A Few Extras for Indiana

A couple of weeks after Indiana's Bicentennial Day on December 11, 2016, I got together with my friend Roy and we visited, going all over Porter County, IN, and on the way there and back, passing through Lake County, IN, too.

Roy took these two "selfie" pictures of us with his mobile device.  The one above is at Valparaiso University, right outside the Christopher Center, with the Chapel of the Resurrection appearing to the left in the picture.  The one below is in front of the Albanese Candy Factory in Merrillville.

I have to say, Indiana is looking pretty good at 200.

I feel like adding a little bit more to my List of 200 Things about Indiana, inspired by this recent visit there, my first there since it turned 200.

Roy took me to a place near Kouts called the Collier Lodge, which was a swanky place to stay decades ago.  One of its guests included President Theodore Roosevelt.  It sits in an area that used to be the Kankakee Marsh, astride the Kankakee River, which is generally the marker for the southern boundary of Lake and Porter Counties, and some of LaPorte County.  Then we headed into Kouts itself, and I am glad on this visit that I finally got to see this town, beyond Valparaiso to the south on Indiana State Route 49.  We made our way to Valparaiso, too, and after a while there, we passed through the bustling commercial area in Merrillville.

Some other notable locations in Indiana include the Wyandotte Caves, the town of Santa Claus, and Fort Sackville, by Vincennes, which hearkens about to its frontier days.  Throughout the state are covered bridges, with a Covered Bridge Festival in Parke County, in the west central part of the state.

Indianapolis is the location of a drug company that was founded by Eli Lilly.

African-American chemist Dr. Percy Julian, an Oak Park resident, attended DePauw University in Greencastle, IN, for his undergraduate degree in chemistry.

The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, John G. Roberts, Jr., grew up in Long Beach, IN.

And I have to give a shout-out to some more Hoosiers: Norman Bridwell, Virgil "Gus" Grissom, the Jackson family of Gary, David Letterman, John Mellencamp, Cole Porter, Ryan White, and Levi Coffin, for their notable contributions to society, highlighting the wonderful contributions Indiana has made to the United States and beyond.