Arrival Wednesday, July 15
204 Miles | 4 Hours
We head out from Grandpa’s with the dashboard lights flashing for the suspension and engine but we have a plan thanks to the guys at Germain Audi in Ann Arbor who successfully diagnosed the part needed for the suspension. The repair is not critical so instead of waiting for the part in Michigan we have scheduled an appointment in Denver, where they have located one of only four dealerships in the country that have the part in stock. And it happens to be less than an hour away from our Cousin Maxine’s home in Castle Rock, where we are already planning to visit to see Max and her husband Jim.
We make one last stop at FlavorFruit farms on our way out of town which is tended by Amish counter staff and get some of their famous cronuts plus some packs of their home brewed Meckley’s cider and IPA for our hosts Joel and Kim who we will be seeing next. The drive down is pretty uneventful with decent enough coverage that we don’t have to stop to manage reception on our business calls.
Sidestory of how we met Joel and Kim: During the summer of 2018 we traveled to Chicago for the charity tournament hosted by Roger Federer. The evening before the tennis Datta and Mari we wandering around Mari's old haunts in Chigago and almost jokingly decided to pop into the Zebra Bar, a play on names as it was a piano bar. We were mesmerized by the sheer talent and humor of the "piano man", Joel. After a few songs, drinks, and hours of enjoying the music, Mari invited Joel to Santa Cruz to play for her 50th. Luckily he said yes! Soon enough we met his lovely wife, Kim, who runs a high-end wedding planning business, Bride + Joy. In addition to helping me host an amazing birthday party, Joel and Kim have become some of most dear friends.
We pull into Kim's family’s farm just in time for dinner and are blown away by the size of the property which has rows of Dutch Greenhouses. It’s called Heartland Farms and it's a 200-acre facility in the middle of Westfield, and the largest supplier of perennials to Lowe’s nationwide. We pull around the back to a grand farmhouse where Kim grew up with her 8 siblings. It sits peacefully tucked away on the back portion of the property by rolling pastures and a small stream that runs through the property.
Kim’s parents greet us with a hearty handshake into the grand lanai of their stone farmhouse. Judging by its size it looks like they must have added to the house every time a kid was born. Joel and Kim had instructed us to arrive hungry and they do not disappoint, serving up a fabulous meal of pasta, grilled veggies and a salad with a watermelon balsamic reduction sauce that’s out of this world while Jim tells us stories of back in the day when they had started the farm when the town had only 2000 people and couldn’t afford to pave the roads.
After dinner we get a tour of the grounds and cap the evening off with a late night swim in 87 degree water under 85 degree air with a working waterslide that we all put to good use-with Joel going in head first. An unexpected complication arises when the pool lights are turned on on as a swarm of giant copper beetles keep diving into the pool turning it into search and rescue mission to get the beetles out.
After turning out the lights and rescuing the last of the beetles, we dry camp in the driveway and fall asleep to the sounds of rain falling on the aluminum skin of the airstream. The next morning we meet Joel and Kim in town for breakfast at a hip eatery in a former barn called Rail where we have an insanely good meal of creamy quiche, heirloom tomato burrata salad, potato corn chowder and churro French toast accompanied by a strawberry rhubarb lemonade and a Virgin Mary garnished with a potato chip. (postdate: this amazing restaurant closed its doors for good on November 1.)
We browse her sister’s Root 31 shop, a hip stop for plants and artifacts before heading back to the farm where Kim had brought over her 9 and 6 year old niece and nephew, Nora and Will, and the kids hit it off famously, playing in the pool, and running around the grounds and on top of the 40’ high oil tank that presided over the countryside.
After a golf cart tour of the greenhouses, including a picture of Vice President Mike Pence with Kim's dad at the facility, we end the visit with air hugs as Kim and Joel send us off with armloads of cucumbers, zucchini, yellow habaneros, and homemade honey from the farm’s Obama-era Model Pollination Garden.
It’s nice to have friends in Indiana!
Departure Thursday, July 16
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