Madison, IN: Downtown & Trolley Ride

After a few hours of hiking, we headed into Madison to check out their Fourth Friday event (shops are open later every fourth Friday of most months) before settling in to watch a lot of basketball. The day had really turned beautiful, although it was still chilly. One neat thing to take advantage of on Fourth Fridays is to take a free trolley ride up the Main Street and to the Ohio River.

The trolley has large, open windows and, at least on this night, had lots of blankets to keep warm. It picks up from a few spots (I assume there were signs, but we just happened to be passing by when some other people were getting off and decided to hop on.)

There are some really neat buildings in downtown Madison. I liked their old theater and courthouse, and also all of the little shops and restaurants. There were quite a few "for lease" or "for sale" signs on Main Street, unfortunately, but it still felt alive on this night.

I really enjoyed driving by the river, too. You'll go down an enormous hill to get there and feel like you might fly out of the trolley, but it is really fun! The women who was driving our trolley had been the trolley driver for many years and seemed like she knew what she was doing.

We got off the trolley in front of a bar with a giant mural on the outside, before heading over to Shooter's to take in more than 4 hours of basketball with dinner. It was packed! We stayed at the Hillside Inn and walked to downtown, although it's a few blocks farther out than we thought it was when we booked it (fine for just staying the night). I wouldn't mind going back to Madison when it's warmer out - in the summer the town hosts the Madison Regatta and also a big Fourth of July event.