Kentucky Spring Break Trip - Day 5 (Happy Birthday Alex!)

Day 5 - our final day of the Kentucky Spring Break Trip. 

Our plan for this final day - tour the "Big Things" in Casey, IL, eat lunch at The Moonshine Store and drive home.

First and foremost - it was Alex's 18th Birthday!! I made sure to pick up some birthday adornments for her to wear for the day! She was a great sport and did what we told her to do, haha!

While time was on our side (we gained an hour within the first 10 minutes of driving west), the weather wasn't. We had been watching the weather reports closely and knew that the chance of rain for Day 5 was pretty high. 

When we woke up, it was overcast but no rain! We were hopeful...

The sun popped out for a bit on our 30 minute drive to Casey from Terre Haute and we continued to be hopeful...

We pulled into Casey. Unfortunately, the sun had disappeared and the dark clouds took over. Still no rain though! 

Casey, IL has become known for its Big Things Small Town Theme and has been on our radar for a few years now. We knew that this trip to Kentucky would be a perfect time to stop in Casey.

Casey has 12 "World's Largest" items and multiple "Big Things". 

Bird Cage (not the World's Largest)

World's Largest Mailbox

The mailbox had a mail dropbox inside. 

Casey did a great job of presenting some of the large items in park like settings.

World's Largest Barbershop Pole

Pencil (Large Item)

We stepped inside Wildflour Bakery & Candy Company to see the World's Largest Wood Shoes. This was a fun shop inside a beautiful historic building right in the heart of the downtown area.

We continued walking around the downtown area, looking for other large items. 

World's Largest Golf Driver

World's Largest Rocking Chair

Here, we are standing on the World's Largest Teeter Totter. Unfortunately, it wasn't being operated that day. We were bummed about that, but thankful that it was open to walk on. You can see Matt on the ground, taking a video. 

Across the street from the Teeter Totter and Rocking Chair is the World's Largest Wind Chimes. It had been sprinkling off an on since our arrival in Casey. At this point in time, the skies opened up and it started pouring!

I ran back to get the van (it was a block away) and picked up the family (who had taken cover under a store awning). We made a few more quick stops out of the van.

We loved that each of the large things had a bible verse included! We love seeing God's word proclaimed!

World's Largest Twizzle Spoon

Kaitee loved the Bookworm in front of the library.

Matt asked us to take his picture at the big antlers. Notice the rain. It was nasty!

At this point, we looked at the map and decided to pass on a few of the large items that were outside of town. We did end up driving a bit to see the World's Largest Pitchfork. What a beautiful setting! Located near the parking lot for Richard's Farm Restaurant, this would be a fun stop with some photo ops and beautiful landscaping. If only it weren't pouring rain! 

Matt talked the girls into getting out and posing for some pictures.

At this time, we started driving towards Martinsville for lunch. We did find the World's Largest Horseshoe along the way.

Matt & I read about Moonshine Store a year or so ago and knew that this was a place to add to our food list! From their website "People from all over the United States come to us to try our world famous Moonshine Burger". The burgers were delicious and well worth the drive (and yes, it was a drive!). We were one of two groups of people when we first arrived but it quickly filled up while we were eating. We assume that this place gets crazy busy during the warmer months (notice all of the outside seating & pick up window). 

We finished lunch and then hit the road for home. Matt had one more stop on his agenda, just a slight detour.

In 2014 he started tracking counties that he has been in throughout the different states he has visited.

Illinois has 102 counties and as of this trip, he only needed 2 more counties to complete all of Illinois! The 2 missing counties were Clark (where Casey and Martinsville are located) and Edgar County just to the north. 

Here is Matt, holding up the IL map in front of his final county sign - Edgar County. 

We drove home in the rain - just made us all the more thankful for the sunshine, warm (no rain!) days that we had in Kentucky.

Once we arrived home, we unloaded the van and started laundry. We ordered pizza and got ready to celebrate Alex's birthday. Once Andre (Alex's boyfriend) arrived, we ate dinner (and dessert, Whitey's Ice Cream, thanks to a sweet surprise by Andre) and they started opening their gifts (Andre's birthday was a few days earlier).

Alex received a Cinderella DVD from Kaitee, boots from the twins and a weighted blanket from us.

Andre received some shirts from Kaitee, a stuffed animal frog from the twins and cash from us. Don't you love the wrapping paper? 

The big surprise was saved for last...

The girls are very busy planning their move now!

The next day we celebrated all of the March & April birthdays with my family. Notice the first picture with the circles - all of the birthday sundaes! It was a fun evening of seeing everyone and eating pizza, cake & ice cream.