Vacation at Chesterton

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We've had the best time vacationing in Chesterton. First, of all things, our bed & breakfast absolutely made our vacation. We stayed at Riley's Railhouse, which is converted from an old train station. It's a beautiful building right next to train tracks. Our room was upstairs with a small balcony, and Oliver would run out every time he heard a train whistle to watch the trains go by. Everything at the bed & breakfast was train themed, which the kids loved. There were even Thomas the Train pillows and blankets, and a toy Thomas the Train set for them to play with. Seriously, best vacation for a four year old ever. Even though it was fun for the kids, the bed & breakfast wasn't some tacky tourist place. It was just beautiful, well-maintained, with nice innkeepers who made the best breakfasts for us. We loved our stay.

On Saturday, before we went to the beach, we walked to the European Market that takes place literally right behind our bed & breakfast. The European Market is open every Saturday in the summer from 8am to 2pm. It was fun but so busy that parking became non-existent in that part of town. We strolled through the tents and restaurant cars. One sold wood-fired pizza, and they were literally using an axe to chop the wood for it. Cool! There were tents that sold streusel and tents that sold cheeses. We stopped at a pretzel tent. Oliver enjoyed the opportunity to watch a woman use an industrial mixer to make pizza dough, and we watched them cut the dough, roll it, and fold it into pretzels. We ordered two, and they were delicious.

For dinner, we walked through town to Popolano's, recommended to us by our innkeeper. They had outdoor seating, which we took advantage of, and we ordered a pizza for the family. Let me tell you, this pizza was so.good. Why can't you find pizza this good outside the Chicago area? No idea, but we enjoyed it so much that we ate it again for lunch and then dinner the next day. Don't judge.

Last night, after we rested from the beach, we wanted to get out and explore the town some more. We found a park south of our bed & breakfast. It was unlike any playground I've seen before. It was mostly wood & tires. The kids had fun climbing into the tires and exploring forts.

Chesterton was so much fun for us. We loved being able to walk to dinner and walk to the European market. The kids loved all of the train stuff at our bed & breakfast. Our vacation was just perfect. It's the kind of trip I feel we could do again and again.

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Photos

Riley's Railhouse
We stayed at this bed & breakfast, a converted train station. Currently, all the rooms are in the station, but they are doing lots of work on the train cars to make them rooms, too.

Friends
Joanna's talking to the lawn ornaments at Popolano's in Chesterton, Indiana.

Popolano's
We ordered pizza, and it was phenomenal.

Pretzels from Scratch
We watched them make pretzels from scratch at a tent at the European Market in Chesterton, Indiana.