicked over to her Instagram feed.

2. The Beach

The want-your-life commenter is somewhere in Southern California. The previous week her car thermometer had said 92 degrees – while snow was still falling on Dram Apothecary.

She posts amusing photos of dogs, she bakes, and she makes really cool-looking cocktails. She posted a photo of a guy on a beach with a surfboard hashtagged something like #myhusbandishotterthanyours.

It doesn’t seem like a bad life.

In fact, in response to one silly shot, where she is pretending to eat an apple right off the tree, someone commented “life crush.”

In other words, this person has a crush on the life of the woman that wants the life of Shae at Dram Apothecary.

So I clicked over to the life crush-er’s feed.

3. The Campground

It was a private account. But there was a link to a photo blog.

There are lots of photos of friends goofing off on camping trips. Lots of campfires and lakes, woods and desert. There is one of a guy with a marshmallow-toasting stick between his teeth. Another one is this big white, fluffy dog laying in the grass.

Her bio lists her location as Los Angeles, but one post is titled “my home is Colorado”.

So these photos have taken us from Colorado to Southern California and back.

4. Where You Live

Each of the women we’ve visited have scenery around them that is beautiful in its own way, time to have fun, and people to share it all with.

I bet you do too. Try imagining you’re a different person in a different place with a different set of ups and downs in your life.

Then flip through your photos, look at the views, the celebrations, the things that made you laugh, the people you love. And get a little jealous of yourself.

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Note: All the photos in this post are mine. I haven’t included any from the people I mention or linked to the commenters, because my intention is not to single them out or say they should have a different attitude, but to show how we all have those grass-is-greener moments, even if we have it pretty good.

In case you’re curious, here’s where the photos above were taken – 1: Nederland, CO 2: Ridgway, CO 3: San Diego, CA 4: Tempe, AZ 5+6: Sierra Vista, AZ 7: Four Corners area 8: Scottsdale, AZ