Our Latest Visit to IU

It's way too long between the beginning of August and the end of October! That's how long we had to wait to see Bailey since dropping her off at Indiana University for the start of her junior year. But due to our weekend activities and her schedule, it was the first opportunity we'd had for a visit.

 We left on Thursday evening and spent the night in Bloomington, Illinois which is the half-way point in the 8.5 hour drive. Splitting the drive like this allows us to arrive at IU much earlier the following day. This time we wanted to get there in time to attend a rehearsal on Friday afternoon.

On the way to IU, we always pass a series of "Neil Street" signs near Champaign, Illinois. This time I happened to have my camera handy to take a few pictures of the signs for Bailey's boyfriend, Neil!

We had a great lunch at Upland Brewery, then met up with Bailey when she finished with class. She squeezed us in to the very crowded rehearsal room to watch a Singing Hoosiers practice. It was so much fun to see and hear this talented and energetic group!

We had a brief stop at the apartment where we chatted with her roommate Molly who was on her way to a Halloween party, then Bailey showed us some of her recent projects. She has been a very busy girl!
 

 Later we planned to meet Bailey and Neil at Lennie's, a Bloomington favorite, for dinner. It had been raining and the late afternoon light on campus was beautiful! This is the main building in her apartment complex.

This is the building where Bailey and Molly live.

The sky was pink!

I turned around and saw a rainbow!

It was a short walk to the restaurant where we met up with Bailey and Neil. We had a very enjoyable evening catching up with these two very busy students! Of course I had to grab a photo, since I've been waiting (as have my friends!) for an updated picture for quite some time!

 After dinner, we went to watch one of Bailey's professors play with his Latin jazz group at a local cafe. The music was incredible! We caught up with a few of Bailey's friends while we were there. Who knew percussionists could salsa dance?

 

 
On Saturday morning while Bailey caught up on some sleep, Jay and I stopped at the Farmers' Market. It was a very, very cold day!

Still, there were lots of booths filled with beautiful fresh produce, and lots of bundled-up shoppers!

We've been wanting to stop by the Farmers' Market, so I'm glad it worked out this time.

 

And sure enough, the local animal rescue group was on site with adoptable kittens! Before I knew it, I was holding one of them!
 

 He was so adorable that it would have been quite easy to take him home with me! The volunteer shown here really tried to twist my arm (which did not need twisting), but I directed him to speak with Jay. Needless to say, I did not get a kitten at the Farmers' Market. :(

 

We took Bailey to lunch at Dagwood's, then she headed off to a lesson and practice session.

Killing time at IU is no problem at all for us. There are always recitals and rehearsals to attend. We walked to Auer Hall to watch a Halloween recital put on by members of the string academy, young students who take lessons at Jacobs. Before the recital, we sat in on the last part of a piano/pipe organ rehearsal. It is such a treat to hear the organ in this hall, which was acoustically designed to suit it. It is truly amazing!  

And the kids in the string academy (pre-school through high school age) were incredible. If you closed your eyes, you would not have known that they were children -- they were easily as good as professional musicians.

The kids were in costume for Halloween...

 

...so in addition to being talented, they were also quite adorable!

After the recital, we took a quick trip to the grocery store and Target (where we insisted Bailey get a flu shot) to stock up on a few necessities. Later that evening, we took Bailey and Neil to Esan Thai, one of many restaurants on our list to try. The food was great, and Bailey's sticky rice came in a cute little rice cozy. We'd never seen that type of thing before.

I managed to sneak in another photo, then we headed to Hartzell's for ice cream. They were featuring pumpkin pie ice cream that evening, which was extremely tasty!

On Sunday morning, we took Bailey for a quick breakfast at Scholar's Inn Bakehouse, then it was time for us to leave. :(

It was so good to see Bailey and many of her friends! Each time we visit, we're reminded that IU is a very special place -- the educational and musical opportunities at the school are just amazing, and we're pleased that she's taking full advantage of them. And although this semester is probably the busiest and most stressful one she'll have during her college career, she's happy, healthy, and doing very well at IU! And that makes us extremely happy, too.