Great Lakes - Eastern USA - page 1068

center (

800-753-3255; www.browncounty.com ; 10 N Van Buren St; 9am-6pm Mon-Thu,

9am-7pm Fri & Sat, 10am-5pm Sun; ) provides maps and coupons.
Beyond gallery browsing, Nashville is the jump-off point to Brown County State
Park ( 812-988-6406; tent & RV sites $12-36, cabins from $77) , a 15,700-acre stand of oak,
hickory and birch trees, where trails give hikers, mountain bikers and horseback riders
access to the area's green hill country.
Among several B&Bs, central Artists Colony Inn ( 812-988-0600;
www.artistscolonyinn.com ; 105 S Van Buren St; r incl breakfast $112-180; ) stands out for its
spiffy Shaker-style rooms. The dining room (mains $9-17; 7:30am-8pm Sun-Thu, to 9pm
Fri & Sat) offers traditional Hoosier fare, such as catfish and pork tenderloins.
As with Nashville Tennessee, Nashville Indiana enjoys country music, and bands play
regularly at several venues. To shake a leg, mosey into Mike's Music & Dance Barn (
812-988-8636; www.mikesmusicbarn.com ; 2277 Hwy 46; from 6:30pm Thu-Mon) . The Bill

Monroe Museum (

812-988-6422; 5163 Rte 135 N; adult/child $4/free; 9am-5pm, closed

Tue & Wed Nov-Apr) , 5 miles north of town, hails the bluegrass hero.

Bloomington

Lively and lovely Bloomington, 53 miles south of Indianapolis via Hwy 37, is the home
of Indiana University. The town centers on Courthouse Sq, surrounded by restaurants,
bars, bookshops and the historic facade of Fountain Sq Mall. Nearly everything is walk-
able. The Bloomington CVB ( www.visitbloomington.com ) has a downloadable guide.
On the expansive university campus, the Art Museum ( 812-855-5445;
www.indiana.edu /~iuam; 1133 E 7th St; 10am-5pm Tue-Sat, from noon Sun) , designed
by IM Pei, contains an excellent collection of African art, as well as European and US
paintings.
The colorful, prayer-flag-covered Tibetan Mongolian Buddhist Cultural Center (
812-336-6807; www.tmbcc.net ; 3655 Snoddy Rd; sunrise-sunset) - founded by the
Dalai Lama's brother - as well as the Dagom Gaden Tensung Ling Monastery (
812-339-0857; www.dgtlmonastery.org ; 102 Clubhouse Dr; 9am-6pm) , indicate
Bloomington's significant Tibetan presence. Both have intriguing shops and offer free
teachings and meditation sessions; check the websites for weekly schedules.
If you arrive in mid-April and wonder why an extra 20,000 people are hanging out in
town, it's for the Little 500 ( www.iusf.indiana.edu ; tickets $25; mid-Apr) . It's one of the
coolest bike races you'll see, in which amateurs ride one-speed Schwinns for 200 laps
around a quarter-mile track.