Nobody Puts Baby In A Corner

A few weeks ago my husband and I went to the historic Embassy Theater to see the travelling Broadway production of Dirty Dancing. It had us reminiscing about our trip we took a few years back to The Mountain Lake Lodge, which was the setting for the classic film starring Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey.

We stopped by The Mountain Lake Lodge as a side trip on our way to Gatlinburg on a rainy Fall afternoon. I had stumbled across all these pictures on Pinterest of "The Lodge" and I knew I just had to go one day! Not only do I love anything having to do with movies, but it looked so beautiful there as well!

Nestled in the mountains of Pembroke, Virginia, The Mountain Lake Lodge sits atop a vast lawn sprinkled with rustic cabins, a gazebo, and even a disappearing lake! The property still looks much like it did in the film, Dirty Dancing (with the exception of the lake - you can see why here.) Visitors can even rent out the cabin where Baby's family stayed or eat in the same dining room where Baby first caught a glimpse of the rebel Johnny Castle.

While walking the grounds and visiting the little museum, we learned a lot of behind the scenes facts about the filming of Dirty Dancing. The movie was filmed in October of 1986 and the filmmakers actually had to spray paint the leaves of the trees in order to make it look like summertime! And did you know that Dirty Dancing was actually filmed in two separate locations? Most of the movie was filmed in Virginia, with The Mountain Lake Lodge serving as Kellerman's Resort, but many other pivotal scenes (including the dance at the end and the famous "Nobody puts Baby in a corner" line) were filmed in Lake Lure, North Carolina. After visiting The Mountain Lake Lodge we were psyched to go to Lake Lure and continue our little Dirty Dancing movie tour. We actually did go there on another trip south and I'll have to write about that adventure someday too!

We weren't able to stay at The Mountain Lake Lodge due to the timing of our trip, but I would love to go back and spend the night. The Lodge actually hosts Dirty Dancing Weekends with all sorts of themed activities! If you are in the area, even just passing through like we were, I highly recommend stopping by the Mountain Lake Lodge. Even though we were only there a few hours, it was still an amazing place to visit and walking around the beautifully manicured grounds really makes you feel like you are in Dirty Dancing yourself. Even if you're not a fan of the movie, it's still worth the stop! I can't wait to go back and "have the time of my life!"

The beautiful mountains of Virginia, home to The Mountain Lake Lodge.

I love driving through the mountains! It's pretty flat here in northern Indiana.

When you first arrive at Kellerman's, I mean The Mountain Lake Lodge, you pull right up front to unload your suitcases, just like they did in Dirty Dancing!

It doesn't take much to imagine that you are right there in the movie!

Here's Baby's cabin!

And the gazebo where you can take dancing lessons from Penny. She used to be a Rockette, you know.

The poor little lake. Hopefully someday it will refill itself again. This whole area was once covered in water!

One of the beautiful walking paths at The Mountain Lake Lodge. I really think Fall is the best time to go anywhere!

The dining room in The Lodge, now a restaurant called Harvest.

Although it was a gloomy day, the view from the porch was still gorgeous.

"Have the time of your life!"

Don't forget to follow me on Instagram (sweethome.indiana) and Pinterest for more!

Hoosiers for Yuengling Rejoice!

Only two more days and Hoosiers for Yuengling can rejoice!

Yuengling Beer, brewed at America's oldest brewery in Pottsville, Pennsylvania, will finally be available for sale at liquor stores in Indiana for the first time ever. It's already been available on tap at several Indiana restaurants for about a month now.

Prior to that, Hoosiers wanting Yuengling had to travel as far away as Tennessee or Florida, and most recently Ohio, to get a taste of their favorite beer. Some people were even making beer runs to Pennsylvania, Smokey and the Bandit style! This beer has a hardcore following!

People all throughout Indiana have been pleading for Yuengling to bring their beer to our state for years. Someone even started a group called Hoosiers for Yuengling that was actually a big reason why Yuengling chose to come here!

My husband loves Yuengling. A few years ago, we were in Pennsylvania and we took a slight detour to Pottsville for one of their free brewery tours! It was actually one of the highlights of our trip! It was very interesting to see how the beer was made and to learn the history of the place. And, they give you free samples at the end of the tour!

I just have to say, I definitely proved my love for my husband that day! I usually only wear flip flops in the summer and that was all the footwear I took with me on that trip. The brewery required everyone to wear real shoes - no flip flops - in order to take the tour. Apparently, a lot of people run into this problem and the brewery had an entire room filled with old, used shoes for people to wear so they could take the tour.

I am a major germaphobe, and to even think about putting on a pair of shoes that several other people had worn and sweated in and stunk up made me sick to my stomach. The only other choice was not to go on the tour. And we had not come all that way not to go on the tour. My husband was pleading with me to put them on and I knew I just had to. So, I did. The things you do for love!

If you are ever near Pottsville, I highly recommend stopping by the Yuengling Brewery and taking the tour. For the money, it can't be beat! Just make sure you don't wear flip flops!

The brewery from afar. I love the hills in Pennsylvania! It's pretty flat land here in northern Indiana so mountains and hills are always a welcome sight! There's just something extra charming about the hills of Pennsylvania, it's so full of history there and a lot of the buildings are so old!

The outside of the brewery. They've been making beer here since 1831!

A plaque on the side of brewery.

The bottle filler. On the day we were there, they were making cans of their Yuengling Light Lager.

You can see the cans traveling across the brewery at the top.

The cans moved so fast in some areas you could barely see them!

Here's a slowed down shot of the cans on the move!

The old brewery is built right into the Pennsylvania hills. I loved this area. You can really see the history here.

