Posted by ayersian
, June 30, 2009 18:55
After an absolutely beautiful night of camping at Salt Fork State Park, we drove into Cambridge, Ohio seeking food to break our fast. What we found at Kennedy's Bakery was a gold mine of pastries, including a super-moist red raspberry white chocolate chip muffin, cinnamon-filled kolacky, uber-sweet cinnamon sticks, krunch-koted donuts, and a lip-smacking butterscotch danish. Hopped up on sugar, we motored through Columbus, Ohio (stopping briefly to visit the state house) to Columbus, Indiana, where CajunKing was kind enough to meet us at Zaharako's for lunch. This century-old soda fountain had been closed for nearly four years, only recently re-opening at the beginning of June. The restoration of the restaurant was breathtaking, transforming the dark-with-age walls and ceilings into a radiantly elegant interior. Due to a slight ordering mishap (be sure to properly enunciate!) we ended up with cheeseburgers in addition to our cheese-brr-grrs, but all proved tasty...particularly when accompanied by fountain-flavored cokes (we tried the cinnamon and red raspberry varieties)! A scoop of ice cream later, we were back in the car and rolling up I-65 on our way to Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. We set up camp there, and ventured out to Valparaiso to catch a double feature at the 49er Drive-in Theater. The 49er provided a perfect piece of Americana—truck beds packed with families and popcorn, fireflies buzzing around pre-show games of catch, and the Star Spangled Banner preceding the coming attractions. Since drive-in theaters rely heavily on concession sales to stay afloat, we always try to patronize the snack bar and tonight constructed a make-shift dinner out of a bucket of popcorn, chili cheese nachos, and sausage pizza (they even served Italian Beef, though we didn't try it on this visit!). After the final credits rolled, we headed back to the lakeshore to sneak in a few hours of sleep before heading to Chicago to spend the day to sample some Windy City specialties!
