South Bend, IN
July 4, 2024
The first stop after my brief stay in Iowa was in South Bend Indiana. I had no idea until I got there that South Bend was the home to one of the premiere universities in the United States.
After a late night of driving, I checked in to the Quality Inn in South Bend just before 11:00 pm. Check-in was fast and easy, the young woman that helped me was nice and got my key for me in no time. I got to the room, called Brandy and was quickly out.
I got up Thursday and headed to the hotel lobby for the standard fare of hotel waffles and a microwaved Jimmy Dean breakfast sandwich. Far from a gourmet meal, it was sufficient to get me started.
I went back to the room, packed up and Ash and I headed out to make the short drive to the nearby college.
Sure enough, a mere 10 minutes later and Ash and I were walking through the campus.
I was pretty surprised at just how suburban the immediate surroundings are. I mean that quite literally. Directly across from the main gate from which I entered, at the south end, are regular single family homes. Not to say that these aren’t frat houses or earmarked for college lodging, but I was used to seeing the areas around UNM or University of Iowa, where the feel is slightly more urban, more businesses and apartment complexes than neighborhoods.
Anyway, we parked in the one hour parking at the bookstore and headed out to the hot, humid midwestern morning.
We strolled around the green campus, lots of trees and grass. A large section of the campus is under some sort of construction so our route deviated by a detour around it. We soon found ourselves in the middle of a large, grassy quad with meandering paths wandering around a statue of some bearded gentleman in the middle.
The university is rife with old, gothic architecture. The buildings absolutely fascinated me, though, as an atheist, the religious meaning is completely lost on me.
I continued on as we approached the main building. Off to the left was the Basilica of the Sacred Heart, the campus’s church. It stands on the site of the original church, built by the university’s founder, Edward Sorin, in 1843. That church was too small to contain the rapidly growing university so the current basilica was erected in its place in 1888. It was built in a neo-gothic style with 44 large stained glass windows and a 230 foot tall bell tower.
Just behind the church is a scaled replica of the Grotto at Massbielle. This scaled down version is called the Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes. It is a stone cave at about one third scale of the original in France. It is a place for believers to come and pray or meditate, with many candles available to light and pray over.
Back up and past the church sits the administration Main Building. The current building was built in 1879 and was topped with a gold-leafed dome that is in turn topped by a 19 foot, 4,000 pound statue of the virgin Mary in 1882. This is the third main building on the campus, the first being rebuilt for expansion and the second one burning down in April of 1879, meaning the new building was built in mere months, before the fall semester of 1879.
By the time we’d hit these three landmarks, Ash was making it clear that he’d had enough. The heat and humidity was taking its toll on him, and on me, if I’m honest. Unfortunately, I’d brought no water with us so we started making a beeline back to the truck. There were moments when Ash wanted a break, splaying himself out on the cool, dew-covered grass, panting viciously. Luckily we didn’t make it too far into the campus so we were back in the truck in short order where he downed four bottles of water.
Once I had him sufficiently cooled down, I ran into the bookstore that I was surprised was open on the 4th of July, picked up a few souvenirs and headed back out to get ready for the next part of our trip.
We headed east on Interstate 90 finishing up Indiana, then into Ohio, where we passed right through Cleveland. I caught a glimpse of Progressive Field, home of the Cleveland Guardians.
We continued right along the shore of Lake Erie through the rest of Ohio, the little tippy-top of Pennsylvania and into New York, where we landed at a Motel 6 in Hamburg, NY.
This was an OLD SCHOOL Motel 6, like an actual motel, where you park right in front of your door.
There were several people enjoying the pool just outside our door on the warm summer holiday. I ran to the liquor store, got some booze and Coke, popped a gummy, and settled in for a loneliness-driven cry.
Once I’d sufficiently cried away my feelings, I passed out for the count.
Final Impressions
As a fan of extraordinary architecture, wandering around the University of Notre Dame was absolutely fascinating. Seeing the neo-gothic French-inspired architecture really satisfied me. I’ve always loved the sharp ridges and tall, thin spires that inspire the architecture I got to see. I wish I had a little more time to walk around and get pictures of more of the buildings I saw but am happy with the ones I did get pictures of.
The pictures I got are over on my Photo Diary, as will be the pictures from the rest of this massive trip. Stay tuned for more as they come!
Until next time!
-Phil