They have a nice gift shop and a bar for the free sample tastings. They give rootbeer samples for those who don't care for beer, or can't drink it. Kids are also welcome on this tour!

Back here in Indiana, signs like this are everywhere!

This was at Kroger, my husband took a picture with it, but he didn't want me to put it on the blog.

Liquor stores are gearing up for the April 3rd release date! It seems it's all anyone can talk about!

My husband's first glass from Buffalo Wings and Ribs last month! We need to some of these glasses!

Cheers!

My Trip to Ireland!

Several years ago, I was lucky enough to spend St. Patrick's Day in Ireland.

It was one of the best days of my life.

My friend Sonia and I had spent the prior week traveling around Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom, with her very accommodating relatives. We spent most of our time in and around county Antrim, including Lisburn and Belfast.

The last day of our trip happened to be St. Patrick's Day. We didn't plan it, it just so happened to work out that way. Talk about the luck of the Irish! Now, every St. Patrick's Day is a wonderful reminder of the most amazing adventure of my life.

We spent most of March 17th at Giant's Causeway and Dunluce Castle. Giant's Causeway lies along the Northern Atlantic Ocean and is a cluster of hexagonal volcanic columns set amongst a backdrop of gorgeous basalt and Irish green mountains. The Causeway is estimated to be around 60 million years old! It is also a World Heritage site.

Just down the road from Giant's Causeway lies Dunluce Castle, another one of my favorite places. Dunluce Castle is the ruins of a medieval castle from the early 1500's (yes, the 1500's!) that fell into the sea below during a party one stormy night in 1639.

The one thing that we didn't do was party it up on St. Patrick's Day. We were sure the holiday would be huge over there, considering how it's celebrated in the States. I had brought this awesome green cocktail dress and we were planning to have the night of our lives. But, in Ireland, St. Patrick's Day is a religious holiday! Not a party day like in America. Our "tour guide" cousin offered to take us down to Dublin where he said "the Americans come to party and celebrate," but we had an early flight the next day and didn't think it was going to be wise to drive two hours away (to a practically different country - Southern Ireland) to party.

I hope to be able to return to Ireland one day and see even more of the beautiful country! We only scratched the surface in a week's time and there's so much more I want to do. And relive!

I still pinch myself when I think about how lucky I was to be able to experience these awesome places, and Ireland in general. If you ever get the chance to go to Ireland ~ jump at it! You will never regret it! 


*** Disclaimer ***
I took these pictures pre-digital camera and then scanned them onto my computer. They are not the best quality! Remember the days before digital cameras and smart phones, when you took your shot and hoped for the best when the film got developed? You kids have no idea how good you have it now a days! So, yes these pics are not the greatest - but now they've got me itching to go back and get better pictures! I sincerely hope to go back one day. Ireland is truly beautiful and amazing!

The Irish countryside. The weather was perfect, and a little better than our typical March weather here in Indiana. It was slightly warmer in Ireland and some days it was bright and sunny like the picture above and others it was overcast and misting, which gave the country an almost mystical appearance.

This is one of my favorite pictures that I took on our trip. It is the road to the Legananny Dolmen. It just encapsulates Ireland, in my opinion. It was raining a little bit and getting dark when we were there. I just remember trying to hang back from the crowd and take in the moment. I stood there looking down this road, thinking "This is Ireland."

 

This is Legananny Dolmen. It's about 5,000 years old and is actually some sort of a burial site! Gross, but cool. This is just one of many dolmens scattered across Ireland. It reminded me of Stonehenge!

An Irish traffic jam! This is a joke in Ireland, but you seriously do run across this ~ as evidenced by this photo! And check out the steering wheel on the other side of the car! I didn't get to drive while we were there, but I'd love to give it a try next time!

These are the Maghera Church ruins.

We went into Lisburn one day to do some shopping on Bow Street. I remember being in a store in Lisburn Town Square and hearing a Gwen Stefani song playing and I was in heaven! This street represents a lot of the architecture in Ireland. Look at how old most of the buildings look! And they are all connected, like row houses.

Dundrum Castle, or the ruins of it anyways! It was built in the 1100's and we were told that the movie Braveheart was filmed here!

Belfast Castle in, you guessed it, Belfast! This beautiful castle sits atop Cave Hill and looks out over Belfast Lough with a view of the shipyards where the Titanic was built!

This is a little courtyard at Belfast Castle that I just loved!

This is a field of daffodils we came across! Can you believe this! They were everywhere! Daffodils are my favorite flowers and I was in love! This is the inspiration for my creekside garden at home! Hopefully, one day it will at least slightly resemble this!

The "gateway" to Giant's Causeway, it's actually called The Giant's Gate. These hexagonal shaped volcanic rocks are everywhere you look at the Causeway.

The mountains surrounding the Causeway are beautiful. This is a long path that takes you around the area.

This area is what most people think of when they think of Giant's Causeway. The winds were so fierce the day we were there and the waves on the Northern Atlantic Ocean were ferocious. The week before we were there, a family was swept out to sea while standing on the rocks.

The gorgeous Antrim Coast.

Dunluce Castle. I once saw a book about Ireland in a bookstore and it had a picture of this area right where I was standing while taking this picture. I still kick myself for not having bought it! How many times do you see a photo of an exact place where you stood in a book?

These are the cliffs beside Dunluce Castle. It reminds me of something out of the movie, The Princess Bride!

If you can't get enough of Ireland, check out this awesome video of Giant's Causeway shot from a drone! It is so beautiful, it gave me goosebumps and brought tears to my eyes! It's amazing and it makes me feel like I am right there again!


Happy St. Patrick's Day!