Indiana Vacations

Indiana Vacations Idea #1: Holiday World & Splashin' Safari, in Santa Clause, has rides and shows for the whole family. Ride the wooden roller coaster voted #1 in the world. Rudolph's Reindeer Ranch has rides for the little kid's. Everyone can cool off on the family water rides at the Water Park. Six live shows provide entertainment from gospel to country music to high-dive thrills.

Indiana Vacations Idea #2: For a country vacation try renting a cabin at Wasatch Lake, located an hour southwest of Indianapolis. This private retreat on 250 acres is perfect for getting away for some quiet time. You can fish on the lake which is stocked with bass, bluegill, crappie and catfish. You can hike or mountain bike on the 14 miles of trails around the 50 acre lake. Enjoy bonfires, hayrides, horseshoes or tennis. Nearby is Cataract Falls, the largest waterfalls in Indiana.

Vacation Ideas in Indiana #3: Amish Acres Historic Farm, in Nappanee, is the only Old Order Amish farmstead listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Enjoy buggy rides, countryside tours, theatre & restaurants. Interpreters are on hand and you can learn about various crafts like broom making, candle dipping, weaving, blacksmithing, and horse shoeing. The Amish Acres Arts and Crafts Festival has been selected as one of America's Top 100 Events.

Indiana Vacations Idea #4: Fastimes Indoor Karting, in Indianapolis, offers the popular European sport of karting. You race nine horsepower mini cars on an indoor race track, testing your skills at speeds of 30 m.p.h. It's similar to go-cart racing but more exciting on this two-level track boasting hairpin turns. You've got to be eighteen to race so the kids can only watch.

Vacation Ideas in Indiana #5: If you enjoy experiencing history try the 1838 canal town of Metamora. Strolling through the quaint streets is like walking back in time. You can watch grain being stone ground in the old gristmill. Relax on an old fashioned buggy ride. See the last wooden aqueduct in the United States from the deck of a canal boat. There are special events throughout the year like The Matemora Music Days, The Strawberry Daze and Spring Festival or The Old Fashioned Christmas Walk.

Indiana Vacations Idea #6: Horseback Riding is a good outdoor activity to plan your vacation around. Take the family out and enjoy the thrill of riding trhough the woods or across open pasture. Combine it with camping, throw in a little fishing and hiking and you've got a wonderful vacation. Indiana has many nice horseback riding trails. To find some great places to ride try this excellent Indiana Vacation Horse Trail Directory.

Indiana Vacations Idea #7: Indiana makes a great vacation destination for it's idyllic scenery and there is no better place to enjoy the countryside than the Amish communities in north-central Indiana. Located in Elkhart and LaGrange counties, this area is home to the largest population of Amish in the United States. See how these peaceful and hardworking people live a simple life without phones, electricity and most other modern conveniences. In Amish country, particularly in Shipshewana, you will find many shops where you can buy homemade Amish quilts and various handicrafts.

If you are planning a drive through Amish country, look into the Quilt Gardens Tour offered through amishcountry.org. This driving tour guides you to 23 stops along the nationally recognized Heritage Trail. These spots include 12 gigantic and colorful gardens and 11 huge outdoor murals which are all quilt-themed and hand-painted.

Indiana Vacations Idea #8: Contributed by Lisa Sirkin, proud resident of Fishers, Indiana.

Fishers, Ind., is home to Conner Prairie, an outdoor living history museum that takes visitors back in time to an early-1800s Lenape Indian camp, a mid-1800s pioneer settlement and a late-1800s Victorian-era home. Conner Prairie doesn't just show you history; it puts you in the middle of it.

Visit the school house, get a check-up from the town doctor, help with the farm chores, play a game of 19th Century baseball or help build a canoe. My kids love to go to Connor Prairie, even if it is just to roll down the hill behind the Connor house. And I love taking them there - they get some exercise and get to exercise their imagination all while they are learning. (Shhh...Don’t tell them that they are learning. To them, it's all about the fun.)

If music is more your thing, Conner Prairie is also home to Symphony on the Prairie, a summer-long series of concerts by the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. It's not all Bach and Beethoven either. This summer we went to see the orchestra back the ABBA tribute show.

Indiana Vacations Idea #9: Contributed by Lisa Sirkin. Thanks Lisa, Hamilton County sounds like a great Indiana vacation spot.

As the price of traveling goes up, more and more people are looking for trips that can combine several destinations into one vacation. Hamilton County, Indiana, located just 20 minutes north of Indianapolis, has eight vacation stops all rolled into one trip that offers both urban sophistication and quaint, small town atmosphere.

Our first stop, Noblesville, Ind., has all the history you’d expect from the county seat. The Hamilton County Courthouse and the surrounding business district are on the National Register of Historic Places; so are the 1876 Hamilton County Museum of History and Old Sheriff’s Residence and Jail. (John Dillinger was once a “guest” here.) The Indiana Transportation Museum, down the street in Forest Park, takes you back in time as you ride the rails on a steam or diesel train and tour more than 50 rail cars.

A few minutes south is Fishers, Ind., named one of the top places in the U.S. to raise a family. Parents and kids can find plenty of activities to share here. A trip to Conner Prairie, a 250-acre nationally recognized living history museum is a must. Speaking of must-sees, the eight square blocks of the Carmel Arts & Design District offers art galleries, antiques shops, home-furnishings and interior-design studios, a winery and more.

From Carmel, Ind., you can ride your bike on the Monon Trail, a “rails to trails” greenway, to Westfield to experience that city’s Quaker heritage. Westfield today is a growing community with niche boutiques such as Stitches & Scones, a store full of knitting supplies, yarns …and if you get there early enough, scones warm from the oven.

Speaking of arts and crafts, Crop-A-Doodle-Do, a combination spa/scrapbook retreat nestled within a recently renovated 1865 farmhouse in Arcardia, Ind., offers a custom-designed scrapbooking room as well as massages, manis, pedis and other spa treatments. A few miles north is Atlanta, Ind., best known for its annual Atlanta New Earth Festival in September. Atlanta also welcomes music lovers to the Atlanta Music Hall and shoppers at the unique Atlanta Mercantile, packed with items made right here in Indiana.

If you are looking for an Indiana vacations destination with more outdoor activities, try Cicero, Ind., for fun on the water of Morse Reservoir or a hike at Strawtown Koteewi Park. If you’re lucky, you might see an archaeological dig in progress; this land was once home to the Koteewi Native Americans.

The final town in Hamilton County may keep a low profile but it boasts a pair of local restaurants full of Hoosier hospitality at its down-home best. At Casey’s Bar & Grill in Sheridan, Ind., you can sample a breaded tenderloin—an Indiana culinary tradition. You’ll find the tasty sandwiches at The Red Onion as well, along with steaks, seafood and chicken.

With all of this and more to be found in Hamilton County’s eight great towns, you might just have to book an extra-long weekend to take it all in!