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Health & Fitness

In Search of a Little Harmony

Here's a suggestion for an interesting trip, close to St. Louis, but two hundreds years away. It's called New Harmony, on the banks of the Wabash River, just across the Illinois border in Indiana.

Me and Sadie

Okay, Sadie is my Golden Retriever, and she loves to go for a ride. So last week we headed east on I-64. Our destination: New Harmony, Indiana. I'd heard about it, read about it, but had never been there. So I put my freelance writing on hold, a couple of videos bios I was working on in a file, put a Ziploc bag of dog food in the trunk, along with a large bottle of water and we hit the road.

New Harmony - Where Time Has No Meaning

Tell you what I mean by that in a minute. We stopped at all 3 rest stops between Kirkwood and Indiana Hiway 63. Not that I needed a rest, but Sadie needed the exercise... and do her business. We crossed the state line between Illinois and Indiana about 2:00, headed south, and ten minutes later we were on Main Street in town. Not much of a main street, rather empty, but maybe because it was middle of the day, middle of the week. Eventually we hit the Visitor's Center, a magnificent contemporary structure designed by Richard Meier. A young man there gave me a short description of the town's layout, along with a map, and a tip about getting a good lunch at Samuel's Place. He was right. Great pizza. Now here's what I mean about time having no meaning. Along with the modern center and a contemporary inn called New Harmony Inn (clever name), there are nestled homes and structures from the early 1800's, along lush tree-lined streets. You are simultaneously in the past and the present, and it all fits comfortably. 

By 5 o'clock, I was so relaxed I just wanted to stretch out on a grassy lawn in The Roofless Church, another contemporary concept, this one by Phillip Johnson. I would have had dinner at the Red Geranium, a really classy restaurant, but I was wearing only shorts and a tee shirt, and didn't want to be thrown out. Here's the point, I guess. Sometimes you just have to go somewhere different, someplace you've heard about, and live for the adventure of it all. I'm not a travel writer, but I do love to go to new places, even someplace only 2 1/2 hours away, like New Harmony. And it helps if you have a beautiful Golden with you who loves to travel. 

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